Keeping your data safe: WFLA Shred-A-Thon provides security for the community
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — 8 On Your Side held our annual Shred-A-Thon outside Raymond James Stadium on Sunday morning.
It gave the community a chance to get rid of their old documents and electronics to ensure personal information doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.
Thousands of people were able to go home with a little less weight both in their cars and on their minds.
It didn’t take long for a line to start forming at the event on Sunday morning.
“We were here before 6,” Guillermo Sanchez said.
Sanchez and his best friend weren’t the only ones who got to Raymond James Stadium more than two hours early.
“We wanted to be the first ones, but one guy beat us,” he said.
20 years’ worth of documents Sanchez packed into four boxes are now safely destroyed.
“I could’ve brought six, but four was the limit,” Sanchez said.
According to reports, more than 350 million people were affected by a data breach last year.
Some criminals acquire personal information through old documents like mail and receipts.
“We need to get rid of them and we don’t want to throw it away in the garbage or anything because then somebody might get it,” Shred-A-Thon Participant Helen Lopez said. “Then we’ll really be in trouble.”
Some people said they waited all year for this event.
“I’ve been keeping up with it on the tablet to make sure that we could do it,” Lopez said.
Our partner, Urban E. Recycling helped us collect old electronics too.
“Most people are afraid of their data. They want to do the right thing with it but they’re worried. They’re terrified,” said Urban E. Recycling Chief Operating Officer Greg Rabinowitz. “We’re going to protect your data. We’re going to shred it. We’re not going to wipe it, we’re going to destroy it.”
Urban E. Recycling now has thousands of laptops, printers, tablets, and other devices to properly dispose of at their facility in Tampa.
If you missed the event this year, you can get rid of your old documents and electronics when 8 On Your Side holds the event again in 2025.
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