What NAID Certification Means

Understanding NAID is an important role in maintaining legal compliance.

Who is NAID?
The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) is the international trade association for companies providing information destruction services with the mission is to promote security and govern its members, their standards, and their ethics. Their certification is the only real security assurance in the document destruction industry.

What AAA Certification Means
NAID enforces the highest standard of ethics for document destruction companies and ensures all procedures meet strict criteria before they grant certification.

What are the Differences Between NAID Membership and Certification?

The question about the differences between Membership and Certification is a very good one. This is because there are significant differences between the two when you are evaluating potential vendors for your secure document destruction programs.

NAID is the only recognized source for security and ethics standards in the document destruction industry. Companies involved in the destruction of documents are eligible for membership, and more importantly, for certification.

The difference between your potential vendor’s level of involvement with the association should be an important criteria in your decision making process.

Those organizations that are simply members are subscribing to a professional association. They have access to publications and security guidelines, and they are also included in the supplier directory.

However, those organizations that choose to become certified are organizations that have committed significant resources to ensure the security of the information that they handle on behalf of their customers.

The process of becoming certified is extensive, and involves many operational commitments on the part of the certified vendor. The certification process requires that all employees undergo background investigations, that all employees receive comprehensive security training, and that operational procedures, and physical facilities incorporate many security safeguards. This includes both physical security measures, as well as operational and information security procedures.

Further, NAID certification requires an initial third party operational audit, as well as ongoing audits to ensure compliance with all security guidelines and procedures. Those organizations that are simply members are not subject to any of these requirements.

The difference between membership and certification is significant. The member belongs to an organization that publishes comprehensive industry standards for the security of information; however, the organization that is certified has proven that they operate in strict accordance with these standards.

If security and the proper application of “Reasonable Care” standards are important to your organization, then we would certainly recommend that you choose only NAID Certified vendors for your managed document destruction programs.