How NAID Has Changed in January 2022

NAID has been a premier standard-setter for document destruction since 2000. However, as of January 1, 2022, their membership program will be changing.

Who is NAID? The AAA compliance program assesses mobile and facility-based operations to ensure proper destruction of paper, printed media, micro media, and computer hard drives. The purpose of this certification was to ensure that shredding companies meet numerous federal regulations so that proper protection of confidential customer information was in place. This required annual audits for document shredding companies in which the shredding process was recorded on CCTV and archived.

NAID Membership Rebranding

Recently, members of NAID approved a bylaw change that changed how members brand themselves. They will now refer to themselves as “i-Sigma Members.” The “NAID Member” and “Prism International Member” status and logos will no longer be in effect.

The use of those terms will no longer imply any sort of certification. Firms can continue to represent themselves as being certified; however, firms that choose not to undergo the certification program will be limited to the use of the i-SIGMA member logo.

So How Does This Affect Membership?

Active and service provider members will now become i-SIGMA members. The NAID AAA Certification program and PRISM Privacy+ programs will continue to exist.

Organizations can still indicate whether they offer RIM or Secure Data Destruction Services. However, only NAID AAA or PRISM Privacy+ Certified companies will have details regarding services offered available for filtering within the Online Directory.

What Changes Will Occur for i-SIGMA Vendor Members?

Vendor member companies were questioned throughout 2021 regarding the preferred name for this segment. The majority of members voted to have membership names changed to Corporate Partners, which was approved by the bylaws committee in September 2021. This change will require ratification in 2022.

Have Logos Changed for Certified Companies?

No, certified companies will be able to continue to display the logos that were provided in 2018. However, active membership will now transfer to i-SIGMA. For i-SIGMA service providers, a new logo is available through the Member Directory and must be updated by January 1, 2022. As of that date, members can no longer use the old logos in their advertising materials, such as business cards, websites, brochures, or trucks.

If a member does not comply with this new regulation, they may be subject to fines, penalties, public censure, or potential termination of membership.

In short, if you see a provider touting NAID membership, it could be a sign that they are not in compliance with the new requirement.

The SEAM Solution

SEAM is a member of i-SIGMA. Our mobile on-site data destruction provides convenient, fast, and secure paper and document shredding, as well as a hard drive, shredding for data storage devices including hard disk drives (HDD), solid-state drives (SSD), flash drives, cell phones, backup tapes, CDs and more.

We are based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and our company operates throughout North Dakota and South Dakota. Our technicians will travel to your place of business to physically eliminate hard drives according to our current certifications standards of R2 and e-Stewards. When you want a team that takes data protection seriously, turn to SEAM. Contact us today to learn more about our secure data destruction services.