Retail Job Cuts Surge 2,800% Last Month
Retail job cuts spiked in December

Downsizing in the critical holiday month was up more than 2,800% year over year, a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas found.

As retailers continue to announce layoffs, the number of job cuts in the industry spiked more than 2,800% in December, from 110 positions in 2023 to 3,283 in 2024, according to a Challenger, Gray & Christmas report released Thursday. Those numbers also grew nearly 45% from November, which saw 2,267 cuts.

For the full year, though, retail job cuts were down meaningfully, declining by 47% year over year. Retail downsizing totaled 78,840 positions in 2023, compared to 41,686 in 2024.

Though job cuts are on the rise in retail, so are hirings. The number of workers retailers sought to hire rose from 440,893 in 2023 to 536,600 last year. In December specifically, retailers planned to hire 640 workers.

With a new administration entering the White House this month, many U.S. companies are bracing for the uncertainty by adjusting their hiring practices, Challenger said in its report.

In the retail sector, Challenger previously noted that a softening economy and labor market might mean retailers would hire fewer workers ahead of the 2024 holiday season. And indeed, retail hiring slowed in October and November, Challenger said. Rather than onboard more workers, 71% of respondents to a UKG survey in October said they were encouraging staffers to take additional, hard-to-fill shifts, and 81% said they were cross-training their workforce to handle more tasks. retaildive.com


Retail Concerns Around AI Surge
Should Retailers' Gen AI Concerns Be Increasing?
NVIDIA's second annual "State of AI in Retail and CPG" study found retailers ramping up investments in generative AI (Gen AI) as over 80% are either using or piloting projects. However, concerns over the use of the technology are also growing.

The concern increasing the most year-over-year was the cost of implementation, cited by 57% of retailers surveyed as a concern around Gen AI, up from only 25% in 2023. NVIDIA said that as companies shift past pilot projects and assessment periods, concerns about the cost of scaling existing projects into production and expanding use cases was expected to grow.

Other major concerns relate to data privacy and security. The top concern remained data privacy, cited by 60% of retailers surveyed, up from only 42% a year ago. Relatedly, data security was a concern for 49% of retailers, up from 38% the prior year. NVIDIA wrote in its report, "Generative AI models are well known to be data hungry, and companies want to make sure that data is safe, secure, and working for their company's interests."

Relatedly, 49% of respondents were also concerned about the regulatory and legal issues, including generative AI-created texts and images. The issue wasn't explored in the year-ago survey.

The fifth-highest Gen AI concern was misuse of the technology, cited by 41% of retailers, up from 21% a year ago. retailwire.com


New Law to Protect Those Who Purchase Guns
NSSF Praises Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for Signing Second Amendment Privacy Act
NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, praises Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for signing into law SB 58, the Second Amendment Privacy Act. This NSSF-supported law protects the privacy and sensitive financial information of people purchasing firearms and ammunition in The Buckeye State. With Ohio, there are now 18 states with laws that protect the Second Amendment financial privacy of their citizens.

The law prohibits financial institutions from requiring the use of a firearm code, also known as a Merchant Category Code (MCC), from being assigned to firearm and ammunition purchases at retail when using a credit card. The law also forbids discriminating against a firearm retailer as a result of the assigned or non-assignment of a firearm code and disclosing the protected financial information. Additionally, the law prohibits keeping or causing to be kept any list, record or registry of private firearm ownership.

NSSF worked closely with Ohio legislators to protect private and legal firearm and ammunition purchases from political exploitation. The Second Amendment Privacy Act is designed to protect the privacy of lawful and private firearm and ammunition purchases from being abused for political purposes by corporate financial service providers and unlawful government search and seizure of legal and private financial transactions.

Ohio joins a growing list of states that are standing against the invasion of financial privacy when exercising Second Amendment rights, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. nssf.org


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Cybersecurity Solutions Announced at NRF
How HPE's IoT Security Platform Transforms Retail Networks

HPE unveils IoT security platform to revolutionise retail cybersecurity, enhance omnichannel operations and fortify network defenses against cyber threats

Retail cybersecurity faces hurdles as the sector undergoes digital transformation and cyber attackers become more sophisticated.

The move to omnichannel retail has introduced complex networks of connected devices, from electronic shelf labels to inventory tracking systems, creating multiple potential entry points for cyber attacks.

Retail ranks amongst one of the most targeted sectors for cybercrime, with IoT devices increasingly exploited as security weak points.

This vulnerability increases as retailers deploy more edge computing solutions to meet consumer demands for seamless shopping experiences.

The security challenge is compounded by the need to protect both customer data and operational systems while maintaining the speed and efficiency modern retail requires.

In response, HPE has announced security-focused networking solutions at NRF 2025: Retail's Big Show to address these vulnerabilities while supporting retailers' digital transformation efforts. cybermagazine.com


Challenging Year Ahead for CISOs
New AI Challenges Will Test CISOs & Their Teams in 2025

CISOs need to recognize the new threats AI can present - while also embracing AI-powered solutions to stay ahead of those threats.

Security teams have always had to adapt to change, but new developments that will play out over the next year could make 2025 particularly challenging. The accelerating pace of AI innovation, increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, and new regulatory mandates will require chief information security officers (CISOs) to navigate a more complex landscape.

Vendors are rapidly adding AI-enabled features to existing products, and the foundational large language models (LLMs) they are using present a new attack surface that malicious actors will try to exploit. CISOs will need to understand their level of exposure to these threats and how to mitigate them.

Simultaneously, the dynamic landscape of cybersecurity regulations, particularly in regions like the European Union and California, demands enhanced collaboration between security and legal teams to ensure compliance and mitigate risks. This convergence of new technologies and laws means CISOs must balance board-level compliance needs with novel security challenges to protect their organizations.

Despite the potential security challenges posed by generative AI (GenAI), it also offers opportunities to improve the security of software development processes. By proactively identifying vulnerabilities and enabling greater automation, AI will help close the gap between developers and security teams. darkreading.com


CISA pins modest security gains to performance goals program

The federal agency said the number of critical infrastructure organizations enrolled in its vulnerability scanning program nearly doubled since 2022.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency trumpeted progress across its efforts to decrease critical infrastructure organization's exposure to actively exploited CVEs and cut remediation times in a Friday report.

The number of critical infrastructure organizations enrolled in CISA's vulnerability scanning service nearly doubled over a two-year period to 7,791 organizations at the end of August 2024. CISA added 1,199 vulnerabilities to its known exploited vulnerabilities catalog through the same period.

During the two-year period of analysis, critical infrastructure organizations enrolled in CISA's vulnerability scanning service reduced average remediation times from 60 days to 30 days. cybersecuritydive.com


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