How Facial Recognition & Other Tech is Changing Retail for the Better
Vision AI is Taking Hold in Retail for Store Security and Analytics
While there is no perfect technology out there today to end theft, retailers are meaningfully enhancing existing store systems with AI to better interpret what they're seeing. These smart systems can help enhance security and prevent shoplifting occurrences by repeat offenders, as well as gather invaluable anonymized data to inform marketing and store planning decisions.

Preventing Repeat Shoplifting

Camera systems are the base of any retailer's in-store security and their presence alone deters a portion of would-be shoplifters. However, for the rest, cameras alone do little to end a shoplifting incident. Unless security personnel are actively monitoring the individual out of all of the store cameras as the theft is happening, shoplifters are able to exit easily and often return to the same store to steal again.

Cameras equipped with AI facial recognition can flag a known shoplifter anytime one enters the store. Once flagged, security personnel can keep a closer eye on the individual or escort them out if they're banned from the premises.

It's important to note that the technology cannot flag the act of shoplifting itself, or an individual shoplifter who is not known or has not been apprehended in the past. It simply acts as a heads-up to store security when a known shoplifter does enter, so they can pay closer attention. With repeat offenders accounting for 40.1% of all incidents where a suspect was identified, AI-powered security acts as an effective first step toward reducing the impact of repeat shoplifting.

Informing an Enhanced Store Experience

By integrating a vision AI system within a store's existing camera network, retailers can gain insights into what kinds of shoppers are visiting the store, at what times, how long they're staying, what sections they're shopping in, whether or not they're making purchases and more. This data can inform decisions to adjust store setup to streamline the movement of customers to priority areas, reorganize product placements, influence in-store marketing or even modify the type of music or lighting.

Industry and Consumer Readiness to Adopt

The same KPMG study found that 90% of retail business leaders believe their employees are prepared and have the skills for AI adoption, and 53% said COVID-19 increased their company's pace of adoption.  retailtouchpoints.com


The Future of AI & Security
How is Artificial Intelligence Changing the Security Sector?

There is a widespread acceptance that AI is set to have a significant impact on the physical security sector in the years to come

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the security sector. With the Security Industry Association (SIA) citing AI as the predominant trend for a second year in a row, there's no doubt that new technology is transforming the way we work.

How has AI in security developed?

Whether it's in video surveillance, access control or risk management, AI is enabling the industry to switch its focus from reactive to proactive operations. "Security leaders who do not embrace a digital mindset risk becoming business irrelevant," says Michael Foynes, Senior Director at Microsoft Global Physical Security Operations.

For companies struggling to recruit security professionals, machine learning that mimics human behaviour over large areas will be a relief as it negates the need for hundreds of operatives. Crucially, combining AI with skilled security staff means that people power can be used where it's most effective.

According to Microsoft and Accenture, over three-quarters (78%) of leaders agree that the digital transformation of physical security will generate a meaningful ROI - but only 30% deemed it urgent - suggesting that security is lagging behind other sectors.

How is AI used in different sectors for security purposes?

Retail: AI-driven data and analytics helped retailers to track customer numbers during the pandemic. As well as reducing security issues (e.g. shoplifting), new technology is streamlining retail operations by ensuring that stock makes it onto shelves as quickly as possible and tailoring the customer experience in-store.

Law enforcement: Live Facial Recognition (LFR) is being tested by some police forces. The Metropolitan Police states that this kind of AI is "a carefully deployed overt policing tactic to help locate a limited number of people the police need to find in order to keep London safe."  ifsecglobal.com


Case In Point: More AI Robots in Stores
BJ's rolls out AI-driven, inventory-tracking robots across all its locations
BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. is streamlining shelf management activities with artificial intelligence (AI)-based robots.

The membership warehouse club retailer is deploying the Simbe Robotics Tally AI-based robotic solution across all stores. The robots will autonomously roam store aisles multiple times per day, leveraging computer vision technology to collect shelf data to help ensure that products are in-stock, shelved appropriately, and accurately priced.

Equipped with real-time shelf data provided by the Tally solution, BJ's hopes to enable faster restocking, direct store associates to quickly locate products, and obtain better visibility into inventory tracking. In addition, BJ's will review data captured by Tally robots to help monitor store conditions and the accuracy of merchandising execution.

Wakefern, Hy-Vee, Schnucks automate shelf tracking with robots

Wakefern Food Corp., which operates the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage and Fairway Market banners, is also utilizing Simbe Robotics Tally robots. Similar to BJ's, robots autonomously roam store aisles of Wakefern banners up to three times per day, leveraging computer vision technology to scan products to ensure they are in-stock, in the correct location, and accurately priced on the sales floor.

Two other regional grocers, Hy-Vee Inc. and Schnuck Markets, have also deployed Simbe Robotics Tally robots in their stores to automate the capture of on-shelf data including inventory position, price accuracy, and promotional execution. chainstoreage.com


DOJ Targeting Retailers Over Opioid Crisis
Walmart & Rite Aid Accused of Contributing to Opioid Crisis

US sues Rite Aid for missing opioid red flags
The Justice Department on Monday filed a lawsuit against Rite Aid for allegedly violating the Controlled Substances Act, alleging that the company "knowingly filled unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances."

In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Department of Justice is "using every tool at our disposal" to hold Rite Aid accountable for contributing to the opioid epidemic.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said "Rite Aid's pharmacists repeatedly filled prescriptions for controlled substances with obvious red flags, and Rite Aid intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers. These practices opened the floodgates for millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Rite Aid's stores."

In the complaint, The Justice department alleges that from May 2014 to June 2019, Rite Aid filled thousands of unlawful combinations of prescriptions known as "the trinity" which included prescriptions for "excessive quantities of opioids, such as oxycodone and fentanyl."

Rite Aid pharmacists were accused of ignoring obvious signs of misuse and intentionally deleting some pharmacists' internal warnings about suspicious prescribers, such as "cash only pill mill???"

Rite Aid is one of the country's largest pharmacy chains, with more than 2,330 stores in 17 US states. It did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The DOJ joined a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2019 by two pharmacists and a pharmacy technician from Rite Aid stores in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and West Virginia. The Justice Department occasionally joins whistleblower cases it considers stronger.

It has also sued Walmart and drug distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp over their alleged roles in the nation's opioid crisis. cnn.com


U.S. Consumer Spending Declined in February After Hot Start to Year
Retail sales fell 0.4% last month as Americans spent less at auto dealers and restaurants

Target is closing 4 locations in Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and the DC area
The company cited declining foot traffic at the stores, and will offer most employees positions at other locations.

J. Jill aims to grow store footprint, eventually

Five Below names COO

AT&T, PayPal, and Microsoft: Top Phishing Domains
Brand Names in Finance, Telecom, Tech Lead Successful Phishing Lures

AT&T, PayPal, and Microsoft top the list of domains that victims visit following a link in a phishing email, as firms fight to prevent fraud and credential harvesting.

Credential-seeking cyberattackers garnered the most phishing success by impersonating the brands of telecommunications firms, financial institutions, and popular technology companies in 2022.

That's according to an analysis of data collected by Internet services provider Cloudflare, which found that Individuals most often clicked on links in emails that appeared to come from AT&T and Verizon, PayPal and Wells Fargo, or Microsoft and Facebook. The rankings did not align with popularity - the Internal Revenue Service ranked No. 6 - but rather with the size of the brand's user base and the relative opportunity to turn compromise into cash, says Matthew Prince, CEO and co-founder of Cloudflare.

"We're seeing up and down the brand list, from the largest and most risky down to the smallest, that phishing is not going away as a problem," Prince says. "Email still continues to be the No. 1 entry point for an attacker [and] phishing still continues to be the No. 1 threat for almost all of our customers."

In addition, attackers are increasingly using phishing in an attempt to steal credentials from privileged employees and gain access to corporate networks, he says.

Cloudflare is not the only organization to see phishing as a threat, of course. In 2022, more than 300,000 complaints of phishing attacks flooded the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), slightly down from the peak in 2021 of nearly 324,000 complaints, but a 162% increase from three years ago.

The phishing problem can be more problematic on mobile devices, since attackers are harder to spot in most mobile mail clients. In 2022, mobile phishing encounter rates - a measure of the number of phishing attempts the average user receives - increased roughly 10% for enterprise devices and more than 20% for personal devices, according to mobile-device management firm Lookout. Overall, half of mobile users faced a phishing attack at some point in 2022, the company stated in its recent "State of Mobile Phishing in 2023" report. darkreading.com


'Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot
CISA now warns critical infrastructure of ransomware-vulnerable devices
Today, the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced a new pilot program to help critical infrastructure entities protect their information systems from ransomware attacks.

"Through the Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot (RVWP), which started on January 30, 2023, CISA is undertaking a new effort to warn critical infrastructure entities that their systems have exposed vulnerabilities that may be exploited by ransomware threat actors," the cybersecurity agency said.

CISA's newly established Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot (RVWP) program has two goals: to scan critical infrastructure entities' networks for Internet-exposed systems with vulnerabilities that ransomware attackers often exploit to breach networks and help vulnerable organizations fix the flaws before they get hacked.

This is part of a broader effort to fend off the escalating ransomware threat that started almost two years ago after a barrage of cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure organizations and U.S. government agencies, starting with ransomware attacks that hit the networks of Colonial Pipeline, JBS Foods, and Kaseya.

In June 2021, the agency released the Ransomware Readiness Assessment (RRA), a new module for its Cyber Security Evaluation Tool (CSET). RRA helps organizations assess their readiness to prevent and recover from ransomware attacks and can be customized for different cybersecurity maturity levels.

Two months later, in August 2021, CISA published guidance to help at-risk government and private sector organizations prevent ransomware data breaches.

This list of best practices was released in response to multiple ransomware gangs using data stolen from victims in double extortion schemes where they threatened to leak the stolen info on their dedicated leak site, a tactic now adopted by most ransomware operations.

Earlier that month, CISA launched a new partnership to protect U.S. critical infrastructure from ransomware and other cyber threats, known as the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC). bleepingcomputer.com


AI-Generated Videos Packed With Malware
Hike in AI-Created YouTube Videos Loaded With Malware

AI-generated videos pose as tutorials on how to get cracked versions of Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and more.

Artificial Intelligence is being used to generate videos pretending to be step-by-step tutorials on how to access programs like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Autodesk 3ds Max, AutoCAD, and others without a license. Instead, the videos are loaded with infostealer malware that scrapes the viewer's sensitive personal data stored on the device.

Researchers with CloudSEK measured a month-over-month increase of 200% to 300% since November 2022 of AI-created YouTube videos with links to infostealer malware, including Vidar, RedLine, and Raccoon.

Making the video lures more compelling to its targets, the CloudSEK security team added, AI video tools such as Synthesia and D-ID are being used to generate personas intended to exude trustworthiness across multiple languages and social media platforms, supercharging threat actors' ability to deliver infostealer malware.

"It is well known that videos featuring humans, especially those certain facial features, appear more familiar and trustworthy," the CloudSEK report explained. "Hence, there has been a recent trend of videos featuring AI-generated personas, across languages and platforms (Twitter, Youtube, Instagram), providing recruitment details, educational training, promotional material, etc. And threat actors have also now adopted this tactic." darkreading.com


Hacker posts more data online, exposing lawmakers' personal information

3 Keys to Better Cybersecurity

Record Fraud Losses Hit Canada
Fraud Prevention Month 2023: Fraud losses in Canada reach another historic level
In the past decade, technology has completely transformed the criminal landscape, making fraud easier to commit, more widespread, and more sophisticated than ever before.

In 2022, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre received fraud and cybercrime reports totalling a staggering $530 million in victim losses. Nearly a 40% increase from the unprecedented $380 million in losses in 2021. Unfortunately, the increase in financial loss isn't tied to an increase in reporting-the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre estimates that only 5 to 10% of people report fraud.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Competition Bureau are once again joining forces this March to lead the 19th edition of Fraud Prevention Month. Under the theme "Tricks of the trade: What's in a fraudster's toolbox?", this year's campaign will expose fraudsters' tricks, tools and tactics, to help Canadians equip their own toolbox to protect themselves.

While law enforcement agencies and members of the Fraud Prevention Forum are committed to strategically collaborating and dedicating resources to preventing and combatting fraud, Canadian consumers and businesses also have a huge role to play to help stop fraudsters. Education and awareness are the strongest line of defence against scams and fraud.

This March, join the conversation using #FPM2023 to find and share information to recognize, reject and report fraud. Follow us on social media and spread the word far and wide:

• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre Twitter and Facebook
• RCMP Twitter and Facebook
• Competition Bureau Twitter and Facebook rcmp-grc.gc.ca


43% of Canadians Have Fallen Victim to Fraud
Canadians are exposed to fraud each year. Here's how businesses can help
Many Canadians are subjected to fraud and scams each year, and to coincide with Fraud Awareness Month in March, CTVNews.ca takes a look at some of the red flags for individuals and businesses. A survey by Ipsos shows many Canadians are falling victim to fraud, the most common being credit card fraud, email/phishing scams and debit card fraud.

The online survey, commissioned by Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, a national organization representing accountants, found 43 per cent of surveyed Canadians have fallen victim to at least one type of fraud. Ipsos surveyed 2,005 Canadians 18 years or older between Jan. 3 to 5 this year.

These findings are a concern to Douglas Kalesnikoff, associate professor at the Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan, who said if businesses are able to recognize the red flags and prevent fraud can help lower the risk for all Canadians

What are Preventative Measures

Kalesnikoff says a whistleblower hotline, where other employees can report suspicious activity, is helpful. However, to prevent employees from wanting to commit fraud, Kalesnikoff says it has to be instilled within the ethics of the company.

"For example, let's say that they (the company) puts a lot of pressure on their salespeople to make certain sales targets," he said.

What could happen in this scenario is employees could "cut corners or give false representations to customers," Kalesnikoff said. "An organization has to be careful as to what sort of compensation plans or what motivations that they are supplying to the employees," he added.

More businesses in Canada have been subjected to ransomware attacks, like Indigo Books & Music Inc., where hackers attempt to obtain money or personal information from customers or employees.

As technology becomes more sophisticated, Kalesnikoff says companies should be investing money and energy to prevent such cyberattacks. ctvnews.ca


March is Fraud Prevention Month
RCC's Fraud Prevention Resource Page

Fraud in Canada has, sadly, reached a new peak.

In 2022, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) received fraud and cybercrime reports totaling a staggering $530 million in victim losses - nearly a 40% increase from the unprecedented $380 million in losses in 2021. That's why RCC has produced the following resource page for this March, Fraud Prevention Month. retailcouncil.org
 

Las Vegas, NV: Man accused of stealing $11K in tools from Lowe's over 6 weeks
A Las Vegas man is facing charges after he allegedly stole numerous welders and other items totaling more than $11,000 over a period of six weeks and then sold them for a profit. Adam Gilliland, 35, was arrested on March 9 during a vehicle stop after police spotted a pickup truck, recently spray painted with a mismatched license plate. The day before the arrest, Las Vegas Metropolitan police had released images from a surveillance camera of two suspects in a string of thefts at home improvement stores. One of those suspects is now identified as Gilliland. According to the arrest report, Gilliland targeted Lowe's home improvement stores at least nine times from Dec. 26, 2022, through Feb. 14, 2023, to steal items to resell them. The report said he stole 9 welders, 2 tools and batteries, 1 generator, and a pressure washer as well as some other items. He used the same technique during most of the thefts. Gilliland would ask a sales associate to unlock a security case and take out an expensive tool for him to purchase and he would put it in his cart and head toward the cashier with the sales associate accompanying him. However, when he got to the cashier, he would run with the cart out of the store and put the stolen item in a white pickup truck, and drive off, the report stated. At one store, "The associate attempts to confront Gilliland when Gilliland stated, "do not try to stop me" and reaches into his pocket as if to grab a weapon, according to the report.  8newsnow.com


Oak Brook, IL: 2 women charged with stealing nearly $1K in merchandise from Old Navy in Oak Brook
Jara Tramble, 28, and Ashley Washington, 29, have each been charged with burglary and retail theft, according to the DuPage County state's attorney's office. Oak Brook police responded to a call of a retail theft around 2 p.m. Friday at the Old Navy store at 2155 22nd Street, prosecutors said. Two people, later identified as Tramble and Washington, allegedly entered the store and removed security sensors from various pieces of merchandise, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said the pair left the store with about $910 worth of merchandise. Officers later located both women at a nearby store where they were taken into custody.  fox32chicago.com


Auckland, New Zealand: Handbags worth thousands stolen from Auckland shop
Handbags worth thousands of dollars have been stolen from a central Auckland store on Tuesday, after two men smashed their way in with a sledgehammer. Saben, a handbag and accessory store on Ponsonby Rd, was the site of the early morning raid. Saben's Rosie Holt said the company's founder and owner, Roanne Jacobson, was alerted to the break in when the alarm triggered just after 2.30am. Jacobson checked the cameras and saw two men had put a sledgehammer through the glass in the door, and were collecting handfuls of handbags, Holt said. They were still going through what had been taken, but thousands of dollars worth of stock had been stolen. Saben handbags cost between $130 and $700. stuff.co.nz


Lancaster County, PA: Lancaster police seeking suspects after $5,000 worth of merchandise stolen from Target
The Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Department is investigating the alleged theft of nearly $5,000 worth of goods from the Target located in Warwick Township. According to police, multiple suspects allegedly selected and concealed items within children's clothing at a Target located in Warwick Township. The suspects then left the store.  abc27.com


Evansville, IN: Man pinned down by customer after trying to steal from Rural King
A man being charged with stealing from an Evansville store was reportedly pinned down by a customer while officers were on their way to the scene, according to a police report. Officers with the Evansville Police Department were called to investigate a theft at the Rural King on Morgan Avenue around 8:30 p.m. Monday. Dispatchers told responding officers that a customer had reportedly pinned an accused thief armed with a handheld taser on the ground. When officers arrived, they say they found the man in custody with a deputy. They say multiple witnesses told them the man left the store with an arm load of items. Officers say they talked to the suspect, Jeffrey Canary, who denied stealing anything from the business. EPD says Canary was in possession of three Carhartt containers that were taken from the store. They say he also had numerous piles of clothes stacked and stored behind a nearby dumpster. The police report says that management from Rural King listed items taken from the store, which included things like a wallet and various jackets and clothing. EPD says the merchandise totaled about $1,200.  wevv.com


Wichita Falls, TX: C-Store burglarized 2nd time in months, loss of nearly $12,000 in cigarettes

Arnold, MO: Walmart thief's two-month self-checkout scam caught by cops after he stole $426.13 over 17 shopping trips

Somerset Township, PA: $800 in merchandise stolen from adult store in Washington County