Coronavirus Update
 

Coronavirus Map: March 17 Update

US: 5,000+ Cases, 93 Dead -- Globally: 185,000+ Cases, 7,454 Dead

RILA Cancels Retail Asset Protection Conference

In response to the continuing spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, RILA will cancel the 2020 Retail Asset Protection Conference scheduled for May 3-6, 2020 in Grapevine, Texas. This decision reflects our commitment to the safety and well-being of participating executives, current government-imposed states of emergency and emergency government regulations, and the sound guidance and strong admonitions against travel and large gatherings from federal, state and local public health authorities. It is simply impossible for us the hold the conference as scheduled.

Retail executives, as well as exhibitors and sponsors currently registered for the conference will have the option to transfer their registration to 2021 or receive a full refund.

While RILA is committed to providing top-flight education and networking opportunities to the retail asset protection community, at this time, our primary focus is providing retailers with the services and resources they need to respond effectively to the COVID-19 outbreak. rila.org


NRF wants your feedback on the retail impact of COVID-19
The NRF is continuing to assess the impact of COVID-19 on our industry. To help us ensure retailers have the resources and information they need, we are conducting a member survey to understand the ongoing implications for supply chains and operations.

We want to hear from you. Take our quick survey today.

(All individual responses are confidential. NRF will share results only in the aggregate.)


Update: New Retailers Announcing Temporary Store Closures or Reduced Hours

Coronavirus Already Taking Big Toll on Urban Malls
Malls in dense, urban locations have in recent years have generally been more profitable than those in sparsely-populated areas, because foot traffic is typically stronger. But with the coronavirus spreading at a faster rate in metropolitan areas, many of these malls are poised to take a big hit. Some tenants, likely to be hurt by falling foot traffic and by orders from the authorities to close, may struggle to pay their rent.

Over the weekend, one of the biggest malls in the country, King of Prussia mall in the Philadelphia area, closed its doors on orders from local authorities. The most expensive mall ever built in the U.S., American Dream, which was scheduled to open numerous stores on March 19, said it was closing the New Jersey retail and entertainment complex from Monday until the end of March to curb the spread of the virus.

Others, such as Kings Plaza in Brooklyn, New York, are seeing some tenants such as Charlotte Russe and Aldo, shutter their stores early. wsj.com

Coronavirus Forces Grocery Stores To Increase Hiring To Keep Up With Demand
Grocery stores across the United States (including Kroger, Costco, Safeway, Albertsons, H-E-B and more) are hiring more workers to keep up with demand because of the coronavirus outbreak. Job openings range from overnight stockers to part-time cashiers. Some stores are also shifting workers to areas that need more help as panic buying continues to be a problem in many parts of the country.

Although grocery stores have started to limit purchases of specific items and have urged customers not to hoard, they are still struggling to keep up with rising demand. As more cities and states restrict dine-in eating at restaurants, grocery shopping will increase even more. Long checkout lines and empty shelves that need to be restocked frequently have forced stores to ramp up hiring. forbes.com

Amazon hiring 100,000 new distribution workers to meet online shopping demand
Amazon says the coronavirus outbreak has caused a surge in online shopping, and now the online giant is adding 100,000 new full-time and part-time positions across the United States to keep up with the demand.
The jobs will be Amazon's fulfillment centers and its delivery network.

In addition to hiring thousands of new workers, Amazon said it is investing more than $350 million to raise pay for hourly employees in warehouse and distribution roles through April. It will pay an additional $2 USD per hour above the base hourly rate of $15 or more, depending on the region, in the United States, £2 more per hour in the United Kingdom and 2 euros more per hour in many European countries.

The company said it is consulting with medical and health experts on recommended safety precautions within its facilities, and has implemented "social distancing in the workplace" and enhanced cleaning. cnn.com

Coronavirus wreaks havoc on retail supply chains globally,
even as China's factories come back online
At first, U.S. retailers were most concerned about manufacturing facilities being disrupted by COVID-19 in China, where the virus originated. Now, in the midst of a global pandemic, this is a much bigger issue than China. While some manufacturing operations are getting back up and running, much of the rest of the world is in distress.

The coronavirus could deal a blow to companies already on the brink of going out of business. While it may seem far off, the disruption is already starting to impact the shipment of goods to retailers for the back-to-school season, analysts say. And if the situation persists, it could end up hitting the holidays, when many retailers make the bulk of their profits. cnbc.com

Employers Advised to Ponder Worst-Case Scenarios
With the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, employers are strategizing on what to do when employees have stopped coming to work and customers are staying away from their businesses. Their options include shift reductions, furloughs, reductions in force (RIFs) or even permanent office or plant closures, all of which raise compliance issues under federal, state and local laws.

For industries that can't tell employees to work from home, such as manufacturing, retail, and hospitality, employers may take steps to have fewer workers in a building at any one time to reduce contagion in the workplace. For employees who can't work remotely, there are scheduling options "that could allow you to keep employee density down or that would allow you to accommodate the same output with a smaller workforce at any one time."

Staggered shifts, for instance, could limit the number of employees interacting and reduce the likelihood of transmission.

Mass layoffs and business closings might not happen, but if they do? shrm.org


White House Seeks $850 Billion Stimulus and Urges Sending Checks to Americans Within 2 Weeks

CDC EPIC Webinar on March 18 at 1 p.m. ET: Answering 20 Questions about COVID-19

AMC, Regal closing all movie theaters amid coronavirus

Adidas not yet closing U.S. stores amid coronavirus: 'Closing is easy, staying open requires courage'

Dollar General cuts store hours, dedicates hour to senior shoppers during coronavirus pandemic

Trump spoke with restaurant company CEOs about keeping drive-thru options open

McDonald's says it can't estimate coronavirus impact to its business, it will consider rent deferrals for franchisees

Subway franchisees seek relief from corporate fees as pandemic dries up business

Coronavirus brings no-contact food delivery to United States

Starbucks to Offer Free Therapy to All Workers

4 Ways to Support Employees During a Crisis

Read More in Today's E-Commerce Column: Amazon is suspending all shipments other than medical supplies and household staples to its warehouses amid coronavirus crisis

Trump urges Americans not to hoard groceries amid coronavirus panic

Relax, America: The U.S. Has Plenty of Toilet Paper

Watch: Australian shoppers brawl in wild coronavirus buying spree

Great Interactive Graphics: Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to "flatten the curve"
 

FaceFirst Continues Work in D.C. Influencing Future Facial Recognition Legislation
FaceFirst, the leading U.S. computer vision company, continues its work with D.C. lawmakers to influence future facial recognition regulations. FaceFirst President and CEO Peter Trepp, traveled to Capitol Hill again earlier this month to meet with top lawmakers to continue discussions to help get legislation passed. FaceFirst has been leading the discussions with congressional lawmakers to assure regulations are passed with very clear language specifically carved out for retail loss prevention use while protecting honest consumers' privacy in an opt-in-only scenario for personalization. Read more in today's Vendor Spotlight column below.

Checkpoint Partners with JCPenney to Provide Enhanced Shopping Experience
Checkpoint Systems, a global leader in retail technology solutions recently partnered with JCPenney on its reimagined Brand-Defining Store in Hurst, Texas, that delivers an improved customer experience to shoppers. The new Styling Rooms at the Hurst store are equipped with Checkpoint's InterACT Fitting Room solution and JCPenney Style @ Your Service technology. prnewswire.com

Introducing OWS 24/7, a New Subscription Option for OpenEye Web Services
OpenEye, a leading provider of cloud-managed video surveillance solutions, announces the introduction of OWS 24/7, the new monthly software subscription option for OpenEye Web Services users. The subscription model offers users an all in one solution that streamlines software license management and reduces upfront deployment costs. openeye.net
 

First private prosecution for shoplifting brought by a corporate 'victim'

UK: Walgreens-owner Boots launches landmark legal battle with shoplifter after police let him off with a slap on the wrist

Boots has made legal history by launching a private prosecution against a career criminal who police released despite him being caught shoplifting red-handed.

Nicholas Richards was on a suspended sentence for theft when he was seen taking 170 Pounds worth of Gucci perfume from the chemist's flagship Piccadilly branch in the West End of London.

Yet when police officers arrived they told astonished staff it was a 'civil matter' and let Richards go.

The company, which loses up to 12,000 Pounds a week to shoplifting, refused to let the matter go, however. Instead, it became involved in what is believed to be the first private prosecution for shoplifting brought by a corporate 'victim'. dailymail.co.uk

Smart Safes: Cash Security is Store Security
Store security generally focuses on avoiding theft, robbery and shrinkage. One potentially overlooked but important way to keep your store, customers and employees safe is to keep your cash safe. One way to do that is to secure the cash with a smart safe that keeps you connected to your money, while keeping employees safe.

"Smart safes have the capability to maintain an accurate account of the cash on hand, complete the end-of-day accounting process, initiate an armored truck pick-up and provide added security around overall cash handling for employees," said Sean Sportun, manager of security and loss prevention for Circle K Central Canada. "The entire process has made it easier for operations to control cash losses, but most importantly, it is making the overall store environment safer for employees and customers." cstoredecisions.com

Commerce Dept: Retail sales fall 0.5% in February, biggest drop since 2018
Retail sales fell 0.5% in February, the largest drop in more than a year, indicating that the consumer sector was slowing even before the coronavirus struck with force in the United States. Economists said they were looking for even weaker numbers in coming months.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the February drop in sales was the biggest since a 2% decline in December 2018. Sales had been up 0.6% in January. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, retail sales were still down a sizable 0.4%.

In a likely sign of things to come, online sales showed a solid gain of 0.7% in February. Economists are forecasting even bigger demand in this area as Americans heed warnings to limit activities outside the home to try to halt the spread of the virus. apnews.com

Experts Say Nike Could Lose $3.5 Billion USD in Q4 2020 Revenue Due to COVID-19

L Brands, American Eagle, other retailers withdraw earnings outlooks as coronavirus shuts stores, some are tapping credit lines

Rite Aid plans to spend $700M over 2 years to change how its stores operate

Ascena gives its balance sheet some relief, but analysts still expect a restructuring

No luck for the Irish as closed U.S. pubs face coronavirus losses on St. Patrick's Day
 

Threat Awareness: A Critical First Step in Detecting Adversaries

One thing seems certain: Attackers are only getting more devious and lethal. Expect to see more advanced attacks.

As security practitioners, it's our mission not only to build the new tools needed to arrest and detect threats effectively, but to help make sense of the wide-ranging nature of what constitutes security. That starts with threat awareness. After all, you can't defend against what you don't understand.

Here are some of the major threat landscape changes we've seen in the last year and will continue to see this year and beyond.

Evading Security Controls with Automated, Active Attacks
Automated, active attacks are on the rise. These types of attacks involve a mix of automation and human-directed hacking to evade security controls.

Attackers in the recent Snatch ransomware attacks, for example, gained access by abusing remote access services, like RDP, and then used hand-to-keyboard hacking to complete the attack. Recently, attackers have upped the ante by exfiltrating data before beginning encryption and rebooting machines into Safe Mode during the attack in order to circumvent endpoint protection. These changing attack methods are part of the growing trend of defense evasion and highlight the need for protection at every layer of the environment.

Raising the Stakes with Ransomware
Ransomware creators know that if they can't get past detection systems, their operation has little chance of success. Therefore, they're putting a lot of effort into figuring out ways to evade detection systems altogether. One of the most effective methods is changing their appearance - often by obfuscating their code - to disguise their true intent.

Scamming Through Stealthy, Malicious Apps
Smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices are rich environments for attacks. Not only can attackers steal user information and cash or cryptocurrency, but they can also use mobile devices to gain access to corporate resources.

Exploiting Misconfiguration in the Cloud - Abusing Machine Learning - The Road Ahead darkreading.com


How CSOs Can Strategically Keep Security on the Map, Part 1

The high stakes and visibility have forced CISOs to become more calculated, led to massive increases in funding, and given the CISO a prominent position in the organization for mitigating risk. In my experience, the CSO can also become increasingly strategic about physical security and risk mitigation by following key steps. In essence it requires the CSO to adopt a mindset of businessperson first, security professional second.

Understand the Key Drivers of Profitability

The drivers of profitability (and market capitalization) might not be obvious to you, but they are salient to the key business leaders. As a CSO (or ranking security officer), you need to be a business leader who can connect safety and security to the organization's bottom line.

If you haven't already, you should conduct a detailed assessment of your organization's business model, assets and structure - and know how they relate to physical risk mitigation. There are several places you can gather this information. Industry/trade publications can be a fantastic source. If your organization is publicly traded, its 10-K will be instructive - as will the 10-K of any competitors. You can search for them, along with other public filings, using the US SEC EDGAR database.

Your colleagues can also provide invaluable guidance. Make sure to speak with key stakeholders and business leaders at different levels of the organization and look for any available data to inform your analysis.

Here are some key aspects to examine as part of your analysis.

At a high level, what are the strategic assets driving revenue or profitability for your organization?

The answer to this question relies on many factors, including the applicable industry, organizational structure, primary product(s) and market(s) and others.

What are the unique risks faced by your organization?

Understanding the biggest risk factors to your organization's bottom line - both real and perceived - are critical to building a strategic and successful physical risk mitigation program. A given organization's risk profile is determined by the nature, location and categories of its assets: people, places, products and partners. You should seek to understand the sources of recurring or acute risk, based on your organization's characteristics. securitymagazine.com


Two Corporate Finance Companies Leak Half a Million Legal and Financial Documents Online

Privacy in a Pandemic: What You Can (and Can't) Ask Employees

UK's National Cyber Security Centre issues coronavirus cyber security alert

Five Indicted in $4M Scheme Involving Romance and Lottery Fraud Charges