Can an ORC Task Force Help Curb Theft in New York?
Opinion: Reconsider ORC task force to settle differences, fix problem
Retail crimes cost New Yorker retailers $4 billion a year. Between 2021 and 2022, incidents rose more than 26%, many of which included violence.

If only there were some kind of bipartisan group in the state that could be studying the problem. If only this group was studying retail crime statistics looking at potential contributing causes, like poverty, gang activity, drug addiction, organized crime's involvement and the role of bail reform laws on recidivism.

If only this group was made up of representatives from both parties in the Legislature and the governor's office, and if only it took into consideration input from stakeholders like retailers, law enforcement, crime victims advocates and social justice organizations - the people who know most about this issue and who could offer workable ideas.

They could call it something catchy, like the New York State Organized Retail Crime Task Force. Couldn't that be useful in helping the governor and lawmakers settle their differences over the issue in the quest for workable solutions? Sure it could.

In fact, state lawmakers last year passed a bill - which we endorsed in November - to create just such a task force. The bill (A6568B/S6714B) passed both houses unanimously, 140-0 in the Assembly and 63-0 in the Senate.

But despite the widespread bipartisan support in the Legislature, Hochul vetoed the bill.

We're not saying setting up a task force is the only way to solve the problem. But if it was in place right now, it could be giving lawmakers and the governor vital anecdotal and statistical information about the contributing factors and offering informed solutions from those who are directly dealing with this issue.

State leaders should reconsider setting up the task force and put it to work immediately to solve this growing, costly and dangerous problem. dailygazette.com

   RELATED EDITORIAL: Retail theft fight is worth the cost


Businesses Sound the Alarm Over D.C.'s Crime Crisis
DC business owner slams city leaders for out-of-control crime: 'Lack courage' to 'be more aggressive'

Washington, D.C. lawmakers recently passed an anti-crime bill after businesses warned of 'alarming' trend of violence

Business owners and community leaders in one Washington, D.C. neighborhood sounded off about violent crime "terrorizing" residents after a deadly shooting rocked their community last weekend. Two people were killed and five people were injured in the deadly shooting in Shaw over the weekend and the suspect has yet to be identified. One business owner blamed city leaders for not being aggressive enough on crime.

Maupillier said he is struggling to keep his business open because of violence in the neighborhood. Shootings in the area have driven customers away and prompted two of his employees to quit. He blamed DC officials for not taking a tougher stance on crime. "They lack courage to change and be more aggressive toward the people that create crimes," he told The Post. "Police can't do anything. We don't do anything about petty crime anymore."

Business leaders wrote a letter to Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser earlier this month warning about an "alarming increase in violent crime across our city." Days later, lawmakers in the district passed a sweeping anti-crime bill intended to crack down on violent crime and theft.

The Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024 - which includes more than 100 proposals to fight crime, including ramping up gun violence penalties and adding punishments for organized retail theft, according to FOX 5 DC - was passed by the D.C. Council in a 12-1 vote on March 5. Mayor Bowser signed the crime bill into law on March 11. foxnews.com


Baltimore's 'Safe Streets' Violence Prevention Program
After mass shooting, Safe Streets now escalates incidents with threat of 'mass harm'
Safe Streets workers don't share information directly with law enforcement, but now they will notify the city of large community events - including those that could turn dangerous.

According to a Safe Streets escalation protocol that came out of last July's Brooklyn Homes mass shooting, site staffers are expected to share details they learn about all large community events. And, if workers hear of an event with the potential for "mass harm or destruction," that notification to the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement must happen immediately.

MONSE officials can then, depending on the circumstance, boost the presence of city-connected violence intervention resources and consider escalating the issue to the attention of the mayor's administration.

Safe Streets, the city's flagship violence intervention program, was one of many groups in the spotlight - in part because staff from the Brooklyn site were aware of and attended Brooklyn Day even though police were caught flat-footed.

Leaders were adamant then and now that Safe Streets should not be expected to work with police.

Under the plan for dangerous events, too, Safe Streets workers do not directly relay information to law enforcement. MONSE spokesman Jack French said last week that is "in line with the need to maintain their credibility and individual safety."  baltimoresun.com


Did Internet Platforms 'Radicalize' the Buffalo Supermarket Shooter?
Reddit & YouTube face lawsuit over the radicalization of the Buffalo shooter
The tech companies Reddit and YouTube must face a lawsuit filed by the survivors of a racist shooting in Buffalo that alleges the sites' algorithms helped to radicalize the shooter and prepare him for the attack, a New York state judge has ruled.

Filed last year, the lawsuit claims that, before the shooter killed 10 Black people at a Tops grocery store in 2022, he steeped himself in increasingly inflammatory and conspiratorial content on YouTube and Reddit, then sought guidance on the platforms to acquire a weapon and body armor for the attack.

The suit is a test of the limits of Section 230, a law that has long shielded internet platforms from lawsuits over content posted by their users. The plaintiffs are 25 survivors of the shooting, who are represented by the legal group Everytown Law, which specializes in gun safety litigation.

Reddit and YouTube had independently asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit. But in a ruling Monday, Judge Paula Feroleto rejected those requests.

"For too long, social media companies have skirted accountability by hiding behind Section 230, claiming immunity from liability for content they distribute," Everytown Law Executive Director Eric Tirschwell said in a statement. "We must hold accountable every single bad actor that prepared and equipped the shooter to target and kill members of Buffalo's Black community."

In statements to NPR, Reddit and YouTube said they disagreed with the decision and planned to appeal. npr.org


Retail Violence 'Epidemic' Across the Pond
Worst crimes against shop workers revealed

An 'epidemic', 'out of control' and 'decriminalised' are a handful of the ways retail crime is being described

Incidents of violence and abuse against the retail sector rose by 50% to 1,300 a day in 2023, according to the BRC. They ranged from racial abuse, sexual harassment and physical assault to threats with weapons.

The shoplifting scourge also shows no signs of slowing, with the cost of theft almost doubling to £1.8bn - amounting to 45,000 incidents a day.

Narrowed to the convenience sector, the picture isn't any brighter. According to ACS, cases of violence rose by 85.4% to 76,000 incidents in the past year, while shoplifting soared by 409% and reached 5.6 million incidents.

As theft, violence and abuse continue to wreak havoc on the sector, victims reveal some of their worst experiences to The Grocer. Check them out here: thegrocer.co.uk


Another Mall Enacts Youth Escort Policy Amid Theft & Fight Surge
New youth escort policy at Uptown Rapid
Anyone under 18 needs to have an adult with them if they want to hang out at the mall. Uptown Rapid, formerly the Rushmore Mall, has a new youth escort policy that bans people under 18 who are not accompanied by an adult.

According to Sandy Brockhouse, general manager of Uptown Rapid, their corporation implemented the policy due to a rise in thefts and fights. She says the majority of these thefts and fights are among the age group of 18 years and younger.

Rockstep Capitol, which owns Uptown Rapid, is implementing this policy across all properties they own nationwide. Uptown Rapid's Youth Escort Policy is posted at each of the mall entrances. blackhillsfox.com


Another Retail Theft Task Force Paying Off
Clovis, Calif. PD's retail theft task force new unit taking crooks down
Between February 1st and March 19th, he says they have served 5 residential warrants, served 10 smaller warrants associated with social media accounts that resell retail items, and have made over 10 arrests. All of that, in less than two months.

He also says they recovered $15,000 worth of stolen property as a result of an investigation. He points out, that it's all thanks to a state grant that they were able to create the unit. It consists of 4 patrol officers, a detective, and a lieutenant who focus specifically on organized retail crime. kmph.com


Cleveland police data shows decrease in crime through the first quarter of the year
 
Charleston, WV police stats released; violent crime numbers down
 

CISOs Put in Tough Spot Amid Changing Demands
The New CISO: Rethinking the Role

Rising cybersecurity demands are changing the role of the head security officer. CISOs need to make a list, check it at least twice, and document every step.

Companies recognize the importance of cybersecurity and increasingly incorporate it as an asset in their operational strategies. But by mixing security and operations, organizations may be diluting the core mission of the chief information security officer (CISO): to protect the assets of the company from unwanted attacks.

Today, CISOs are also expected to defer to business needs while still being accountable for breaches. At networking events, I'm seeing more and more CISOs with business backgrounds focusing less on the cyber aspects of the job and more on supporting business priorities.

This switch can leave companies in a precarious position. In 2024, we need to rethink the role of the CISO yet again. Today's CISO must help their organization understand that prioritizing risk reduction is key to the business's resilience in the face of modern threats.

Today's CISO: The Resilient Politician

CISOs once were able to sell their importance based on the idea that, in cyber terms, the sky was falling. But as the business and security sides of companies merged, corporate accountability came into play. CISOs' focus shifted from risk avoidance to risk posture and consideration of what level is acceptable in the pursuit of business goals.

In many cases, business units that generate revenue now have the final say on just what level of risk is acceptable, including cyber-risk. Meanwhile, business leaders, who have become more conversant in cybersecurity, no longer want to hear that the sky is falling. Instead, they want the CISO's focus to stay on growth and profitability while protecting the enterprise from cyberattacks. With the proliferation of ransomware, CISOs must not only prevent, detect, and remediate security risks, but now must consider how resilient the systems are from cyberattacks that can put the company out of business. CISOs must also focus on how quickly the company can recover from a cyber event.
 
Considering the increasing pressure from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice regarding CISO accountability in the wake of a cyberattack, this position is quickly becoming untenable. darkreading.com


It's the old: Speed Over Security
Shadow AI - Should I be Worried?
Since OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the number of products using Generative AI has skyrocketed. Right now there are some 12,000 AI tools available promising to help with over 16,000 job tasks and we’re seeing this number grow at around 1,000 every month.

The growth of these tools is fast outpacing the capability of employers to control them. In the UK alone Deloitte has found that 1m employees (or 8% of the adult workforce) have used GenAI tools for work. And only 23% of this number believe their employer would have approved of this use. This indicates that either their employer doesn’t have a policy about using AI safely or they’re just ignoring it in the hope that the perceived productivity gain is worth the risk. As we have seen with ‘Shadow IT’ – if employees believe there are productivity gains to be made by using their own devices or third party services then they’ll do it….unless firms come up with pragmatic policies and safeguards to work with new areas of technology.

Employers are entitled to be cautious. Most of the 12,000 tools listed above are in the main thin veneers over ChatGPT with clever prompt engineering designed to make them appear differentiated and aligned to help with a specific job function. However, unlike ChatGPT which at least has some safeguards against data protection, these GPTs offer no defence about where company data will ultimately end up – it can still be sent to any number of spurious third party websites with unknown security controls.

We analyzed the most popular GPTs and found that forty percent of the apps can involve uploading content, code, files, or spreadsheets for AI assistance. This raises some data leakage questions if employees are uploading corporate files of those types, such as: securityweek.com


Small Number of 'Careless Users' Causing Data Loss Events
1% of users are responsible for 88% of data loss events
Data loss is a problem stemming from the interaction between humans and machines, and 'careless users' are much more likely to cause those incidents than compromised or misconfigured systems, according to Proofpoint.

While organizations are investing in ​Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions​, Proofpoint's report shows ​that those investments are often inadequate, with 85% of surveyed organizations experiencing data loss in the past year.

More than ​nine in 10​ of those affected faced a negative outcome such as ​​business disruption ​​and revenue loss (reported by more ​than ​50% of affected organizations) or reputational damage (40%). ​Yet, surprisingly, data from Proofpoint's platform reveals only 1% of users are responsible for 88% of alerts.​

"This research illuminates the most critical aspect of the data loss problem: its human causes," said Ryan Kalember, chief strategy officer, Proofpoint. "Careless, compromised, and malicious users are and will continue to be responsible for the vast majority of incidents, all while GenAI ​tools are​ absorbing common tasks-and ​gaining access to ​confidential data ​in the process​. Organizations need to rethink their ​DLP​ strategies to address the underlying cause of data loss-people's actions-so they can detect, investigate, and respond to threats across ​all ​channels​ their employees are using​ including cloud, endpoint, email, and web." helpnetsecurity.com


TikTok Debate Rages in D.C.
Senate Intelligence Chair aims to declassify aspects of 'powerful' TikTok briefing
Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) said he is trying to get information declassified about risks posed by TikTok that were shared in a briefing to senators Wednesday to better inform the public.

His aim to declassify some of the information is part of his broader push for the Senate to pass a bill that would force TikTok's Chinese-based parent company ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban in the U.S., following a broad bipartisan vote for the legislation in the House last week.

The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act moved swiftly through the House. It advanced out of the House committee in a unanimous vote earlier this month just days after it was first introduced, and less than a week later it passed in a 352-65 vote on the floor.

That vote happened after TikTok led a campaign urging users to call lawmakers to block the bill, calling it a "TikTok shutdown." thehill.com


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