The Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF) Announces New Board Member:
Joe Schrauder
The Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF) announced the selection of its newest board member to assist in governing and providing strategic direction for the Foundation at its recent board meeting. A board member resignation was also announced, as well as board member re-elections.

Elected to the Board of Directors was:

Joe Schrauder, Vice President of Asset Protection - Walmart Stores

"We are very excited to have Joe on the Loss Prevention Foundation Board. We welcome his leadership to assist in the Foundation's mission of education," said Terry Sullivan, LPC, President of LPF. "Walmart has been a huge supporter of the LPF and professional certification for many years and we look forward to continuing to build our relationship with the world's largest retailer."

"The Loss Prevention Foundation Board is comprised of many great leaders in the industry. We welcome Joe as a dynamic thought leader which will continue to grow our Board with his skill set," said Frank Johns, LPC, chairman of The Loss Prevention Foundation. "With the goal of education and certifying Loss Prevention executives through the LPC and LPQ certification programs, the Foundation strives to help elevate the Loss Prevention professional as a leader in the retail industry. By expanding our Board with leaders like Joe we will gain more diverse thought to achieve that goal." Congratulations Joe! Read more here

ALL-TAG Announces IDH Test Summary for NST AM Label

ALL-TAG recently released results from the IDH test for its NST AM Label

BOCA RATON, Fla. - April 19, 2018 - ALL-TAG recently released results from the IDH test for its NST AM Label. The company's Acousto Magnetic (AM) Label partner Ningbo Signatronic Technologies, Ltd. (NST) commissioned an IDH test on its NST3T AM label according to VDI 4470, a standard well known worldwide for the special anti-theft devices by the Association of German Engineers. The IDH (Institute of Transport and Trade Logistics) has been providing advice and independent tests for many EAS manufacturers and their customers since the 1990s.

The NST3T AM Label passed the detection test, and a very good deactivation performance was documented following VDI 4470 inspection guidelines. ALL-TAG has been in selling the NST AM Labels for the past decade to retailers and their source taggers throughout the world. NST is the only AM label supplier that has successfully defended itself in courts within three continents against patent litigations.

For additional information about products mentioned in this release, to see the detailed test results, or to learn more about ALL-TAG, please visit https://all-tag.com.

About ALL-TAG
ALL-TAG is an American manufacturer of 8.2 MHz Radio-Frequency (RF) Labels, and supplier of Accousto Magnetic (AM) labels that are used to source tag retail merchandise. ALL-TAG also supplies RF and AM Hard Tags, Ink Tags, and other Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) solutions that are fully compatible with Checkpoint® and Sensormatic® brand products. ALL-TAG has been manufacturing their RF Labels for source-taggers and retailers throughout the world since 1992. Our manufacturing facility is located in Boca Raton, Florida. The company also has subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Mexico City, and Hong Kong, to service our customers throughout the world.

Security budgets up, but talent scarce, says Isaca
Security budgets are increasing, but qualified cyber talent remains difficult to find with positions taking at least three months to fill, an industry association report on the state of cyber security reveals.

The worldwide cyber security skills gap continues to present a significant challenge, with 59% of information security professionals reporting unfilled security positions in their organization, according to Isaca's State of cybersecurity 2018 report.

Out of those surveyed, only around half (51%) of respondents report having diversity programs in place to support women cyber security professionals.

The data also shows that gender disparity can be mitigated through effective diversity programs. In organizations with a diversity program, men and women are much more likely to agree that men and women have the same career advancement opportunities. Some 87% of men said they have the same opportunities, compared with 77% of women.

Budgets are increasing, with 64% of respondents indicating that security budgets will increase this year, compared with 50% last year.

"This research suggests that the persistent cyber security staffing problem is not a financial one. Even though enterprises have more budget than ever to hire, the available workforce lacks the skills organizations critically need," said Isaca CEO Matt Loeb.

"More of those dollars will need to be invested in technical cyber security training, along with effective retention programs. Practitioners who acquire and demonstrate hands-on technical cyber security skills will find themselves in significant demand," he said.

Isaca recommendations to help enterprises address the skills gap and bolster security programs include:

Develop a strong diversity program - Invest in the talent you have to develop the skills you need -  Implement objective, consistent and actionable reporting to the board about security concerns. computerweekly.com

Companies Face 30 Successful Breaches a Year
Targeted cyber attacks doubled in past year, study shows
Finding Them Faster - But Still Missing 36% of Them
This increase comes amid growing cyber threats, despite the fact that organizations are demonstrating far more success in detecting and blocking them, according to Accenture's latest State of cyber resilience study.

The study, which is based on a survey of 4,600 security practitioners, shows that 87% of focused cyber attacks are being prevented, almost a 20% increase on the previous year.

Nonetheless, the report said with 13% of focused attacks penetrating defenses, businesses still face an average of 30 successful security breaches a year, which is unsustainable for future growth.

The study was conducted from January to mid-March 2018 and investigated focused attacks defined as having the potential to both penetrate network defenses and cause damage, or extract high-value assets and processes from within organizations.

Another key finding of the study is that 55% of organizations took one week or less to detect a breach, compared with just 10% in the previous year.

Although companies are detecting breaches faster, security teams are still finding only 64% of them, which is similar to last year, and they are collaborating with others outside their organizations to find the remaining breaches.

This underscores the importance of collaborative efforts among business and government sectors to stop cyber attacks, the report said.

Only 15% of undetected breaches are found through law enforcement, which is down from 32% the previous year. computerweekly.com

The perimeter is moving into "Unprotected Territory" - The Cloud
Data Visibility & Control - Top Cloud Concerns at RSA
As the traditional perimeter dissolves and sensitive data moves to the cloud, security experts at RSA talk about how they're going to protect it.

RSA CONFERENCE 2018 - San Francisco - Businesses moving their data and processes to the cloud are worried about the ability to view and secure them, as indicated by trends and announcements at RSA. Visibility and control were two commonly voiced concerns related to cloud security.

In a panel at this year's Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Summit, a group of security experts discussed the transition process in a panel entitled "Getting to Mission Critical with Cloud."

"Moving to cloud is a business enabler for a couple of different reasons," said Stephen Scharf, CISO of DTCC. "It allows you to go rebuild in a new environment, which some of us never get a chance to do." Many security leaders inherit their own historical infrastructure, he explains, and trying to secure that "is almost impossible."

Data visibility and control are two primary cloud concerns, said CSA CTO Daniele Catteddu. "The need for a more granular view of what's going on in the organization will be necessary," he notes, as businesses connect more devices to the cloud.

Indeed, many IT departments are flying blind in the cloud. In a survey of more than 570 security and IT pros, Bitglass found 78% have visibility into user logins but only 58% have visibility into file downloads, and 56% into file uploads. Less than half (44%) have visibility into external sharing and DLP policy violations, and only 15% can view anomalous behavior across apps. darkreading.com

The Role of KPIs in Incident Response
Using KPIs can have a positive impact on the tactical and strategic functions of a security operations program.

When chief information security officers want to know if the current mix of threat prevention and detection technologies are effective, they should see what their security operations program's KPIs are telling them. KPIs help ensure that the program remains effective and that any process or technology gaps are addressed appropriately.

What a security program should measure to develop meaningful KPIs varies from one organization to another. Start by identifying which security operations goals or functions are most critical to the program. Each KPI should have meaning to the organization, add value to the security program, and be "SMART": Simple, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-based.

Every successful security operations program has common components. Therefore, KPIs should be targeted at assessing at least some of the following:

Analyst skills: Utilizing KPIs to measure analysts' current skill sets and comparing them to the organization's present needs can identify gaps in training and personnel.

Key risks: Organizations face myriad risks and have a limited budget to address them. Using KPIs to help identify which risks pose the greatest potential impact allows the security team to feed actionable information back into the overall risk assessment process, thus maximizing the effectiveness of limited time and financial resources.

Detection success: KPIs that measure the performance of prevention and detection technologies can identify gaps where additional or different technology may benefit the organization, as well as ways to tune existing technologies to increase efficiency.

Mitigation success: Once a security incident has been identified, organizations often use technology in the mitigation process. KPIs measuring the performance of mitigation technologies can identify gaps where the organization could benefit from additional and/or better-tuned technology.

Process success: Utilizing KPIs to measure the performance of a security program's processes and procedures can help ensure they remain optimized and as effective as possible against a range of security incidents.

Workload: Analysts who are overworked are more likely to take shortcuts or miss key indicators of security incidents. KPIs that measure analyst workload can identify staffing inefficiencies that could result in risk to the organization.

The security operations team can brainstorm which KPIs to track; there will be no shortage of suggestions.
The key is choosing KPIs that will have a real, practical impact on the organization's security program.

All facets of business are measured with KPIs these days. Even security operations can benefit from deriving actionable information from KPIs and applying it to improve incident response programs. darkreading.com

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Stores Losing Customers Fast & Furious
Forrester: US e-commerce will top $712B by 2022
U.S. online retail sales will exceed $506 billion this year and by 2022, will surpass $712 billion, according to a study released this week by Forrester Research. Nearly all American adults - 98% - already go online at least once a day, according to the report, which was emailed to Retail Dive.

More than half - 53% - of the $3.7 trillion U.S. retail market will be driven through digital touchpoints by the end of the year, the researchers also said. 

The research from Forrester found that 61% of adults here believe they find better value and deals online while roughly half also say that the product information found online is more useful than what's available in the store.

Editor's Note: Here's the Real Reason, Beyond Price & This is Retail's Reality - Read it and Weep
And it isn't going to get any better any time soon, especially when the robots start showing up.

That points to the importance of knowledgeable store staff. Other research has found that retailers are losing customers fast as frustration builds when store associates are nowhere to be found. A third of shoppers who experienced a problem at apparel stores were not able to locate sales help, for example, and 6% of all possible sales are lost because of lack of service, according to a report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management late last year. 

The amount of time and dollars spent online is sending retailers scrambling: 71% last year planned to increase their investment in web optimization. But while shoppers may be heading to websites and apps for deals and information, where they begin and end their journey often involves a store, making it difficult to determine any more what "e-commerce" fully is. retaildive.com

Kount Introduces Inaugural State Of Payment Processing And Fraud Report
Kount, a leading innovator of solutions for fraud and risk management, announced the release of the "State of Payment Processing & Fraud: 2018" inaugural report at the 2018 ETA TRANSACT Conference. Developed in partnership with The Fraud Practice, the report surveyed approximately 15 percent of the worldwide payment processor community to gain a clear understanding of their strategic priorities over the next year, as well as the value processors place on using qualitative and quantitative analysis within their organizations.

This increased awareness on stopping fraud is reflected in the payment processors' shift to offer value-added services that mitigate chargebacks, eliminate false positives, and increase sales. While surveying more than 150 payment processors, including staff from acquiring banks, issuing banks, payment processors, payment facilitators (PayFacs), and payment gateways, the report uncovered a number of significant findings, including:

Top Concerns Among Merchant Clients

The majority of payment processors indicate that their merchant clients care most about chargeback rates (73%), followed by authorization decline (60%), order approval (47%), and sales conversion (47%) rates.

Cross-Border Payment Support

More than three-quarters (78%) of payment organizations that support cross-border payments enable merchants from other regions to do business in North America while 41 percent support international payment transactions across Western Europe. paymentweek.com

Supreme Court May Not Rule in E-Commerce State Sales Tax Matter

Amazon Prime To Take Over Whole Foods Rewards Program

Report: Alibaba finally overtakes Amazon in the race for ecommerce supremacy

Over 400 Retail LP & Law Enforcement Attend Successful METRORCA Conference
Over 400 retail, law enforcement, loss prevention/asset protection and security professionals attended the METRORCA's first annual conference at the NYPD academy in Flushing, NY. Each member came with a common goal, to learn more about what we can do to protect the public while preventing loss.

The NYPD color guard unit led the singing of the National Anthem, followed by introductions from Gregg Roberts of the NYC Police Foundation, an overview by TJ Flynn, President of the METRORCA, and comments from Lt. Tarik Sheppard of the NYPD.

NYPD Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill spoke regarding support of and belief in private/public partnerships. Commissioner O'Neill discussed the importance of working together to keep the public safe.

Presenters Included:
● Contessa Brewer and Scott Zamost of CNBC, who reviewed the current opioid crisis and its impact/connection to retail crime;
● Jean-Francois Legault of JP Morgan Chase N.A., who spoke about crypto and cyber security;
● Dave Thompson of Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates, who spoke about the Cognitive Interview & reviewed the tools of the trade;
● Tom Meehan of CONTROLTEK, who spoke about the Convergence of ORC and .Com fraud.

Click here to see more coverage of Tuesday's conference

LPQ and LPC Winners from METRORCA Conference
Mike Tirado from Modells Sporting Goods and Shanette Monteith from TJMaxx won a FREE LPQ and LPC. Congratulations Mike and Shanette. Join METRORCA today!!!!!!!


 

NYC Counterfeit CC Gang Member Pled Guilty to Hitting Stores for Gift Cards & Luxury Goods For Resale
XIAO BIN XU, 22, of Bayside, New York, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty yesterday and will be sentenced on July 24th.

The gang engaged in fraudulent credit card transactions at retail stores in Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. 

In total, the group members used 120 counterfeit credit cards, issued by 18 victim financial institutions, to make a total of approximately $179,000 in fraudulent purchases.  

The investigation revealed that many of the complaining citizens had all dined at the same Clinton, Conn., restaurant during a two-week period in early February 2015.

Lu and Lin, the two ring leaders, both of Flushing, New York, previously pleaded guilty to related charges. On February 5, 2018, Chief Judge Hall sentenced Lin 12 months and one day of imprisonment. On February 7, Chief Judge Hall sentenced Lu to 18 months of imprisonment.

Several other members of LU's group were charged and convicted for credit card related offenses in state and federal courts in Maine, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia. justice.gov

Baltimore, MD: Shoplifting Crew Strikes Home Improvement Stores
Baltimore County Police say they cleared fifteen shoplifting incidents at home improvement stores involving an organized crew of criminals, and are asking for the public's assistance in identifying two more of the suspects. Detectives have identified and charged three members of this shoplifting crew.

Police say the two suspects pictured are associated with this shoplifting crew and were caught on surveillance camera taking tools from a Home Depot store in western Baltimore County. The suspects involved in this shoplifting crew have stolen in excess of $100,000 worth of tools, usually Dewalt or Milwaukee tool kits. While detectives have cleared fifteen cases from Baltimore County, there are at least forty documented cases involving this group of suspects spanning throughout Maryland and in Delaware. cbslocal.com


Tallahassee, FL: Man stole $20K of Victoria's Secret panties from 3rd Party
Logistics center
From November to March, police said Richardson stole more than $20,000 worth of Victoria's Secret underwear from the logistics company where he and Jackson worked. When customers make online purchases from Victoria's Secret, the products are shipped from the Victoria's Secret warehouse to a private logistics company in Atlanta. Another private logistics company in Tallahassee retrieves the package from Atlanta, then delivers it to USPS locations that deliver the purchase to customers. Company officials noticed a trend in merchandise being lost in Tallahassee in January. During its investigation, the Atlanta logistics company found postings to sell and trade Facebook pages with photos of Victoria's Secret underwear. One of the people conducting the internal investigation interviewed Richardson, who worked at the logistics company in Tallahassee with Jackson, 29. Richardson told the man he stole about 400 pieces of mail. He also told him he was still on parole after being recently released from prison after serving 20 years. tallahassee.com



Wilmington, NC: Pair suspected of buying $12K worth of merchandise with stolen credit cards
A WPD tweet on Tuesday afternoon said the pair spent more than $12,000 using the stolen credit cards. WPD spokesperson Jennifer Dandron said the suspects, a male and a female, purchased MacBook Pros, iPads, Apple watches and PS4 gaming systems while using the cards at Best Buy, Target and Walmart. wect.com


Porter County, IN: Two arrested after 2 Walmart thefts and a high-speed Police chase
Police were notified Tuesday evening of a shoplifting incident at Walmart in which the suspected fled. Police reportedly spotted the car and the pursuit approached almost 120 mph in a 55 mph zone. Following a crash at an intersection, one suspect was taken into custody. The driver (2nd suspect) fled the scene and was arrested a short time later. Deputies found stolen televisions in the car. The suspects had a cart with two more televisions outside the entrance of the Portage Walmart when he was confronted by loss prevention personnel, left the cart behind. chicagotribune.com

ID Theft Gang Member Indicted - Hitting Target, Best Buy & Others in Pittsburgh

Man accused of stealing $2,800 lawnmower from Walmart ; tied to $1,771 theft in January

Cody, WY: Gabriel Vargas was charged with felony shoplifting of over $1,000 and two counts misdemeanor disabling anti-theft devices

Shootings & Deaths

Omaha, NE: Shooting at Walmart in Nebraska leaves 21-year-old woman dead
Police are looking for a suspect vehicle in connection with a shooting at the Irvington Walmart just before 5 p.m. Wednesday that left a 21-year-old woman dead. Kayviaun T. Nelson died after a shooting in the parking lot of the Walmart near 99th Street and Military Avenue, just off Interstate 680, with a child reportedly in the vehicle. abc15.com

San Antonio, TX: Man shot and killed in parking lot of a Northeast Side flea market
Police said a woman pulled up to the flea market when she noticed a man wearing a hoodie and didn't feel comfortable coming out of her vehicle. The woman called two friends who were inside the flea market to come out because she was afraid of the man. The pair confronted the man, a confrontation ensued and the man opened fire. ksat.com

Robberies & Thefts

Bellevue, WA: Man claims to be soldier about to be deployed, steals $100K diamond from Diamond Inc. store
A man walked into a Bellevue jewelry store dressed in military fatigues and boots and told an employee he wanted to buy a diamond engagement ring for his new fiancée before being deployed. Shown a 5.54-carat, marquise-cut diamond worth $100,000, the man grabbed the stone, bolted out the door and made his getaway in an SUV, Bellevue police say. Thanks to fingerprints left on the store's glass door after the February theft, police last week arrested a suspect, identified in charging papers as Arquae Kennedy. Kennedy, who was charged Monday with second-degree robbery, never served in the armed forces, according to Bellevue Police. seattletimes.com



St Marys, GA: Surveillance video shows man burglarizing GameStop with a plastic bag on his head
The man attempted a burglary at GameStop, captured on surveillance video on Friday. The video shows him running from the store with the plastic wrapper from a case of bottled water over his head. The suspect was identified by Police as Kerry Hammond Jr., 22. Hammond is accused of burglary and criminal damage to property in the 2nd degree. islandpacket.com

Beaufort County, SC: Man stole steaks from Food Lion
Then his getaway car broke down. Then it got worse. A man accused of running out of a Burton grocery store with a backpack full of steaks only to have his getaway car breakdown subsequently swallowed a rock of crack cocaine and was hospitalized before being jailed. islandpacket.com

Joliet, IL: Man Goes Berserk After Jewel-Osco Theft
Moises Cerda has had 15 mugshots taken at the Will County Jail since 2009. Last week, on April 11, Cerda visited Jewel-Osco and tried to swipe a bottle of liquor. Cerda is charged with striking one of the security workers "about the neck" and also "about the body," the complaint states. Cerda also "struck about the head" another Jewel-Osco security member while that man "was detaining the defendant for an alleged commission of retail theft." patch.com

Pittsburgh, PA: Knife-wielding Rite Aid Armed Robber pleads guilty in $200K Prescription Theft
Joshua Williams, age 37, pleaded guilty to three counts before U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab. When police responded to the area, they learned that the defendant had just robbed a Rite Aid pharmacy. The defendant jumped over the counter, pointed a large serrated knife at the pharmacist, and demanded Oxycodone, Fentanyl and Adderall. Williams fled the pharmacy with a trashcan full of medications with a street value of nearly $200,000. The law provides for a maximum total sentence of not more than 20 years in prison. justice.gov

Lincoln, NE: Federal Grand Jury indicts suspects in Jewelry store heist
A federal grand jury has indicted two Omaha men for the armed robbery of a Lincoln jewelry store last month. Prosecutors originally charged Anwar Hunt, 36, and Joshua Dortch, 27, in state court with the March 23 robbery of Sartor Hamann Jewelers at SouthPointe Pavilions. Those cases were dismissed this week after Hunt and Dortch were indicted federally for interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. journalstar.com

Lancaster County, PA: ATF Investigation: Gregory General Contracting Company reported that approximately 640 pounds of dynamite and 400 blasting caps were stolen from a pipeline construction site

Glen Ridge, NJ: Police bust large mailbox-theft ring; stealing over $100,000

Wichita, KS: Police arrest suspect in 9 Burglaries in 8 months; nearly $30,000 of merchandise stolen

Redlands, CA: AT&T Robber sought by Police, assaulted Security Guard

Sentencings

Corpus Christi, TX: Suspect in fatal Shooters Depot robbery, gets 20 years in plea deal

Newport News, VA: Gun Store thief/ Drug Trafficker sentenced to 13 years; 52 weapons stolen, only 18 recovered

Little Rock, AR: Home Depot shoplifter/ car jacker / Parolee shot by Police gets 15-year sentence in robbery, theft

Dayton, TN: Man on trial for Thrift Store employee Hit & Run death

Dayton, OH: Man faces charges after 10 armed robberies, plan to kill drug dealer

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Productivity Boosts: Arrow Method, Catch Zs, Find the Zone
 

Boost Your Productivity by Scheduling Your Week with the Arrow Method
As the week drags on, most of us get worn down, and by Friday it can be hard to get much done. By using the arrow method, you can avoid feeling guilty of not getting done everything you wanted, and feel accomplished at the same time. Start BIG

7 Simple Hacks to Increase Productivity at Work by 300%
Being more productive at work doesn't take a rocket scientist, but it does require complete discipline about how you manage your time. Here are some simple hacks anyone can use to increase day to day productivity. Power naps

7 Tips on How to Be Productive from Elon Musk
Elon Musk gets a lot done, and he also helps his own team increase performance with his productivity recommendations. Here are seven productivity tips from this famous CEO that makes his, and his team's, day efficient and focused. Not a fan of meetings

How to Get Into Your Most Productive Zone -- Faster
Getting into a hyper-focused state of work can do wonders for your productivity. However, finding your zone can can be harder than it seems. Here are a few steps you can take to work faster and get into your zone of pure productivity. Go for green tea

Failures Hold the Key

Rewards are often cloaked in failures and are only revealed through self reflection and determination, as learning how to lose is just as important, if not more important, then learning how to win, because that's where the true lessons lie.

Just a Thought,
Gus

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