2018 GLPS - Group LP Selfies
Your Team - Your Pride - Our Industry
Building Community Pride - One Team Selfie at a Time

Rent-A-Center's Asset Protection Field Support Center Team Fighting Hunger at Frisco Family Services "Protecting People, Products and Profits"

Featured in Picture, Left to Right: Jacob Jimenez, Eneida Rodriguez, Priscilla Saenz, Jesse Vera, James Carr, Gary Rivera, David Cohen, Warren Anderson

---

RAC supports the North Texas Food Bank. We do that through food drives, fundraising and volunteering our time at a local food pantry. In the past, our Asset Protection Team has been involved in various fund raising activities. This year we chose to volunteer our time as a group to help a local food pantry, Frisco Family Services. We spent our day stocking the shelves, checking expiration dates and insuring the food was fresh for their customers. Overall, it was a very rewarding and gratifying experience to help our local community! - Thank you James Carr, Senior Director - Global Asset Protection, Rent-A-Center for this submission!

DNS Attacks Jumped 700% Worldwide in Last 2 Years
DDoS Amped Up: DNS, Memcached Attacks Rise
China and the US are the world's leading sources of distributed denial-of-service botnet attacks.

Record-breaking distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are on a tear this year, and new data shows that DNS amplification attacks have jumped 700% worldwide since 2016.

In the first quarter of 2018, some 55 DNS amplification attacks employed Memcached servers, according to Nexusguard's Q1 data. This year Memcached servers became the new darling of botnet operators looking for a way to jack up their DDoS attacks. Memcached is an open source software program used to increase server performance; designed for internal networks, it caches data in system memory.

Juniman Kasman, CTO of Nexusguard, says amplification-style DDoS attacks are here to stay. "Cyberattackers continue to seek new vulnerabilities to pursue more firepower, launching more amplification attacks through unguarded Memcached servers and poorly configured DNSSEC-enabled DNS servers the past two quarters, and we expect this trend to continue," he said in a statement.

By far, DNS amplification was the top DDoS attack in Q1, with 4,791 attacks, followed by UDP (1,806 attacks) and ICMP (1,608 attacks). darkreading.com

World Cup Threatened With Possible Cyberattack
According to security firm Lastline's survey, which it revealed in a blog post, it found that 72 percent of those cybersecurity professionals polled think a hack is likely. The World Cup is being held in Russia for the first time, with the opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Lastline said this underscores a new trend in which hackers are going after high profile international events. It pointed to the attack that brought down the Winter Olympics website in February. "Cybercriminals do not exist in a vacuum," said Andy Norton, director of threat intelligence at Lastline. "They will be aware of the immense media scrutiny the World Cup will be under, and will be hoping to capitalize on this as well as the financial opportunities such a unique event presents."

The survey found that of the security professionals who think an attack is likely, many expect the attack to focus on network infrastrucutre and could come in the form of a DDoS attack or an attack targeted on social media. What's more, 44 percent predict it could come via email, while 47 percent said mobile is also at risk from a hack. pymnts.com

Apple to Close iPhone Security Hole That Law Enforcement Uses to Crack Devices
Apple has long positioned the iPhone as a secure device that only its owner can open. That has led to battles with law enforcement officials who want to get information off them, including a well-publicized showdown with the F.B.I. in 2016 after Apple refused to help open the locked iPhone of a mass killer.

Now Apple is closing the technological loophole that let authorities hack into iPhones, angering police and other officials and reigniting a debate over whether the government has a right to get into the personal devices that are at the center of modern life.

Apple said it was planning an iPhone software update that would effectively disable the phone's charging and data port - the opening where users plug in headphones, power cables and adapters - an hour after the phone is locked. While a phone can still be charged, a person would first need to enter the phone's password to transfer data to or from the device using the port. nytimes.com

Security Firm's Study Finds Thousands of IoT Devices on Company Networks
The growing number of Wi-Fi-connected "shadow" devices-both those provided by an employer and personal devices carried by workers-are raising threats for cyber-attacks, the report indicates.

Network control firm Infoblox has released a report that finds employees are putting Internet of Things (IoT) devices on company networks at an increasing rate. According to a poll of 1,000 IT directors and 1,000 employees throughout four countries, the number of IoT devices on a company's network could be as high as 10 to 20 per employee, with a business often unaware of those devices.

The report, titled "What's lurking on your network: Exposing the threat of shadow devices," found a higher-than-expected number of personal devices, including mobile phones, activity trackers, tablets and laptops. Infoblox refers to these network-consuming gadgets-tablets, smartphones and even smart televisions-as shadow devices, and says the study points to a growing security risk they might pose for companies. rfidjournal.com

Businesses Can Have Their Identities Stolen, Too, Experts Warn
A new report from The National Cybersecurity Society (NCSS) published this week warns that business identity theft is an emerging threat for entrepreneurs and executives.

Funded with a grant from the Identity Theft Resource Center and the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime, the "Business Identity Theft in the U.S." report examines how this crime occurs, and what business owners can do to protect themselves and their companies.

Business identities can be used to open card accounts, initiate wire transfers or commit tax fraud. And while small businesses are progressing in their digital transformations, the shift of sensitive data from paper to online systems means public business data can be altered relatively easily by criminals. pymnts.com

Data Security Distracts CFOs from 'Day Jobs'

Las Vegas mall gets a sassy AI chatbot

True Stories of Face Recognition and Retail Crime

Case 2: The Ticket Switcher

The second episode of FaceFirst's true retail crime series reveals the true story of a notorious retail thief that switched tags between expensive and inexpensive items and then used self-scan machines to steal expensive items. Retail shrink is a $46 billion problem each year, with self-scan fraud accounting for $14 billion in annual losses. In the latest episode of FaceFirst's True Stories of Face Recognition and Retail Crime series, you'll see how face recognition helped loss prevention pros apprehend this notorious retail criminal. And you'll see how some of the world's major retailers are using face recognition to reduce external shrink by up to 34%.

 Episode Presented By

Trump Trade War Impacting Canadian Retail

#BoycottUSA: Angry Canadians are shopping 'Trump free' after attacks on Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may be taking a "cooler heads" approach to the barrage of insults from U.S. President Donald Trump and his top aides as Canada-U.S. trade tensions thicken, but consumers north of the border are proving less stoic.

Scores of shoppers and travellers are mounting strikes against America's pocketbook by boycotting U.S. goods and trips to the States. On Twitter, hashtags including #BuyCanadian, #BoycottUSProducts and #BoycottUSA are spreading tips on using purchasing power to defend Canada's honour.

Trump's trade rhetoric turned personal after Trudeau's closing news conference at the G7 summit in Quebec last Saturday. Trudeau said he had pushed back against the Trump administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum, and insisted Canada would "not be pushed around" on trade.

In response, one Ottawa man proudly tweeted a photo of a cart of "Trump free" groceries on Sunday. Others are refusing to buy Kentucky bourbon, California wine and Florida oranges, and ignoring major U.S. brands such as Starbucks, Walmart, and McDonalds. ctvnews.ca

Dollarama may be forced to raise prices due to Canadian retaliatory tariffs
against U.S.
Dollarama Inc. may be forced to raise prices on food and other goods imported from the U.S. because of Canada's plans to impose tariffs in retaliation for American duties on aluminum and steel, the company's CEO said Thursday.

Neil Rossy said he's not worried about the discount retailer losing its competitive edge because other Canadian retailers will face the same pressures.

"The customer may suffer if the changes are extreme but they will suffer across all retailers because retailers can only do so much."

Dollarama can't rule out raising prices but wouldn't do so on items that aren't directly hit by higher costs in order to remain competitive, Rossy said. It also has no plans to increase its maximum price of food items beyond $2 or add a higher category of prices beyond $4. financialpost.com

Ottawa vows to make Canada a global leader in cyber security
Ottawa has released its long-awaited update to its national cyber security strategy, promising to better protect Canadians from cyber crime, to respond to evolving threats, and defend critical government and private sector systems. The Canadian program will be created in consultation with industry, SMEs and potential certification bodies.

The government says currently SMEs in Canada are not adequately protected against cybersecurity threats. Approximately 71 per cent of data breaches in Canada involve a small or medium-sized business.

The strategy is rooted in five principles:

● Protect the safety and security of Canadians and our critical infrastructure
● Promote and protect rights and freedoms online
● Encourage cyber security for business, economic growth, and prosperity
● Collaborate & support coordination across jurisdictions & sectors to strengthen cyber resilience
● Proactively adapt to changes in the cyber security landscape and the emergence of new technology.

The government still has to create action plans to execute the strategy.

By supporting advanced research, fostering digital innovation, and developing cyber skills and knowledge, the federal government will position Canada as a global leader in cyber security, the strategy vows. itworldcanada.com

P.E.I. may become first province to ban retailers from offering plastic bags
Businesses would face fines starting January 2020
Prince Edward Island could be the first province in Canada to ban retailers from giving out plastic bags after a private member's bill passed third reading Friday morning. The Plastic Bag Reduction Act, introduced by Liberal member of the legislature Allen Roach, would eventually prohibit retailers from providing customers with single-use plastic bags, encouraging them instead to sell paper or reusable cloth bags.

The change would come in phases, with retailers beginning to charge customers 15 cents per plastic bag on July 1. The fee would increase to 25 cents in July 2019, before becoming an outright ban in January 2020, after which businesses could face fines for giving away plastic bags. thestar.com


Store Openings in Canada
● Uniqlo to open four new stores in Canada
● Sneaker Concept GRAIL Launches 1st Location in Canada
Impact Kitchen Opens 2nd Location as it Plans Expansion

Dollarama's first-quarter profit rises 7.3% to $101.6 million on higher sales

Lululemon hits record high on revamped stores

Is Mobile Device First The Best Defense Against Online Fraudsters?
Can the mobile device be the first - and among the best - line of defense in the battle against data beaches and payments fraud? It's a point of view that Entersekt, the mobile app security firm, sees emerging as one of the more viable opportunities in meeting data security needs, particularly in the North American market.

It's a market that Sherif Samy, Entersekt's SVP of North America, says is a bit more complicated than what exists in the more than 40 countries in which the firm does business. For starters, consider the sheer size of the U.S. market, he said.

"You've got thousands and thousands of financial institutions [FI]. You've got millions of retailers, you've got interesting demographics of consumers," he told PYMNTS. "You've got tech-savvy consumers who want things fast and convenient, and you've got the more conservative, older generations that are not willing to adopt technology" as quickly.

As a result, he said, there exists in the U.S. a combination of factors and factions that impact the technology, which can be implemented by financial firms and eCommerce enterprises.

The U.S. is the country most under siege by hackers, said Samy, noting the data breaches and hacks that have happened globally - 60 to 70 percent have happened in the U.S. Thus, of the 2 billion consumer records that are out in the market and floating around on the dark web, a disproportionate number of those come from the U.S.-based consumer. The data is sensitive in nature, such as social security numbers.

Ascertaining that someone is who they say they are becomes a challenge, he added. A range of industry players own different types of data. Efforts to confirm identities requires more of a fragmented approach than exists in other countries. pymnts.com

How Cybercriminals Monetize E-Commerce Fraud
Ecommerce chargeback costs for retailers, the biggest financial hit associated with account takeovers, have now reached $40 billion per year. Fake account creation and gift card cracking, while less well documented, also result in substantial losses.

All three of these attack modes rely on compromised authentication credentials and their rapid monetization. Credential theft carried out on the scale that's common today requires considerable time and effort, not to mention technical skill. Why do cyber crime organizations persist? One of our customers, Starbucks Director of InfoSec Mike Hughes, has a simple answer. "The risk is so low, and the reward is so high."

He's right. The take for a successful bank robbery runs between $5,000 and $7,000 at best. In 2016 there were eight deaths associated with bank robberies. Seven of them were the perpetrator. The same amount of money could be obtained by cracking between 100 and 150 gift cards (at an average value of about $45 per card), and the risk of being caught, much less killed, is almost zero. securityboulevard.com

Online marketplace Etsy soars after increasing the fees it takes from each sale

San Diego, CA: Thieves Steal Up to $50,000 in Designer Glasses from Eye Store
A band of veiled thieves made out with tens of thousands of dollars' worth of designer eyeglasses from a Kearny Mesa optometry shop Wednesday morning. The office manager at New Optix Optometry on Convoy Street thinks the group of four men cased her shop in the days before they broke entry in the dead of night and made away with $30,000 to $50,000 worth of eyewear. Viloria says the four men, in face masks and sweats, smashed through a storefront window with a sledgehammer at around 3:15 a.m. and took several Gucci, Tom Ford, Dolce and Gabbana, Tory Burch and Kate Spade frames. The cheapest of the stolen glasses were valued at around $250, but Viloria said many of the high-end pairs from Tom Ford and Gucci carry tags upward of $400. nbcsandiego.com

Greenville, SC: 15 electronics store employees indicted on fraud charges
Store merchandise came from shoplifters targeting businesses across state
More than a dozen owners and employees at a Greenville electronics store have been indicted in federal court on a charge of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of South Carolina. Reboot, located on North Pleasantburg Drive, is a source for buying, selling or trading consumer electronics and gift cards, according to its website. Greenville County Sheriff's Office deputies, alongside U.S. Secret Service agents, raided the Pleasantburg Drive store in January and seized a number of stolen items, according to an earlier statement from the Sheriff's Office.

"Most of the stolen items came from shoplifters who were victimizing corporations throughout not only Greenville County but the Upstate as a whole," the Jan. 18 statement read. According to the federal indictment, some of the staff knowingly devised a scheme to obtain money under false pretenses. Reboot's manager is disputing the charges. He said there was never knowledge that any of the store's goods were stolen. greenvilleonline.com

Boca Raton, FL: More than 440 pairs of panties stolen from local store
 

Shootings & Deaths

Blake Clark promoted to Loss & Prevention Safety Manager - LaGuardia & Newark International Airports for SSP America

Submit Your New Hires/Promotions or New Position

Featured Job Spotlights

	Vice President, Asset Protection Columbus, OH Oversees and directs all Asset Protection related functions for a Corporate Office, multi-state distribution centers and large retail store network. Responsible for enterprise direction and strategy as it pertains to Asset Protection with a goal of minimizing shrink, reducing loss and maximizing security and associate safety...
	Sr. Director Loss Prevention Goodlettsville, TN The Sr. Director of Loss Prevention will have full responsibility for implementation of loss prevention and shrink reduction initiatives for all stores...
	Fulfillment Center Asset Protection Manager Atlanta, GA Manages and coordinates Loss Prevention and Safety Programs intended to protect Staples assets and ensure a safe work environment within a major NAD Fulfillment Center, a Retail Distribution Center or a combination of Staples locations...
	Loss Prevention Analyst New York, NY Protects company assets and increases profitability through the analysis, response and management of various data across a broad spectrum of internal financial and technology resources such as Exception Reporting, Sales Audit, FP&A, IT and Loss Prevention. The Loss Prevention Business Analyst works cross-functionally in a dynamic, fast paced and demanding environment providing critical guidance to the organization's asset protection and profit improvement initiatives...
	Loss Prevention Analyst Richmond, VA Protects company assets and increases profitability through the analysis, response and management of various data across a broad spectrum of internal financial and technology resources such as Exception Reporting, Sales Audit, FP&A, IT and Loss Prevention. The Loss Prevention Business Analyst works cross-functionally in a dynamic, fast paced and demanding environment providing critical guidance to the organization's asset protection and profit improvement initiatives...
	Field Loss Prevention Manager Philadelphia, PA ● Manages and coordinates Loss Prevention and Safety Programs intended to protect Staples assets and ensure a safe work environment within Staples Retail locations ● Manages Loss Prevention initiatives and programs on facility levels which may include a combination of locations within a geographical area; travel required...
	Senior Asset Protection Specialist Santa Monica, CA This job contributes to REI's success by mitigating and reducing shrink (including theft and fraud by customers and employees) and increasing physical security for people and products in a specified retail store...
	Senior Asset Protection Specialist - San Francisco San Francisco, CA This job contributes to REI's success by mitigating and reducing shrink (including theft and fraud by customers and employees) and increasing physical security for people and products in a specified retail store...

Today's Daily Job Postings from all around the net - Appearing today only

To apply to today's Internet Jobs, Click Here

Sponsor Today's Internet Jobs 

Secrets of Great Teams: Control Stress, Bridge Gaps and Don't Coast
 

We want to post your tips or advice... Click here

Not getting the Daily? Is it ending up in your spam folder?
Please make sure to add d-ddaily@downing-downing.com to your contact list, address book, trusted sender list, and/or company whitelist to ensure you receive our newsletter. 
Want to know how? Read Here