Official Press Release from Calif. Governor Gavin Newsom
Lawmakers announce ballot measure to crack down on property crime & fentanyl
SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate pro Tem Mike McGuire and Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas, today announced a robust ballot measure to tackle property crime and the fentanyl crisis, including through targeted reforms to Proposition 47.

The proposed ballot measure would implement new penalties for repeat offenders, crack down on serial shoplifters, enhance felony prosecutions for fentanyl dealers, and increase resources for drug treatment programs.

What this measure does

A property crime and fentanyl crackdown

• Takes Down Serial Shoplifters: Establishes penalties for repeat offenders who are convicted three times for petty theft or shoplifting within three years. Under this measure, an offender with three theft-related convictions over a three-year period, could face up to three years in jail.

• Aggregates Theft Amounts: Empowers law enforcement to combine the value of multiple thefts - even from different victims - to charge a felony.

• Cracks Down on Fentanyl Lacers: Introduces stiffer penalties for knowingly selling or providing drugs mixed with fentanyl without informing the buyer.

• Holds Fentanyl Dealers Accountable: Establishes a statewide fentanyl admonishment requirement, making it easier for prosecutors to ensure drug dealers who repeatedly sell deadly amounts of fentanyl can be charged with murder if a death occurs.

• Increases Resources for Drug Treatment: Expands mental health and drug addiction treatment programs in communities, improving public safety. gov.ca.gov

   RELATED: Are California Democrats gaming the system on crime measure?


New 'Organized Retail and Cyber Crime Unit' in Georgia
Georgia launches statewide retail, cyber crime unit amid battle with Internet trade group over ways to curb online thefts

Georgia launches statewide organized retail and cyber crime unit amid court fight

While updates to Georgia's law governing retail and cyber crimes are in legal limbo, a statewide unit created to combat those illegal activities is now in place. The Organized Retail and Cyber Crime Unit launched Monday.

Data collection is just one part of a multi-layered state strategy to combat ongoing retail crimes at stores and online.

The Organized Retail and Cyber Crime Unit, a first for the state, will have prosecutors and investigators dedicated to dealing with organized retail theft and cyber crimes across the state. The unit is getting over $1.4 million from the state's fiscal year 2025 budget which went into effect today.

"We've had lots and lots of folks with stuff stolen and put online,"Sen. John Albers said. "Crime in general continues to go up and is pervasive and in Georgia, we are going to protect our businesses and our consumers."

Albers sponsored Senate Bill 472 - the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act - which led to the law.

Another $807,312 will go to expand the Gang Prosecution Unit in Columbus, Macon and Southeast Georgia. The attorney general's Gang Prosecution Unit is currently in Atlanta, Albany and Augusta. stateaffairs.com


Most Violent Day of the Year?
Why is July Fourth the most violent day of the year?

There are more mass killings and mass shootings on Independence Day than any other day of the year.

Amid the celebrations of American independence comes sobering news from Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox. July Fourth ranks annually as the most violent day of the year, his research shows.

Since 2006, there have been five mass killings (of four or more victims) by gunfire on July 4, according to the Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killings Database, the most extensive data source on the subject.

The trend is affirmed by the Gun Violence Archive. Since 2014, there have been 58 mass shootings on July 4 resulting in four or more people injured or killed

Two main causes are driving July Fourth violence, Fox says.

"We know from my research and research of others that as the temperature rises, violent crime rates go up," says Fox, who presides over the mass killings database. "The reason for that is partially the physiological effects of heat on our emotions and temperament - we have short fuses when it gets hot.

"And when it gets warm, we spend time outdoors interacting with acquaintances, neighbors, strangers - which means there are more opportunities to get into arguments and fights," Fox says. "On July 4 people are not working and kids aren't in school. There is too much free time to kill, maybe literally." news.northeastern.edu


Retail Reacts to Supreme Court Ruling on Encampments
Retailers are on the front lines of many community issues, including the health and safety effects of public encampments.

SCOTUS Upholds Public Safety Laws That Help Communities
Deborah White, Retail Litigation Center President and General Counsel for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling that will allow municipalities to tailor laws to their communities to address the complex issue of public encampments:

"The Supreme Court rightly recognized that the causes and responses to homelessness are complex but that the Eighth Amendment does not grant 'federal judges primary responsibility for assessing those causes and devising those responses.' Retailers appreciate the Supreme Court's action allowing policymakers to access all 'tools in the policy toolbox' and remain committed to working collaboratively to improve the vibrancy of communities across the country."

Retailers are on the front lines of many community issues, including the health and safety effects of public encampments. The Retail Litigation Center (RLC) and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in this case that explained how communities can work together to address public health and safety issues related to the complex problem of homelessness. One example shared in the RLC/RILA brief is RILA's Vibrant Communities Initiative a first-of-its-kind national partnership between the Retail Industry Leaders Association and the National District Attorneys Association to address safety concerns of employees and consumers. rila.org


'Imposter Cops'
Nashville, TN: State issues 62 violations against company accused of allowing 'imposter cops' on Nashville streets
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance is requesting the immediate suspension of a Mt. Juliet company's license, alleging they allowed civilians to wear police identification and use red and blue lights in non-police vehicles. The state agency filed a notice of hearing and charges with an administrative law judge, citing 62 violations against the security company Solaren. Solaren, and its owner Jack Byrd, have been at the center of WSMV4′s "Thin Blurred Line" investigation, which exposed how the company is accused of allowing imposter police officers to work at the Opry Mills Mall and in downtown Nashville. An investigation also linked the company to the embattled police department in Millersville and how Byrd, a civilian, also wore police identification and had a police commission card. Our investigation uncovered one of the people employed by the company and allowed to wear a police uniform is a felon. According to the state's civil violations, of the 50 people Solaren allowed to wear police badges and uniforms, only five were actually off-duty police officers.  wsmv.com


Homicides in California dropped by 14% in 2023. Guns were most used weapon by far

How will Minneapolis respond to homelessness after SCOTUS says sleeping outside can be a crime?
 

Organizations Should Be Optimistic About Protecting Networks & Data
Three reasons to be optimistic about cybersecurity

There are three trends within cybersecurity that give organizations reasons to be optimistic about protecting their networks and data.

The cybersecurity landscape is a menacingly bad neighborhood, with threat actors constantly prowling and developing new and more sophisticated attacks. But still, there are three trends within cybersecurity that give organizations reasons to be optimistic about protecting their networks and data.

1) Public/Private Collaboration

The threat of information sharing within the public and private sectors traditionally has been tenuous at best, often clouded by a lack of trust. Companies may have been reluctant to share information on an attack, for instance, out of fear of disclosing sensitive information or suffering a loss of reputation. In many cases, organizations concentrate on protecting their own systems.

However, there is a growing interest in collaboration across sectors, industries, and geographies. This collaboration places a greater emphasis on sharing threat intelligence and threat detection content and knowledge that can support proactive defenses.

2. Protections Against Insider Threats

Enterprises are making strides in countering those kinds of threats. Organizations are committing more resources to training and giving employees a better working knowledge of detecting insider threats. Additionally, IT teams are moving away from relying strictly on Data Loss Prevention solutions based on known attack signatures and adopting more advanced solutions, including those focusing on behavioral analytics. For example, newer solutions are making use of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to analyze real-time and historical activity and identify behaviors that can be precursors of insider threat attacks.

3. The Maturation of Artificial Intelligence

Speaking of artificial intelligence, recent advancements in AI, especially machine learning (ML), promise to bring substantial innovations to cybersecurity. AI's coming of age can give organizations the necessary visibility, speed and accuracy to defend against the onslaught of cyber threats effectively. The next generation of advanced analytics will help support continuous monitoring across the entire enterprise, enable security teams to identify attacks in real time, initiate responses, and reduce false positives to deliver material alerts. securityinfowatch.com


Cyberinsurance Getting Cheaper - Premiums Drop 15%
Cyberinsurance Premiums are Going Down: Here's Why and What to Expect

The change in premium rates is more likely to be the insurers' correction than the insureds' improvement in security.

Cyberinsurance is getting cheaper, with premiums falling around 15% since they peaked in 2022. Commenting on a report from broker Howden, Reuters suggests business has become more adept in curbing losses from cybercrime.

"Added security such as multifactor authentication has helped to protect companies' data, reducing insurance claims," writes Reuters on July 1, 2024. It would be good if this were true, but most things are usually more complex than they first appear.

Cyberinsurance premiums increased rapidly in 2021 and 2022. The insurers got their sums wrong through an insufficient understanding of the cybercrime market. They were forced to redefine a cyberwar exclusion clause, increase denials and exclusions, and hike premiums. Now premiums are declining again.

"Fewer companies are willing to invest a considerable amount of money in cyberinsurance after a bad experience when insurance coverage was denied for various reasons and contractual clauses subtly incorporated into the insurance agreement," comments Ilia Kolochenko, partner & cybersecurity practice lead at Platt Law LLP, and CEO at ImmuniWeb.

Now the cyberinsurance industry is becoming more mature with better actuarial understanding of the risks, he adds. The implication is that improved security from the insureds, better understanding of security from the insurers, and a more discerning marketplace is forcing the insurers to reduce premiums to maintain market share.

The change in premium rates is more likely to be the insurers' correction than the insureds' improvement in security. "What we are likely seeing with lower premiums is a consequence of several factors: the insurance market's cyclical nature, now with more capacity in the market, combined with self-insurance retentions covering many of the frequency losses," suggests Marko Polunic, MD at Fenix24. The missing key to understanding what is happening is that term, 'the insurance market's cyclical nature'. securityweek.com


Does AI Make Thread Landscape 'Impossible to Secure'?
Video: Inside the minds of CISOs
In this Help Net Security video, Nick McKenzie, CISO of Bugcrowd, discusses the key findings from their recent report, which comes at a crucial time as security leaders' roles are being discussed more with the current risk landscape and the increasing need to prioritize security first over operational resilience in almost all verticals.

Most CISOs (76%) believe AI makes the threat landscape impossible to secure. 90% of CISOs claimed their jobs were more difficult than ever. 50% believe their enterprises are ill-prepared for a breach. AI is not all bad news, though.

Nearly 30% of enterprises have adopted AI tools, allowing them to reduce security team headcount while others monitor the potential vs. risk ratio of their security posture before deciding on the next steps. helpnetsecurity.com


Chinese Hackers Exploiting Cisco Switches Zero-Day to Deliver Malware
A China-nexus cyber espionage group named Velvet Ant has been observed exploiting a zero-day flaw in Cisco NX-OS Software used in its switches to deliver malware.

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-20399 (CVSS score: 6.0), concerns a case of command injection that allows an authenticated, local attacker to execute arbitrary commands as root on the underlying operating system of an affected device.

"By exploiting this vulnerability, Velvet Ant successfully executed a previously unknown custom malware that allowed the threat group to remotely connect to compromised Cisco Nexus devices, upload additional files, and execute code on the devices," cybersecurity firm Sygnia said in a statement shared with The Hacker News. thehackernews.com


Security leaders weigh in on Life360 data breach

Leveraging no-code automation for efficient network operations