7/13/21

LP, AP & IT Security's #1 News Source

Long John Silver's Implements "Network of the Future"
with Interface

Long John Silver's implements Interface's Restaurant-in-a-Box model
across 430 restaurants

EARTH CITY, MO, July 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Long John Silver's, the largest quick-service seafood restaurant chain in the United States, has chosen Interface Security Systems, a leading managed service provider delivering business security, managed network, UCaaS and business intelligence solutions to distributed enterprises, to enhance network connectivity across 430 of its restaurants. To build this "network of the future," Long John Silver's implemented Interface's fully managed, restaurant-in-a-box solution that includes prefabricated network equipment ready for SD-WAN expansion, wireless WAN backup and VoIP connectivity.

In order to continue offering consistent and satisfactory customer service, the IT team at Long John Silver's needed a reliable, high-speed network for their restaurants. Accompanied by a robust backup network, the system supports additional services like guest Wi-Fi, mobile devices and tablets for their staff.

After a rigorous evaluation of managed services vendors, Long John Silver's chose to partner with Interface.

"Interface's solution stood out as the most innovative and cost-effective option on the market," says Brad Gardone, vice president of information technology services at Long John Silver's.

"The company's "restaurant-in-box" model came with preconfigured network cabinets and accessories outfitted specifically for Long John Silver's, allowing for installation to occur with no disruption to restaurant operations. No other service provider offered us this model."

Interface helped Long John Silver's completely replace the legacy switches and myriad connectivity solutions with a secure, scalable LAN and WAN with LTE failover, 24X7 remote monitoring, along with a business VoIP voice connectivity.

Long John Silver's was able to go live across 430 restaurants in a matter of a few months. With the new solution in place, restaurant staff was able to focus solely on the customer experience, rather than dealing with connectivity issues or outages. Not to mention, revenue leakages due to offline credit card transactions came down drastically and operational reports are now generated in real time, giving management better visibility on restaurant performance.

When the pandemic hit and Long John Silver's customers shifted their preferences to online ordering, the revamped network and VoIP solution bundle allowed the seafood chain to pivot to an online-order-first model.

"During the pandemic, about 90 percent of the business shifted to online/drive-through. While dine-ins will steadily make a comeback in the future, we are proud of what we accomplished with help from Interface," says Gardone. "We now have a top-of-the-line network and voice solution that's robust, scalable, secure and will become the foundation for everything we plan to build in the coming years."

The partnership between Long John Silver's and Interface is just picking up steam. In addition to offering an expanded voice communication system to support remote teams and work from home employees, Interface will continue to play a key role in Long John Silver's mission to maintain top-tier security and drive growth.

Click here for a more detailed case study.

Retailer Discloses Data Breach
Fashion retailer Guess discloses data breach after ransomware attack
American fashion brand and retailer Guess is notifying affected customers of a data breach following a February ransomware attack that led to data theft.

"A cybersecurity forensic firm was engaged to assist with the investigation and identified unauthorized access to Guess' systems between February 2, 2021 and February 23, 2021," the company said in breach notification letters mailed to impacted customers.

"On May 26, 2021, the investigation determined that personal information related to certain individuals may have been accessed or acquired by an unauthorized actor."

Guess directly operates 1,041 retail stores in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and its distributors and partners another 539 additional stores worldwide as of May 2021. The stores part of Guess' retail network currently operate in roughly 100 countries around the world.

The fashion retailer identified the addresses of all impacted individuals after completing a full review of the documents stored on breached systems on June 3, 2021.

Guess began mailing breach notification letters to affected customers on June 9, offering complimentary identity theft protection services and one year of free credit monitoring through Experian to all impacted individuals. bleepingcomputer.com

'Potential Ransomware Pandemic'
Ransomware: We need a new strategy to tackle 'exponential' growth,
says Interpol

Interpol pushes for same approach to fighting terrorism and mafia.

The International Criminal Police Organization, Interpol, has called for collaboration between police and industry to prevent a "potential ransomware pandemic".

Ransomware, though not the most costly cybercrime - that title goes to business email compromise, according to the FBI 2020 figures for victim payments - has hit a nerve with world leaders and law enforcement agencies due to a spate of disruptive, high-stakes ransomware attacks in recent months, including on US critical infrastructure.

"Ransomware has become too large of a threat for any entity or sector to address alone; the magnitude of this challenge urgently demands united global action," said Interpol secretary general Jürgen Stock.

Interpol said more collaboration against ransomware was made in the face of its "exponential growth" in the wider cybercrime ecosystem, with criminals shifting their business model towards providing ransomware as a service.

An attack in June shutdown major eastern seaboard fuel distribution network Colonial Pipeline for days. Another attack that month on global meatpacker JBS USA netted its attackers $11 million, and this month's ransomware supply chain attack on tech firm Kaseya affected the firm's managed service provider customers and over 1,000 of their customers, including Coop, the fourth largest supermarket chain in Sweden. zdnet.com

79% Say Businesses Should Not Pay Ransomware Demands
Organizations increasingly reluctant to pay ransomware demands

Organizations hit by ransomware should not pay the ransom according to 79 percent of respondents

Although 20 percent of respondents believe that they should pay ransomware demands, respondents also think that tougher penalties should be given to criminals who steal company data and extort organizations, with 69 percent demanding prison sentences. Just seven percent of respondents believe that a large fine or community work would be an adequate penalty; however, 16 percent admit that the attackers will probably never be caught.

Increasing ransomware demands impacting businesses

What's clear is that ransomware is a significantly growing cost to business. This follows recent high-profile attacks that led to Colonial Pipeline in the U.S. paying over $4 million in Bitcoin to cybercriminals and Travelex paying $2.3 million to regain control after hackers shut down its financial transaction networks. Such is the severity of the situation that six out of ten respondents think that ransomware attacks should be treated the same as terrorist attacks.

As the number of ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure organizations including transportation, healthcare and energy increase, responsibility for their protection should fall firmly at the feet of the government, say 55 percent of poll respondents. 23 percent point to organizations to be more accountable, while 12 percent believe it rests with the cybersecurity industry as a whole. helpnetsecurity.com

92% of Security Officials Confident in Cyber Defenses
Cybersecurity posture confidence high, yet incidents are increasing too
IronNet Cybersecurity released a report assessing timely topics such as the estimated cost per enterprise of the SolarWinds cyberattack, executive-level engagement in attack responses, and the effect of information sharing on an organization's overall security posture.

Sapio surveyed 473 IT security decision makers in the technology, public services, financial, and utilities sectors across the United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore.

Organizations report high level of cybersecurity posture confidence

The report revealed a complex relationship between the reported level of confidence organizations have in their cybersecurity posture and their ongoing attack volume and impact: that is, despite rising confidence, incidents are increasing, too.

While 92 percent of respondents express confidence in their current security technology stack, adversaries are still evading traditional defensive technologies. Nearly half of respondents cited a rise in cyber incidents in the past 12 months, in part due to the increasing sophistication of attacks; and the SolarWinds attack cost, on average, 11 percent of affected respondents' annual revenue. helpnetsecurity.com

CISA: Kaseya Provides Security Updates for VSA On-Premises Software Vulnerabilities
Kaseya has released VSA version 9.5.7a for their VSA On-Premises software. This version addresses vulnerabilities that enabled the ransomware attacks on Kaseya's customers.

CISA strongly urges Kaseya customers closely follow the instructions detailed in the Kaseya security notice and contact Kaseya should they require implementation assistance. Note: the Kaseya security notice includes Startup Runbooks and Hardening and Best Practice Guides for both VSA On-Premises and VSA SaaS. cisa.gov

AI and Cybersecurity: Making Sense of the Confusion
 

Register Now for the 2021 RH-ISAC Summit - September 28-29

Hey LP/AP senior: If your retailer is a member you might want to consider attending yourself or sending one of your team members who works with cybersecurity on investigations or e-commerce fraud.

Especially now with the increased ransomware attacks and data beaches and the corresponding increased attention from law enforcement. Cross pollinating and building those relationships could pay off long term.  Register here

How to Keep Summer Heat from Destroying Your Tech

Depending on where you live, summer heat can be detrimental to your tech devices - sometimes in just one incident. To protect your tech, keep your devices at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, and try not to leave your devices in a hot car. If your tech starts to exhibit signs of overheating, make sure they have proper ventilation and let your devices cool back down to room temp before turning them back on.

Counterfeit Sales Are a Global Problem
Dealing With The Sale Of Counterfeits On The Internet

The sale of counterfeit goods is a significant worldwide issue.

After initial studies carried out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Develop (OECD), the OECD and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) updated these studies in 2016. OECD/EUIPO estimated that the trade in pirated products accounted for as much as 2.5% of the value of international trade, or $461 billion, in 2013. In addition, these products frequently present health and safety issues.

Much of this counterfeiting activity takes place on the Internet since counterfeiters can conceal their identity while taking advantage of the flexible nature of the Internet. To deal with these issues, a brand owner must ensure that steps have been taken to protect relevant intellectual property, monitor the marketplace, and enforce their rights. The amount of Internet traffic generated by specific sites should be an important factor in deciding what steps should be taken.

Relevant employees should be trained and engaged in monitoring infringement. They should understand what activities are actionable and compile records of infringement including screenshots.

Amazon has launched a Brand Registry service that gives rights owners advanced tools to protect their brands. The tools include text-and image-based search capabilities and automated protections. To take advantage of the service, the owners of registered trademarks need to register their marks directly with Amazon. eBay and Alibaba offer somewhat similar programs. In addition, Google has a policy that allows for the removal of web pages selling counterfeit goods from Google search results. To initiate the removal process, brand owners or their authorized agents must submit a complaint. mondaq.com

2nd Amazon Outage Since June
Amazon restores service after global outage
Amazon.com Inc said its online stores had returned to normal services after a global outage disrupted shopping on its country sites.

According to outage monitoring website Downdetector, services were disrupted for nearly two hours and at the peak of the disruption, more than 38,000 user reports indicated issues with Amazon's online stores. They occurred on Sunday evening in the United States and Monday morning for much of the rest of the world.

"Some customers may have temporarily experienced issues while shopping. We have resolved the issue, and everything is now running smoothly," an Amazon spokesperson said.

The spokesperson declined to comment on the reason for the outage.

It was the second broad disruption since late June when users experienced a brief outage on Amazon platforms including Alexa and Prime Video before services were restored. yahoo.com

Amazon granted approval to use radar to monitor sleep

Baltimore, MD: 2 officers injured and suspect dead in shooting outside Security Square Mall
Two law enforcement officers were shot and a suspect is dead following a shooting in the parking lot of a Baltimore shopping mall Tuesday morning, authorities said. The officers have non-life-threatening injuries, according to a tweet from the Baltimore Police Department. The two are Warrant Apprehension Task Force officers, the police department said. The shooting happened outside the Security Square Mall and the suspect involved in the shooting is dead, authorities said. The law enforcement officers who were shot belong to the Baltimore Police Department, according to tweets from the department and the Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 3. the-sun.com

Waco, TX: Police ID victim, expect capital murder charges in deadly restaurant robbery
Waco police have identified the victim who was fatally shot Saturday morning during a robbery at a Waco restaurant as 57-year-old Nemer Ali Alsayyed Ahman Othman. Othman's death is now being investigated as a capital murder, according to a Waco Police Department press release issued Monday. Othman was an employee at Mr. Greek Grocery and Grill. Police responded to the incident at 6:20 a.m. Saturday and found Othman already dead in the front parking lot of the restaurant following a reported robbery. Another employee, Reem Jamaleddine, said Othman was working the night shift, from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., when he was killed. He had worked for the store for about a month before the shooting, but had been employed there in the past. wacotrib.com

Sandy, UT: AT&T thief grabbed Police Officer's gun and fired shot
A man who police say was able to grab a Sandy officer's gun while fighting with him and fire a round into the ground was eventually subdued and arrested Thursday thanks to help from a citizen. Brandon Keith Thompson, 41, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of disarming a police officer, interfering with an arrest, failing to stop at the command of law enforcement, shoplifting and removing a security device.

The incident happened at an AT&T store, 11316 S. State. An alarm in the store was set off when Thompson allegedly removed a security device from an Apple Watch, according to a police affidavit. While employees questioned Thompson, they discovered a second Apple Watch was also missing. Police say the watch was found in a drawer next to where Thompson was standing.

As a Sandy police officer arrived at the scene to question Thompson, Thompson ran out the door to the parking lot, the affidavit states. He tripped while running, allowing time for an officer to catch up with him and grab him. While Thompson was struggling with the officer, a witness observed Thompson grab the officer's gun, "pull the firearm partially out of (the officer's) holster and place his finger on the trigger," the affidavit states. One shot was fired through the holster into the ground. "There was damage to the holster and the asphalt where the bullet struck," according to the affidavit. The witness then grabbed Thompson's hand using both of his hands, and pushed the gun back into the officer's holster.

"The witness was able to pry Thompson's hand off of the firearm and officers continued to wrestle with Thompson further taking him into custody," the affidavit says. Draper police are assisting Sandy in the investigation. Thompson has already been charged with felony crimes in three other cases in 2021. ksl.com

Update: Hopewell, VA: Suspect in convenience store murder turns himself in to police
 

Robberies, Incidents & Thefts

Surfside Beach, SC: 18-year-old demands pills, threatens violence
during CVS robbery
Police Chief Ken Hofmann said the woman went to the CVS, gave a note at the pharmacy demanding all the oxycodone they had and then threatened violence if they didn't do what she asked. The woman left with four bottles of prescription drugs, according to Hofmann. He added that the employees followed the woman out and confronted her in the parking, and that led to a scuffle. The suspect left behind some of the drugs and her ID. Sara Marie Dreischer was taken into custody and booked into J. Reuben Long Detention Center. She's charged with strong-armed robbery and theft of prescription drugs, according to Hofmann. wmbfnews.com

Stamford, CT: Two teens charged in daytime assault, robbery at Stamford Town Center; gun found
Two teens were arrested on charges of beating and robbing a 14-year-old boy during a daytime assault in a public seating area of the Stamford Town Center, according to police. The victim was sitting in the area inside the Stamford mall around 5:30 p.m. Friday when the assault occurred, Capt. Richard Conklin said Monday. Multiple eyewitnesses told police that the teenager was attacked by two young men, who punched and kicked him in the head multiple times before robbing him, Conklin said. During the attack, one of the teenagers dropped a handgun from what appeared to be a fanny pack, Conklin said. The gun was then recovered by one of the teens, at which point the pair fled the area, he said. middletownpress.com

Dallas, TX: Police Looking For Tattooed Robbery Suspect Who Held Famous Footwear Employee At Gunpoint

San Bernardino, CA: Man is arrested for allegedly committing six burglaries

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