Auror is a crime intelligence platform that empowers store teams and police with the information they need to stop organized retail crime. Auror's software makes it easy for retailers to capture information about incidents, connect the dots on offenders, and collaborate to build strong cases.

Co-Founders & Co-CEOs Tom Batterbury and Phil Thomson tell us how Auror's platform works, what results their customers have seen, and what their plans for expansion are in the North American market.

Tom Batterbury and Phil Thomson - Auror - Quick Take 18

In this LPNN Quick Take, Tom Batterbury and Phil Thomson share how New Zealand-based Auror got started, where the name of the company comes from, how their crime intelligence platform empowers retailers, and how the platform easily integrates with other existing security technologies.

eBay's PROACT Team Partners with Retailers to Fight ORC
 

Did you know that eBay has a dedicated team to partnering with retailers to combat Organized Retail Crime (ORC)? eBay's PROACT (Partnering with Retailers Offensively Against Crime & Theft) team was founded in 2008 to join the fight with retailers and law enforcement against the growing issues surrounding ORC. We have investigators in North America and Europe who are dedicated to investigating cases of stolen property, and providing support to retailers in their investigations. PROACT conducts several trainings and presentations annually at various conferences, Organized Retail Crime Associations (ORCAS), and online webinars to law enforcement and retail partners to better collaborate and combat ORC.

Outside of investigations, the team itself is directly engaged across several industry organizations through sponsorships, presentations, trainings, and board positions to provide insight and support to the broader community of investigators and law enforcement personnel:

● Long time annual sponsor of the National Retail Federation's Fusion Center at the NRF Protect Conference
● Hold active board positions at the following organizations: Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), Coalition of Law Enforcement and Retail (CLEAR), International Association Financial Crimes Investigators (IAFCI), and the Utah Organized Retail Crime Association (UTORCA)
● Longtime Sponsors of the Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF) - Includes regular donations of LPC Certification Course sponsorships to industry partners and law enforcement interested in furthering and specializing their education.

To obtain additional information on the PROACT program, please contact proact@ebay.com. We look forward to working with you!

Hutch Hillebert promoted to Director of Facilities & AP Western US/Canada for The Beautiful Group
Hutch was previously the AP AP Western US/Canada Manager for the retailer before this promotion. He's held a variety of asset protection and loss prevention managerial positions including Field AP Manager for Regis Corporation and Regional LP Manager for Dollar General. For over eight years, Hutch was also in the United States Air Force. Congratulations Hutch!
 

Submit Your New Corporate Hires/Promotions or New Position

Holiday Return Strategies: When Santa Gets it Wrong

By Tom Bolanos, Account Executive & RFID Expert, Nedap Retail

Ugly sweaters and smelly perfumes. We've all been recipients of unwanted gifts. The good news is that correcting the problem has always been easy. We just show up at the store and either exchange the unwanted items for items more desirable or obtain a refund or store credit. The reason the return process is so easy is because retailers have invested a great deal of resources to set up convenient return/exchange programs for their customers, which helps sales in the long run. Not many people would want to shop at retailers who make it difficult to return or exchange items. But there's a serious side effect to the convenient return policies - shrink.

The (Green) Elephant in the Room

It is estimated that 13% of merchandise sold for the Holidays will be returned. If that doesn't surprise you, perhaps the dollar value - $95 billion - will. That's a pretty hefty portion of annual returns, which totaled $351 billion in 2017. Loss Prevention professionals need to be concerned about this because the fact is, this rate of returns is roughly 35% higher than it was in 2016. Some retailers who don't have a plan to properly process and store this merchandise will undoubtedly be hit with unprecedented shrink. Without a solid plan in place, any large influx of merchandise will cause unwanted markdowns, which contribute to shrink.

Sure, retailers do plan for some markdowns, but the cadence of markdowns is extremely important. Retailers may start out offering 20% off specified holiday merchandise, but the markdown percentage increases over time until the merchandise is sold through. Now, imagine an increase of 35% of returned inventory! In order to accommodate this, larger markdown percentages will have to be offered to avoid a total loss caused by a retailer being stuck with the merchandise. Stockrooms are already tight in retail stores, so keeping the merchandise is hardly an option. Many financial budgets have been blown due to a lack of proper planning for holiday returns.

...And Then There Was Fraud

Refund Fraud is a large issue and one that is rarely cited as a leading cause of profit erosion. But recent surveys and experts reveal that Refund Fraud accounts for 3.5% of total returns. According to this new information:

● Returns as a percent to sales is 8% (a recent NRF survey indicates a median return rate of 10%)
● 2017 Returns totaled $351 billion
● With 3.5% of returns being fraudulent, this equates to nearly $12.3 billion in lost revenue.

Read More Here

Is Your Data Breach Response Plan Ready?
Security asked Michael Bruemmer, Vice President of Data Breach Resolution & Consumer Protection at Experian, how cybersecurity has changed recently and how enterprises can revamp their security strategies to be resilient and ready.

Security: How have typical responses to data breaches changed over the past five years?

Bruemmer: Fortunately, responses to data breaches are immensely better. There has been great progress in preparation, as 88 percent of companies say they have a response plan in place compared to just 61 percent five years ago, according to our 2018 annual preparedness study with the Ponemon Institute.

Security: What still needs to occur to improve enterprises' data breach response protocols and practices?

Bruemmer: A few areas for improvement include actually practicing the data breach response plan and therefore, feeling confident the company can handle an incident successfully. In our 2018 annual preparedness study, only 49% of companies said their ability to respond to data breaches is/would be effective.

Security: When auditing their data breach response plan, what in particular should security leaders be looking for?

Bruemmer: Businesses should conduct an audit of every component of a response plan. Security leaders should also assess whether external partners are meeting the company's data protection standards and are up-to-date on new legislation.

Security: What are the top three issues business security leaders should plan for next year?

Bruemmer: Businesses should keep an eye on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and cryptomining malware next year. In a continuously evolving digital landscape, advanced authentication, or added layers of security, have become increasingly important for businesses to adopt when it comes to safeguarding against potential data breaches. securitymagazine.com

Retail Cybersecurity Is Lagging in the Digital Transformation Race, and Attackers Are Taking Advantage
Digital transformation is dominating retailers' attention - and their IT budgets. As a result, significant gaps in retail cybersecurity are left unfilled just as retail IT faces new challenges, from infrastructure moving to the cloud without clear security policies to an array of new threat vectors focused on personal customer information, ransomware and underprotected business-to-business (B2B) connections.

Just as with line-of-business functions like merchandising and operations, retailers' cybersecurity functions must undergo a digital transformation to become more holistic, proactive and nimble when protecting their businesses, partners and customers..

Underfunded security infrastructure is likely a big reason for this trend; organizations only dedicated an average of around 5 percent of their overall IT budgets to security and risk management, according to a 2016 Gartner report.

While retailers have done a great job addressing payment card industry (PCI) compliance, it has come at a cost to other areas. According to IBM X-Force Incident Response and Intelligence Services (IRIS) research, 78 percent of publicly disclosed point-of-sale (POS) malware breaches in 2017 occurred in the retail sector.

In addition to traditional POS attacks, malicious actors are targeting retailers with new threat vectors that deliver more bang for the buck. securityintelligence.com

AI Poised to Drive New Wave of Exploits
Criminals Use 'Fuzzing' to Uncover Vulnerabilities
According to Derek Manky, Fortinet's chief, security insights & global threat alliances, AI's use by attackers is a simple matter of economics. "Looking forward, cybercriminals will be looking at increasing their ROI. I think what we'll start to see is the concept of AI fuzzing," he says. "We've seen some interesting research on this.

"Fuzzing" - among a series of predictions in Fortinet's Q3 2018 "Security Prediction Report" - is a technique that has its roots in software quality testing. The system (or component) being tested is given random input until it crashes, and then the crash is analyzed. From an attacker's point of view, fuzzing can uncover vulnerabilities to exploit.

Attackers can use AI to dramatically shorten the time from finding a problem to creating an exploit, as well. Groups will be "using AI to study code and systems to find vulnerabilities, and then using AI to find the best exploit of those vulnerabilities."

AI, in this context, is a tool for finding the vulnerabilities and exploits, not orchestrating attacks. As that tool is used by more criminal organizations, Manky sees detecting and exploiting zero-days becoming faster and easier, with the cost of those exploits becoming lower and lower on the black market. darkreading.com

Regulating the Internet of Things
Government Regulations Could Have Unintended Consequences
With more than eight billion IoT devices in use in 2017 and approximately one million new IoT connections made every hour, policymakers are taking a closer look at the many security and user-awareness implications associated with the Internet of Things. Not surprisingly, a number of proposals for studying and regulating IoT devices are being considered.

In the United States, Congress has introduced several IoT bills in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. These measures approach the IoT from different perspectives, including creating new resources for consumers to better understand the security and reliability of their IoT devices, regulating specific security standards and imposing contractual requirements on companies that provide IoT devices to the government.

Diffuse efforts around the world introduce additional complexity into the marketplace, with the prospect of compliance with multiple standards and regulatory requirements. With so many ongoing and overlapping efforts, there is a danger of premature, ill-advised and conflicting requirements and obligations.

For the most part, flexible approaches to collaboration regarding shared threats have significant advantages over national regulation or labeling schemes, which can fragment the global economy and limit technological innovation. rfidjournal.com

What the CFO's Are Reading
Internal Controls Violations in Cyber-Fraud Cases?
Companies are now on notice that they must consider cyber threats when devising and maintaining a system of internal accounting controls. A turning point came in mid-October, when the SEC issued a report on an investigation relating to nine public companies that collectively lost nearly $100 million in cyber-fraud incidents.

In each case, company personnel received spoofed or compromised electronic communications from external sources, causing disbursements to be made to cyber-fraudsters.

But the commission made it clear that public companies subject to Section 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act - the federal securities law provision covering internal controls - have an obligation to assess and calibrate internal accounting controls for the risk of cyber frauds and adjust policies and procedures accordingly.

New Category of Internal Controls Violation
The SEC's report signals a new avenue for future internal controls-related enforcement that accounting, legal, and compliance personnel will need to evaluate. Now, the SEC's report has opened the door for 13(b)(2)(B) charges in a fifth circumstance: when a public company is victimized by a cyber incident and has unwittingly disbursed funds to cyber-fraudsters. The SEC's report cited Section 13(b)(2)(B)(i) and (iii) as the subsections relevant in a cyber-fraud scenario. cfo.com

DHS Task Force Moves Forward on Playbooks for Supply Chain Security

Many firms still stuck in GDPR prep phase six months after its initiation

7 Holiday Security Tips for Retailers

Cyber Monday shoppers will overlook past cybersecurity breaches for a good deal
The majority of consumers will shop a site that has faced cybersecurity breaches in the past if it offers a good enough deal, according to DomainTools' Cyber Monday Consumer Survey, released Thursday. Some 62% of respondents said they would be willing to shop on a previously breached website for the sake of a good sale.

With Cyber Monday on the horizon, 70% of respondents said they are preparing to take advantage of the good deals on offer, according to a press release. Some 60% said they go directly to the brand's website to find the best deals, which means retailers must keep their cybersecurity in check. The most popular sites online customers shopped in the past six months were Amazon (90%), Walmart/Sam's Club (55%), and Target (39%), making them hotspots for both deals and cyberattacks, the report said.

The second most common method customers use to access Cyber Monday is email newsletters, said the release, which makes email a very relevant threat vector for phishing attacks targeting holiday shoppers.

When doing online shopping, 49% of shoppers agreed that they don't even think about breaches when shopping on the web, putting themselves especially vulnerable to hackers that are specifically targeting them, the release said.

However, many consumers who are aware of the risks are taking precautions when it comes to their online shopping habits. Customers reported paying closer attention to URL domains and email senders to confirm that emails are coming from a real retailer (61%), checking the email domain to make sure it matches the brand they are shopping (78%), and directly visiting a retailer's site instead of going through emails or social media (54%), according to the release. techrepublic.com

Which e‑commerce sites will crash this holiday season?
According to TechCrunch, US shoppers bought $6.95 billion worth of stuff online last Cyber Monday alone. And at the peak of Black Friday's frenzy, shoppers were spending upwards of $1 million per minute online, which is why retailers spend their entire year preparing for this quarter. Promotions are planned, emails are prepped, new products are added, sites are updated, and merchandising is carefully mapped out.

Unfortunately, even with all that planning, site outages on these critical days are still common. And the resulting losses can be substantial, as some estimates claim that up to eight percent of the day's sales can be lost for each hour a site is down can be lost.

A simple Google search of "Black Friday crashes 2017" shows some of the recent carnage. Last year, Macy's and Lowe's were in the crosshairs. A couple years prior, it was Target and Paypal. So even the biggest names aren't immune, but why?

As much fun as it would be, I can't give you an advance list of retail sites that are going to crash this year (sorry). But I can tell you the key characteristics of systems that can better handle heavy loads and high traffic. After the Cyber Week smoke clears, the merchants left standing-and counting their cash-will be the ones whose e-commerce infrastructure was designed and built with these principles in mind. Read more: digitalcommerce360.com

Sr. Dir, Security and Threat Management for PayPal - Scottsdale, AZ posted
This leader will be responsible for the protection of that value proposition through ownership of a holistic security testing program, quality assurance functions, and critical incident response teams including cyber forensics and critical investigations. myworkadayjobs.com

Vision Direct Notifies Customers of Data Compromise

KPMG: Millennials to drive increase in online holiday shopping; Cyber Monday favored

Instagram Rolls Out New Shopping Features

Submit Your New Hires/Promotions or New Position

Featured Job Spotlights

	Divisional Loss Prevention Director Florida Provides strategic loss prevention management for a division of 2,000+ stores with sales volumes totaling +/- $4B. Maximizes profits by developing and executing programs to reduce and prevent the loss of company inventory/assets and managing Regional Loss Prevention Managers within an assigned geographical area...
	Asset Protection Director Eastern United States The Director of Asset Protection and Occupational Safety will lead WFM in shrink reduction, environmental health and occupational safety efforts. The position will proactively seek to bring economic value to the company, promoting profitable sales and world class customer service while ensuring a safe place to work and shop...
NEW TODAY	Asset Protection Director Western United States The Director of Asset Protection and Occupational Safety will lead WFM in shrink reduction, environmental health and occupational safety efforts. The position will proactively seek to bring economic value to the company, promoting profitable sales and world class customer service while ensuring a safe place to work and shop...
NEW TODAY	Director, Asset Protection Investigations New York, NY The Director Asset Protection Investigations will support Asset Protection and Financial Risk Management programs in order to achieve shortage and performance goals and maximize profitability...
NEW TODAY	Director, Loss Prevention and Corporate Security Indianapolis, IN The Director, Loss Prevention and Corporate Security directs all loss prevention and security functions of Goodwill, to include Retail, Commercial Services, Administration, and Education (GEI)...
	Regional Loss Prevention Manager Baltimore MD This position is responsible for managing all aspects of loss prevention for a geographic area to reduce and control shortage and other financial losses in 120 to 140 company stores. The coverage areas average $550 million in sales revenue and $3.5 million in shrink losses annually...
	Regional Safety and LP Specialist Miami, FL The Safety and Loss Prevention Specialist is a subject matter expert responsible for partnering with both our corporate stores and franchise store operations to improve the safety and training processes. This includes reducing motor vehicle accidents, reducing work-related injuries, and ensuring OSHA / DOT compliance through the implementation of corporate or franchisee plans in accordance with local, state, and federal rules and regulations...
	Loss Prevention Investigator Wawa, PA The Loss Prevention Investigator is responsible for utilizing proper investigative techniques and act as the primary liaison with field operations management. Conducts investigations into cash losses, deposit shortages, associate theft, overall shrinkage, and other matters...

Featured Jobs

To apply to any of today's Featured Jobs, Click Here

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 

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