Guardian Protection Launches New & Improved Website

Designed and Catered to Multi-Site / Retail Franchise Security

Guardian Protection has worked with thousands of franchises across the United States, from well-known chain stores to retail outlet groups. Their business security solutions include Project Management, 24/7 Monitoring, Video Surveillance, Access Control, Fire Detection, VIP Customer Care, and more.

Smart security is smart business
We protect what matters to you by installing systems tailored to meet your business needs -- from basic security to the most technologically advanced in the industry.

Learn more at guardianprotection.com
 

Opioid Crisis Pushing ORC - Making National News Across the U.S.
ORC Getting More Press Than Ever Before

Home Depot says it's been hit with a wave of store thefts.
It blames opioids

- CEO publicly acknowledges opioid crisis' impact on shrink, financial results
- New LP measures include machine learning to anticipate ORC rings' next moves

Home Depot Inc. executives said organized criminals are stealing millions of dollars' worth of goods from the chain and other retailers and storing the merchandise in warehouses. The theft, which retailers call shrink, has gotten so bad that it will narrow Home Depot's operating profit margins next year, executives said during a meeting with analysts and investors.

"This is happening everywhere in retail," Chief Executive Craig Menear said. "We think this ties to the opioid crisis, but we're not positive about that."

Home Depot's admission is one of the first times a major U.S. retailer has specifically called out the opioid epidemic as a factor in its financial results. Retailers lose about $51 billion in sales from shrink annually, according to a report from the National Retail Federation, which found that more than two-thirds of retailers had seen an increase in what it calls "organized retail crime activity" over the last year.

"Organized retail crime continues to present a serious challenge to the retail industry," Bob Moraca, the association's vice president of loss prevention, said in a statement Wednesday.

Most retailers have security systems in place in their stores, but easier ways to hawk the stolen goods online have apparently made criminals bolder. In one instance, thieves in Rochester, N.Y., were caught with $16.5 million worth of goods, of which $1.4 million was from Home Depot, executives said on the call.

New LP Measures

In response, the Atlanta-based company is using technology, including machine learning, to anticipate where the crime rings are headed next.

It's also installing technology so that power tools won't work unless they go through the retailer's point-of-sale system, while working with local law enforcement and taking some high-value inventory off the sales floors.

"We have to be vigilant about it," Ann-Marie Campbell, Home Depot's executive vice president of U.S. stores, said. "We have initiated several pilots to reduce shrink across the board."

Financial Impact

The "significant" impact of thefts was a reason why Home Depot's operating profit margin should narrow to about 14% next year, the company said. That compares with 14.5% in the third quarter.

The company's forecast, which includes sales guidance for the next fiscal year that's lower than a projection provided in late 2017, sent the retailer's shares down as much as 2.5% Wednesday. latimes.com

Home Depot faces Twitter backlash after blaming opioid crisis for recent rise in store thefts
 

ERM - A Top Concern in C Suite
How enterprise risk management programs operate in organizations today
More than half of CEOs think their enterprise risk management program (ERM) program is not as effective as it should be, a LogicGate survey reveals.

With companies experiencing an increase in risks and data breaches, it's no surprise the report uncovered that 88% of CEOs think ERM is very or extremely important. However, while most companies have an ERM program in place, there's little agreement as to what a successful program really looks like in practice, beyond the baseline features.

Fortunately, CEOs are beginning to understand the need for their involvement in their company's ERM program with 66% wanting more involvement.

"For CEOs to become more involved with ERM, they must integrate ERM in their business decision-making process and create a culture of risk. The responsibility of ERM does not fall only on the IT or compliance departments, it involves every employee and every department."

The CEOs surveyed echo this sentiment, asserting a clear desire for increased visibility into risks and a quantifiable methodology for tracking and evaluating them.

Several CEOs lamented the "labor-intensive" process in their organizations and voiced a need for a "better understanding of what it's costing us to mitigate risk." They also recognize a need for "regimented" and "streamlined" methods of factoring risk into their overall business strategies.

1 in 3 CEOs see Strategic Risk as the "Biggest Potential Risk Concern." Among Strategic Risks, risk arising from key business partners is most frequently ranked first.

1 in 3 CEOs are most concerned about Operational Risk. In this category, cybersecurity is the top concern due to the increase in cyber threats. helpnetsecurity.com

Retailers hiring workers they might not have considered a few years ago
Everyone deserves a second chance, the adage goes. But how does that sentiment affect formerly incarcerated individuals who have done their time and want to re-enter the workforce? According to the National Employment Law Project, a New York City-based employment rights advocacy group, the chance of finding work drops by as much as half when the applicant has a criminal conviction.

When it comes to taking a chance on someone with serious strikes against them, a growing number of employers are embracing the "unemployable." In fact, dozens of retail-related employers are trying to make a difference. A quick online search returns a lengthy list of second-chance retail employers with re-entry programs .

THE BUSINESS INCENTIVE

The National Retail Federation has supported advocacy and workforce development efforts intended to ensure that previously incarcerated individuals have the skills needed for successful re-entry into the workforce. Early this year, NRF signed the Society for Human Resource Management's "Getting Talent Back to Work" pledge, which encourages employers to consider applicants with criminal backgrounds. NRF was also a supporter of the First Step Act of 2018, a law passed by Congress that expands pre-release training offerings for federal inmates.

According to SHRM, 650,000 former criminals are released from prisons and jails each year nationwide, and one out of three U.S. adults have a criminal record. But 82 percent of hiring managers surveyed by SHRM said workers with a criminal history are at least as effective in their jobs as those without. stores.org

RFID May Become Main Stream in Grocery
The United States Explores Food Traceability Options
The FDA's "A New Era of Smarter Food Safety" initiative could result in RFID and other technologies being adopted to improve supply chain visibility and safety.

Back in April, the acting commission of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the deputy commission announced plans to develop a "Blueprint for a New Era of Smarter Food Safety." The FDA has just closed the period for the public to comment on its proposal, and it will unveil its plans during the coming year.

The FDA wants to move away from the manual, paper-based system now used to track food from the farm to the customer's plate and replace it with new technologies that can automate the process. One of those is RFID, but other Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, including RF sensors, will also play a role. rfidjournal.com

Home Delivery & The Micro-Fulfillment Center Push
The Fastest Growth Vehicle in Retail & It Just Started
The Next Big Push - Coupled With Amazon's Micro-Fulfillment Center Push
OSHA Won't be Far Behind & Theft Challenges

Safeway Owner, Rival Grocers Bet on Smaller Warehouses
Albertsons, Walmart & other chains try to get closer to customers to fill online orders faster

Food retailers are making big bets on small warehouses to bulk up their growing delivery businesses, as supermarkets try different approaches to get groceries to customers more efficiently.

Supermarkets are adding the additional storage and new warehouses in part to keep stock and couriers for delivery out of existing store space, where some customers have complained of crowding as delivery has taken off.

"It's an entire paradigm shift for companies," said Steve Hornyak, chief commercial officer at Fabric, a four-year-old builder of small fulfillment centers for grocers and other retailers.

Walmart and Meijer Inc. are testing small fulfillment centers. Ahold Delhaize's Stop & Shop LLC said it would open several more of these warehouses this year, while its Peapod delivery division continues to build bigger distribution centers.

Big fulfillment centers that are best suited to next-day delivery are already behind the times as consumers come to expect their order to show up in as little as a few hours, said Mike Montani, an analyst at Evercore. wsj.com

Poised For Rapid Growth
E-Commerce Made Warehouses Hot. Now Investors Warm to Cold Storage
Money starts to pile into facilities where grocers and delivery companies store their food.

With the booming growth of online grocery sales and rising consumer demand for fresh produce, property investors are trying to cash in on the places where grocers and delivery companies store all their food. wsj.com

What to Expect from OSHA in 2020
An agency of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), OSHA spent 2019 increasing its number of employer inspections and pursuing new rulemakings and programs. In fiscal year 2019, It conducted 33,401 inspections-more inspections than the previous three years-addressing violations related to trenching, falls, chemical exposure, silica exposure and other hazards.

Rulemakings: Cranes, Forklifts, Confined Spaces, Drug Testing

OSHA plans to inaugurate a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act review panel in January that will begin an effort to create a standard designed to address workplace violence in the healthcare and social services industries. This comes after the House of Representatives passed a bill to require OSHA to develop a standard regarding the same issue.

In November, OSHA said it plans to propose rules regarding post-incident drug testing and safety incentive programs.

While the rulemaking process moves at a slow pace, employers should remain informed on OSHA's anticipated regulatory actions and should consider participating in the rulemaking process to ensure their interests are made known and protected," mhlnews.com

OSHA Says: Heads Should Roll
Amazon Responds to Criticism for High Injury Rates
Amazon has responded to continued scrutiny regarding the online retailer's workplace safety practices following a report from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

The report stated the company's injury rate is double the national average for the warehousing industry at 9.6 serious injuries per 100 full-time workers in 2018. The industry average is 4.

"According to Amazon's own records, the risk of work injuries at fulfillment centers is alarmingly, unacceptably high," said David Michaels, former head of OSHA, told The Center for Investigative Reporting. "Amazon needs to take a hard look at the facilities where so many workers are being hurt and either redesign the work processes, replace the top managers or both because serious injury rates this high should not be acceptable to any employer." mhl.news.com
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Dir. Compliance Investigations job posted for Walgreens in Deerfield, IL
The Director Compliance Investigations provides strategic direction and global oversight of processes relating to investigations including the intake, triage and conduct of investigations. Coordinates with Compliance Officers and Legal Department for all business units to ensure appropriate management and prompt resolution to internal investigations. Responsible for implementation of case management system and global compliance hotline. Provides substantive guidance relating to investigation matters. Collaborates with cross-functional partners including Asset Protection, Employee Relations, Privacy, Legal and Audit relating to investigation handling and reporting. walgreens.com

Dir. Corporate Security job posted for ADT in Boca Raton, FL
The primary role of the Corporate Security Director is to develop, implement, direct and coordinate security programs, policies and procedures to protect the company from internal and external threats.

Headquartered in Boca Raton, FL and at more than 200 locations across North America, ADT employees help empower customers to live more secure and confident lives. adt.com

Senior LP Job Postings Removed from Website:

• Dir.- Facilities & AP Services - Gordmans - Houston, TX
• Sr Manager, Security Operations - The Walt Disney Company - Burbank, CA
 

There's No Opting Out of the California Consumer Privacy Act
How to prepare for the CCPA
There's no question that 2020 will be another busy year for enterprises, and to kick it off, on January 1 thousands of businesses will be impacted by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the most comprehensive U.S. data privacy law to date. While some organizations overhauled and up leveled their data governance to comply with GDPR, some businesses pushed off global compliance by sandboxing their European data to fit the GDPR compliance standards. While such band-aid fixes may have seemed like a good idea at the time, the introduction of CCPA leaves far fewer options outside of full compliance.

Now, as the countdown to January continues, and presidential candidates shine a national spotlight on the topic, it's up to executive teams to ensure their companies are in compliance and prepared for what's coming on the data privacy horizon.

How CCPA differs from GDPR
CCPA is commonly referred to as California's version of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and while there are some similarities -- such as individual rights to request, access, and delete personal information -- CCPA and GDPR vary in many important details.

How to prepare
CCPA is only the beginning of data privacy regulations in the U.S. To prepare, here are few ways to ensure your organization is properly handling consumer data.

1. Audit how your company manages data
2. Cross-functional collaboration is key
3. Ensure technology is up to snuff informationweek.com

63% Malware Spike During Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2019 were lucrative targets for cybercriminals. SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers recorded a double-digit malware spike (63 percent) in the U.S. between the eight-day holiday shopping window from Nov. 25 to Dec. 2. securitymagazine.com

More Malware Getting Through Jumps 50%
Only Half of Malware Caught by Signature AV
For years, signature-based antivirus has caught about two-thirds of threats at the network edge - in the last quarter, that success rate has plummeted to only 50%, according to WatchGuard Technologies' latest quarterly report, published on December 11.

The network security firm found that the percentage of malware that successfully bypassed signature-based antivirus scanners at companies' network gateways has increased significantly, either by scrambling code - known as "packing" - using basic encryption techniques or by the automatic creation of code variants. In the past quarter, the share of malware using these obfuscation techniques has jumped to 50% of malicious programs detected at the edge of the network, bypassing common antivirus engines, the company found.

The rise in evasive malware is the most significant trend in WatchGuard's "Internet Threat Report: Q3 2019," but the company also saw a general rise in network attacks - those attempts that attempt to actually compromise a network - of about 8% from the previous quarter. darkreading.com

5 Tips for Keeping Your Security Team on Target
In nearly every security environment, competing priorities are a constant battleground. Here's how to keep the focus on what's important.

1) Build a framework. I've noticed over the course of my career that the people who seem to be busy and overwhelmed all of the time are the same ones who are extremely disorganized. Although getting and staying organized requires an investment in time, in the long run, the investment will pay huge dividends. This is particularly the case with respect to evaluating what activities your security organization should engage in.

Step 2: Develop good processes and procedures. Having mature processes and procedures is a great way to avoid many of these potential time traps and ensures that the security program stays focused on what's important.

Step 3: Maintain a strategic direction. To ensure that your security program is on course, it generally helps to have a well-defined vision and strategic direction. This statement may sound obvious, but far too many security teams ignore these essential guiding forces.

Step 4: Stick to goals and priorities. Vision and strategy are great strategic-level tools, but they don't help us stay on track at the operational and tactical levels, where each functional area needs well-defined goals and priorities to chart and maintain a course of action. It's important to take the time to set goals and priorities for each functional area in line with the security organization's broader vision and strategy.

Step 5: Objectively evaluate impact. In nearly every security environment, competing priorities are a constant. With limited human resources, budget, and technical capabilities, each potential undertaking needs to be evaluated against its potential impact to the organization. darkreading.com

How Hackers Are Breaking Into Ring Cameras After a hacker broke into a Ring camera in Tennessee and spoke to a child, Motherboard found hackers have made dedicated software for gaining access. vice.com

Facebook Refuses to Give Law Enforcement Access to Its Messaging App, WhatsApp

Cannabis: The Past, Present, and Predictions for the Future
PRESENT: Part Two of a Three-Part Series

By Tony Gallo, Managing Partner & Katharine Baxter, Lead Technical Writer for Sapphire Risk Advisory Group

Despite cannabis' negative image and association with heavier drugs, 1996 saw California's Compassionate Use Act which allowed medicinal marijuana for patients with severe illnesses. The public's perception of the plant began to change, but it would be almost two decades before real progress was made.

Today, 33 states allow for medicinal cannabis and 11 states have legalized recreational marijuana. Although California paved the way for medical use, Colorado and Washington were the first to legalize recreationally in 2012. Since it was signed into law, Colorado has earned over $1 billion in cannabis revenue, enticing more and more states to legalize. While it's still illegal under federal law, it's becoming likely that this will change - and change may be coming soon.

Polls show that a majority of Americans support cannabis, with 59% supporting full legalization and 32% favoring medicinal use only. Even President Trump has signaled his support, endorsing his "Right to Try Act" which would allow patients with terminal illnesses to seek cures that have not yet received FDA approval- like medicinal cannabis. Although only available to patients with a reasonable likelihood of death, this bill will allow legal medical marijuana nationwide.

Read Part 1 here