Sensormatic Solutions Launches Sensormatic IQ

Unify diverse data and insights with the new intelligent operating platform designed to drive improved shopper experiences and retail outcomes

Johnson Controls, a global leader for smart and sustainable buildings, and the architect of OpenBlue connected solutions, today announced that Sensormatic Solutions, its leading global retail solutions portfolio, launched Sensormatic IQ. This intelligent operating platform for retail, backed by Sensormatic Solutions industry expertise and robust technology partner ecosystem, delivers tangible value across the enterprise.

Focus on Innovation: The open, secure and agile platform integrates the full Sensormatic Solutions portfolio, retailer, and third-party data sources, along with advanced technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to offer unparalleled visibility into operations and shopper insights. This combination drives prescriptive, data-driven outcomes for retailers, creating value and growth opportunities as retailers move into the future. Read More Here


Interface Security Systems Completes New $60 Million Round of Equity Financing

Interface Security Systems, a leading managed service provider delivering business security, managed network, UCaaS, and business intelligence solutions to distributed enterprises, announced the completion of a $60 million equity financing transaction led by its current sponsors SunTx Capital Partners and Prudential Capital Partners.

The additional equity capital will help facilitate the company’s growth strategy and strengthen its industry-leading capabilities, featuring highly differentiated managed services.

Read more in today's Vendor Spotlight below.
 

Protests & Violence

Planning For Riots at Every State Capital
LE Leaders Taking Low Profile This Week

Justice Department and FBI Leaders Noticeably Absent Since Riot
Officials from the FBI and Department of Justice will give lawmakers their first formal briefings Tuesday on last week’s deadly pro-Trump riot at the Capitol. Notably absent will be their bosses - Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and FBI Director Christopher Wray - who have kept a very low public profile for almost a week.

The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Michael Sherwin, and the head of the FBI’s Washington office, Steven D’Antuono, who are running the sprawling probe will speak by phone with lawmakers, people familiar with the matter said. The briefing comes as Washington grapples with ongoing security concerns and threats of future violence, and agents fan out across the country to tackle an investigation with thousands of suspects and crimes ranging from murder to stealing national-security information.

FBI agents have been scouring social media and pursuing some 70,000 tips the agency has received in the days since the riot, with federal prosecutors in Washington already pursuing more than two dozen arrest warrants for members of the mob on charges of gun crimes, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, assaulting an officer and other offenses. More charges against individuals allegedly involved in the violence are expected to be unveiled this week.

Law-enforcement officials have also been planning for the possibility of more armed protests at every state capitol and in Washington in the days leading up to Joe Biden’s inauguration, with U.S. officials ordering thousands of extra National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., and halting public tours of the Washington Monument.

Top U.S. Capitol Police officials, who are primarily responsible for securing the building, have also maintained a minimal public presence.

Messrs. Rosen and Wray have issued written statements condemning the violence and promising to pursue those responsible, but have remained out of public view as federal law-enforcement agencies begin internally scrutinizing their own actions and how, at all levels, they miscalculated the threat of violence from what they estimated would be a largely peaceful political rally. wsj.com

Editor's Note: The problem is that DC is not a state and therefore has no National Guard or State Police or Attorney General. Absent those they only have a Mayor and Chief of Police. And the Fed's simply weren't watching or listening. Three people died. Because no one was really watching and they didn't have a plan.

Planned Riots at Minnesota & Michigan State Capitals
FBI alert reveals extremists prepping for violence
at Minnesota State Capitol this weekend

The anti-government Boogaloo movement has been scouting the grounds, the report said, with one follower expressing "his willingness to die."

The FBI has credible evidence of a threat of violence on Sunday specifically aimed at the Minnesota and Michigan state capitols by right-wing extremists as part of their preparation for armed protests in every state and Washington, D.C., leading up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.

The evidence is spelled out in a report dated Dec. 29 and written by the FBI's Minneapolis division. The report was first posted Monday by Yahoo News and verified to the Star Tribune on Tuesday as legitimate by a source who has seen the document.

The report said that some followers of the violent Boogaloo movement attended protests in early December at the Minnesota State Capitol "to identify escape points and defensible positions in the event violence occurred."

Boogaloo members "scouted general law enforcement presence" at the earlier rallies, the report noted, and "identified law enforcement numbers. ... They also identified law enforcement sniper locations and considered breaking into federal buildings for use as firing locations if fighting occurred."

One movement member went so far as to say that "the building with the snipers would need to be blown up in order to protect Boogaloo fighters in the even of a gun battle during the event," the document continued. "At least one follower expressed his willingness to die for the movement." startribune.com

FBI Warns All 50 States - National Guard Monitoring Nationwide
FBI warns of plans for nationwide armed protests this week
The FBI is warning of plans for armed protests at all 50 state capitals and in Washington in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, stoking fears of more bloodshed after last week’s deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol.

An internal FBI bulletin warned that the nationwide protests may start this week and extend through Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration, according to two law enforcement officials who read details of the memo to the Associated Press. Investigators believe some of the people are members of extremist groups, the officials said. The bulletin was first reported by ABC.

“Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the U.S. Capitol from 17 January through 20 January,” the bulletin said, according to one official. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The FBI issued at least one other bulletin — they go out to law enforcement nationwide on the topic — before the riots last week. On Dec. 29, it warned of the potential for armed demonstrators targeting legislatures, the second official said.

Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told reporters Monday that the Guard is also looking at any issues across the country.

“We’re keeping a look across the entire country to make sure that we’re monitoring, and that our Guards in every state are in close coordination with their local law enforcement agencies to provide any support requested.” latimes.com

Social-Media Watchdogs Detect Signs of Ongoing Extremist Threat
Social-media researchers who have been monitoring right-wing extremist groups’ online activity in recent months, are now issuing new warnings about additional events.

Some right-wing extremists who support President Trump are trying to organize gatherings as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office, according to researchers’ review of social-media activity. They include proposed protests at 50 state capitals and a potential demonstration at the inauguration.

For researchers at the Atlantic Council, Stanford Internet Observatory and elsewhere who map loosely organized extremist networks and the spread of disinformation, monitoring such online activity has taken on new prominence since the storming of the Capitol. wsj.com

Never Confirmed - Serving Illegally - DHS Secretary Abruptly Quits
Trump Homeland Security chief abruptly quits at tense time
President Donald Trump's acting head of the Department of Homeland Security abruptly resigned Monday, leaving the post ahead of schedule as the nation faces a heightened terrorism threat from extremists seeking to reverse the election.

The announcement by acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf was perplexing. It came less than a week after he pledged to remain in office and just 10 days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. Wolf cited a legal challenge to his leadership as a reason for his resignation, but that had surfaced months ago.

Wolf, who had been serving in an acting capacity since November 2019 and was never confirmed by the Senate, said he was compelled to leave by "recent events," including court rulings that found he could not legally hold the position. He did not specify the other events or cite other factors. startribune.com

Twitter Has Suspended More Than 70,000 Accounts Following the Capitol Riots
According to a new update from Twitter, in the wake of the Capitol riots last Wednesday, it launched a mass purge of accounts that it found were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content.

As per Twitter: "Many of the individuals impacted by this updated enforcement action held multiple accounts, driving up the total number of accounts impacted. Since Friday, more than 70,000 accounts have been suspended as a result of our efforts."

Twitter says that these accounts "were engaged in sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale and were primarily dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory across the service". 

Twitter notes that, along with its regular spam account challenges, which it also warned about late last week, this new action against QAnon related accounts has seen some profiles lose thousands of followers in a matter of days. socialmediatoday.com

Capitol Riot: Self-Surveillance Feeds Investigation
The FBI, which is leading the investigation, has a range of investigative tools and technologies to help, including facial recognition software. Potential evidence abounds, thanks in no small part to self-surveillance - namely, many members of the mob livestreamed their breach of the Capitol, took copious photographs or posted images or intentions on social media.

"Some people were being very blatant and flippant about it, smiling for the camera - those people are going to be very easy to find," Doug Kouns, a retired FBI special agent and founder of the Indiana-based private-investigation firm Veracity IIR, tells The Washington Post.

The FBI's Washington field office has issued a public appeal, saying it "is seeking the public's assistance in identifying individuals who made unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6."

The FBI is also seeking information, backed by a reward of up to $50,000, on whoever deployed two suspected pipe bombs - one placed at the city's National Republican Club and the other at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.

- As of early Monday, 45 individuals had been charged
- Calls to Save 'Incriminating' Footage
- Security Concerns Ahead of Inauguration
  Continue Reading

National Guard Bolsters Washington, D.C., Troop Levels to at Least 10,000

Added forces expected in place by weekend as FBI warns of armed protests nationwide in run-up to inauguration

U.S. officials ordered thousands of extra National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., by the weekend as part of new security measures that include halting public tours of the Washington Monument, as authorities warn of armed protests in the nation’s capital and across the country in coming days.

The signs of new security concerns ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20 follow last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob that sought to stop Congress from certifying Mr. Biden’s electoral victory.

The National Guard’s top officer said he would increase the number of Guard troops in Washington to at least 10,000 by Saturday - up from a planned 6,200 - to bolster security. And the National Park Service, citing continuing danger from violent groups, said Monday that it had closed facilities, parking areas and roadways and is restricting access to the Washington Monument. wsj.com

Let the Vortex Begin
Polar Vortex Couldn't Come at a Better Time
Couple that with 10,000 National Guard Troops in DC and I'd say - there probably won't be many Million Militia March rioters - But there are some warmer states they could pop up at. Just my opinion, Gus Downing