Checkpoint Unveils New Fully Integrated UNO RF/RFID Label

New fully integrated UNO RF/RFID label offers improved performance and sustainability

The new label simultaneously offers retailers the benefits of EAS protection at the store exit and RFID inventory management, when paired with the appropriate hardware and software.

Checkpoint Systems, a global leader in source-to-shopper solutions, has launched a new version of its unique UNO RF/RFID label that will enhance supply chain visibility and loss prevention.

Launching at NRF 2020, the patented and fully-integrated UNO RF/RFID label features all-new RFID chip options, including the recently launched Impinj M750 chip.

The new label simultaneously offers retailers the benefits of EAS protection at the store exit and RFID inventory management, when paired with the appropriate hardware and software. This provides apparel retailers with dual-purpose technology, meaning only one label is required, helping to further decrease labor costs and process time.

By combining RF and RFID technologies, Checkpoint is also helping to mitigate body shielding and shadowing, which can affect the individual technologies. checkpointsystems.com
 

Retail Violence & ORC Increasing Globally? Here's The Proof

UK - Increased Retail Violence Level Gets Prime Minister's Call
"Focus On Tackling Crime"
PM Says to UK Cabinet - "Every Department is a Criminal Justice Department"

UK: Retail sector pushes government to act to protect colleagues

UK: 21,000 Retail Workers Attacked in Workplace in 2019

The retail industry is continuing to push the government to take steps to protect retail colleagues, following a consultation that closed over six months ago. During that time, an estimated 21,000 shop workers were attacked in their workplace, the British Retail Consortium said.

In June 2019 the BRC submitted evidence, supported by Usdaw and the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), which showed the scale of retail violence in the UK. The industry is still waiting on a response from the policing minister Kit Malthouse.

In response, Labour MP Kate Green is working closely with the BRC on this critical issue and is pushing for more effective sentences for violent offenders convicted of attacking retail workers and more police officer resources to be dedicated to halting the rise in retail violence. Green has tabled written Parliamentary Questions, including asking the justice secretary what plans the government has to strengthen sentences for violent offenders who attack retail workers. talkingretail.com

UK: ACS repeats calls for government to tackle abuse of shopworkers
The Association of Convenience Stores has repeated calls to the government to take urgent action to tackle violence against shopworkers, highlighting the human impact that these incidents have.

The call follows a Cabinet meeting yesterday (14 January), which saw prime minister Boris Johnson call for the government to focus on tackling crime, stating that “every department should consider itself a criminal justice department” as part of the focus to tackle the “complex causes of crime”.

ACS chief executive, James Lowman, said: “We welcome the government’s renewed focus on crime and violence and would like to see a swift and decisive response from the Home Office on violence and abuse toward shopworkers.

We need to see more effective penalties for attacks on shopworkers and action from Police Crime and Commissioners which recognises the impact that crimes committed against local shops have on the local community.” talkingretail.com
 

Increasingly Violent & Erratic Theft Activity in Canada
Retail Council of Canada (RCC) Hosting Special Theft & Safety Roundtable Jan. 31

RCC Sends Detailed Recommendations & Actionable Opportunities Letter
To Minister of Justice & Attorney General of Manitoba

Retail Council of Canada Meeting Follow-up

On behalf of the Retail Council of Canada, our Manitoba members and the 67,000 Manitobans working in our stores, I would like to express our sincere appreciation for the productive discussion on the crime challenges facing the retail sector across the province.

As our members expressed, retail employees are facing increasingly violent and erratic theft activity in their stores, in part due to the rise of Organized Retail Crime, meth issues and helped along by stories highlighting “observe only” security policies designed to safeguard retail workers.

Last year an estimated $200 million was shoplifted from Manitoba stores, a cost borne by Manitoba brick and mortar retailers and shoppers, and all of Manitobans through lost taxes. However, it’s the human cost that is of paramount concern to our members, as our workforce rightfully expresses anxiety as they witness or hear about violent retail crime featuring guns, machetes, clubs, bear spray and a range of other dangerous weapons. Read Full Letter

RCC hosting theft and safety roundtable in January
Retail owners and their employees in Winnipeg have been facing increasingly violent and erratic theft activity in their stores. Last year, an estimated $200 million was shoplifted from Manitoba stores, which increases costs for both retailers and shoppers, and ultimately all Manitobans through lost taxes.

Retail Council of Canada continues to work very diligently to address the theft and safety issues our Retailers are facing in Winnipeg today. With that goal, RCC is collaborating with key stakeholders in the province to find solutions to the rising theft, including leading a coalition of business associations hosting a Manitoba Retail Crime Round Table on January 31, 2020. retailcouncil.org
 

Check Fraud Almost Doubles in 2 Years - 47% Of Industry Fraud Losses
Rise in Check Fraud Could Motivate Treasurers to Switch to Other Payment Tools

“The fastest-growing fraud at our bank”

A recent rise in check fraud could motivate corporate treasurers to ditch paper checks and replace them with faster, safer and cheaper electronic payments.

Attempted check fraud increased to $15.1 billion in 2018 - up from $8.5 billion in 2016 - and accounted for 60% of attempted fraud against deposit accounts at U.S. banks, according to a survey released Wednesday by the American Bankers Association. Successful check fraud made up 47%, or $1.3 billion, of banks’ fraud losses - a rise from $789 million in 2016 - closely followed by debit card fraud losses at 44%, or $1.2 billion.

Checks are more vulnerable to fraud because they contain a lot of critical information, can be forged or stolen.

Checks are still the most popular payment method for transactions between U.S. businesses. But check usage has declined, from 81% of business-to-business payments in 2004 to 42% last year, the AFP found.

A lack of financial resources for new information technology systems needed to process electronic payments, as well as difficulties convincing business partners to accept electronic payments, are among the reasons many companies stick with check payments, the AFP said.

The transition away from checks will take time, according to Mr. Helms, the Hansel Auto CFO. “I see a lot of smaller companies out there that are not willing to become more technologically savvy,” he said. wsj.com

Editor's Note: As EMV wiped out credit card counterfeiting, electronic real-time payments will wipe out the old paper check a little sooner then we probably thought. As the criminals have migrated over there the last few years. Partially driven by EMV.
 

Congressional Hearing on Facial Recognition Technology (Part III)
Ensuring Commercial Transparency & Accuracy - Jan 15, 2020
The purpose of the hearing is to examine the various ways that private sector entities use facial recognition technology; the potential transparency, privacy, accuracy, ownership, and security implications involved in its use and the partnerships these companies develop with government entities; and the possible legislative solutions that can be implemented to avoid these risks. house.gov

SIA Testimony on 'Facial Recognition Technology:
Ensuring Commercial Transparency and Accuracy'

Security Industry Association Testifies in Congress

On Jan. 15, 2020, the Security Industry Association (SIA) joined the Future of Privacy Forum, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the AI Now Institute at New York University and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform at the hearing Facial Recognition Technology (Part III): Ensuring Commercial Transparency & Accuracy. This hearing examined the various ways that private sector entities use facial recognition technology; the potential transparency, privacy, accuracy, ownership, and security implications involved in its use and the partnerships these companies develop with government entities; and the possible legislative solutions that can be implemented to avoid these risks.

Jake Parker, senior director of government relations at SIA, represented the association before the committee, discussing the importance of using facial recognition responsibly, beneficial applications of facial recognition in commercial and private-sector environments, the importance of transparency when applying facial recognition, how the industry is creating use principles, the takeaways of NIST’s recent report on the technology and the accuracy of facial recognition. securityindustry.org
 

Cargo theft surges across the Greater Toronto Area - Police struggling to stop it

Cargo Theft Up 247% in 3 Years - Higher Than Entire U.S.

Monday’s deadly incident — in which a stolen tractor trailer, filled with boxes of meat, hit two vehicles before ramming into an Esso gas station in Mississauga — was just one of potentially hundreds of cargo theft incidents the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) could see in the new year, according to police.

“I can’t really specify why it’s going up as drastic as it is,” said Det. Paul Allen with Peel Regional Police’s cargo theft unit.

New numbers provided to Global News by Peel police show a sharp rise in reported tractor-trailer thefts in the past five years.

In 2015, Peel police fielded calls for a total of 98 reported cargo thefts. It also received a total of 175 reports of stolen tractors and 59 stolen trailers without any cargo.

By 2018, that number had soared to 341 reported cargo thefts (Up 247% from 2015), 261 stolen tractors and 86 empty stolen trailers.

“The GTA is the hotbed of cargo crime in Canada,” said Marco Beghetto with the Ontario Trucking Association.

“There were more goods stolen in Canada than all of the U.S. in 2018,” he said, referring to the trucking advocacy group’s numbers. “Peel Region comes only behind California as the highest jurisdiction for cargo crime.”

“The thing about cargo crime that people have to realize is that we’re not talking about amateurs here, we’re talking about a very sophisticated network of organized crime,” said Beghetto.

“Often what happens is that the cargo crime is used to support and fund a far more nefarious criminal activity, so they have a very sophisticated network of buyers ready to go,” he added. globalnews.ca

Shocking study of 26,828 women finds that sexual harassment gets even worse with career advancement
This is the finding of a surprising workplace study across Japan, Sweden, and the U.S., showing that women in supervisory positions experience much more sexual harassment than other female employees. “When you think about it, a supervisor is exposed to new groups of potential perpetrators. She can be harassed both from her subordinates and from higher-level management within the company,” says coauthor Johanna Rickne, a professor of economics at the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI) at Stockholm University. In other words, women have it coming at them from all sides.

Researchers at SOFI surveyed 26,828 women to find that female supervisors experience 30-100% more harassment, and that low-level leaders receive the brunt of it, though women in top roles still receive more than rank-and-file employees. This was surprising to the researchers, who expected to see endemic harassment of low-ranking employees. Instead, they found that harassment levels increase when subordinates are mostly male.

Women’s perches in upper management are perilous: When reporting the behavior, “supervisors face more professional and social retaliation. We conclude that sexual harassment is a workplace hazard that raises the costs for women to pursue leadership ambitions and, in turn, reinforces gender gaps in income, status and voice,” write the researchers.

Why is this happening? Though sexual harassment can be fueled by lust, it can also be about equalizing status. Much, note the researchers, appears to stem from jealousy. fastcompany.com

U.S. Government Skeptical of Chinese-Made Drones
According to reports, the U.S. Department of the Interior will ground its entire drone fleet out of concern that the Chinese-made devices could be used for spying. This follows an announcement at the end of October that the department would stop using the drones temporarily to review the situation.

The department uses drones for mapping, tracking natural resources, and to monitor emergency situations, such as wildfires. The Interior will revert to using manned aircraft for essential aerial surveillance, which will cost more money and cover less ground.

A December Security Management article gives tips on vetting technology vendors that could pose security risks. asisonline.org

NRF: Holiday retail sales up 4.1%
Sales during November and December in 2019 grew 4.1% to $730.2 billion, according to the NRF, whose numbers exclude automobile dealers, gasoline stations and restaurants. Online and other non-store sales, which are included in the total, rose 14.6%. 

The online channel registered the biggest growth during the November-December season, with sales up 14%, followed by grocery and beverage stores, with a 2.9% increase. But some sectors, including electronics stores where sales fell 2%, registered declines. 

Here are specifics from key retail sectors during the November-December holiday season include: chainstoreage.com

● Furniture and home furnishings stores were up 2.6% year-over-year.
● Health and personal care stores were up 1.6% year-over-year.
● Building materials and garden supply stores were up 1% year-over-year.
● General merchandise stores were up 0.4% year-over-year.
● Sporting goods stores were down 0.4% year-over-year.
● Clothing and clothing accessory stores were down 1.6% year-over-year.
● Electronics and appliance stores were down 2% year-over-year.

NJ law would require guaranteed severance pay for mass layoffs - 1st in nation
Employers of 100 or more full-time employees to award severance pay to laid-off workers — one week for every year of service — when at least 50 workers are getting the ax. The measure also states these employers will have to give workers 90 days' notice, rather than 60, of a business closure or mass-layoff situation. Sitting on Governor's desk now awaiting signature. nj1015.com

Walmart Neighborhood Market Opens Cashierless Store in Miami, FL

Gap Inc. No Longer Pursuing Separation of Old Navy

OSHA Adjusts 2020 Maximum Penalties for Inflation

Love's to Open 40 Stores in 2020

Kirkland's to close 27 stores
 

NRF launches Center for Consumer Privacy and Innovation
The National Retail Federation today announced the launch of a new Center for Consumer Privacy and Innovation, a retailer-led initiative intended to promote and protect innovation in the retail customer experience. The launch took place during NRF 2020 Vision: Retail’s Big Show, NRF’s annual convention.

“The Center for Consumer Privacy and Innovation will provide insight and policy expertise to educate lawmakers as they strive to properly balance consumer protections with retail innovation.”

The retail industry is increasingly driven by consumer data, harnessing new technologies and personalized solutions to deliver a seamless experience. Digital and mobile solutions, in particular, have enabled retailers to innovate at a greater speed to meet the demands of consumers.

As officials at the state and federal levels seek to regulate how personal information is protected and consumers are given control over data, the center will produce research, track privacy legislation, and educate the public and policymakers about the benefits, convenience and value they derive from the technology retailers develop. The effort is intended to ensure that government regulation does not harm innovative aspects of the retail economy. nrf.com

5G Race Could Leave Personal Privacy in the Dust

Security's Wish-List is Right Around the Corner - We Better Be Careful

New networks will collect more data on the physical world. Experts warn public policy hasn’t caught up.

Wireless companies racing to build new 5G networks are expected to bring billions of cameras, sensors and other “smart” devices along for the ride, a trend that could spell trouble for personal privacy.

Telecom companies have spent the past year blanketing parts of China, South Korea and the U.S. with fifth-generation cellular service, a technology that supercharges downloads to smartphones, laptops and tablets. But engineers say 5G’s true potential comes from the ability to cheaply link thousands of smaller devices—like security cameras, traffic sensors and other surveillance gadgets - to a single cell tower at a time, up from a few hundred today.

At the same time, other new standards are making cellular devices cheaper, more plentiful and easier to maintain, allowing sensors to be put in places where previously it was too costly to do so. These machines also are getting better at sipping power so that a connected device can now spend years in the field without a battery replacement.

Police in China, for example, have piloted camera-equipped glasses that use 5G’s extremely quick response times to power facial-recognition software, allowing authorities to spot targets before they leave an area. Companies based in North America and Europe, meanwhile, are highlighting the opportunities 5G technology offers merchants and marketers, such as the ability to pinpoint how long a customer lingers in front of a certain store shelf or display.

Without a set of standard privacy rules in the U.S., Chinese companies rolling out 5G networks and services could gain an edge, he suggests.

Some telecom industry experts warn that aggressive privacy protections could undercut the economic benefits 5G technology promises. “Europeans shot themselves in the foot with the GDPR,” saysJohn Strand,a Denmark-based telecom consultant. “Read literally, it prohibits AI and machine learning.” wsj.com

Phishing Today, Deepfakes Tomorrow:
Training Employees to Spot This Emerging Threat

Bosses Voice Successfully Used in $267k U.S. Scheme

Deepfake fraud is a new, potentially devastating issue for businesses. In fact, last year a top executive at an unidentified energy company was revealed to have been conned into paying $267,000 by scammers using artificial intelligence to replicate his boss's voice — simply because he answered a telephone call, which he believed was from his German parent company. The request was for him to transfer the funds, which he dutifully sent to what he presumed was his parent company. In the end, the funds were stolen by sophisticated criminals at the forefront of what I believe is a frightening new age of deepfake fraud. Although this was the first reported case of this kind of fraud in the UK, it certainly won't be the last.

Cyber criminals understand the large potential gains from gathering intelligence from corporations using deepfake technology — a mixture of video, audio, and email messaging— to extract confidential employee information under the guise of the CEO or CFO.

As more businesses educate their employees to detect and thwart traditional phishing and spearphishing attacks, it's not difficult to see how the fraudsters may instead turn their efforts to fruitful deepfake technology to execute their schemes.  

How Deepfakes Will Thrive in the Modern Workplace

It's not difficult to see why corporate deepfake detection in particular is so crucial: Employees by nature are often eager to satisfy the requests of their seniors, and do so with as little friction as possible.

The stakes are raised even further when considering how large teams, remote workers, and complex hierarchies make it even more difficult for employees to distinguish between a colleague's "status quo" and an unusual request or attitude. Add into that equation the fast-tempo demands to deliver through agile working methodologies, and it is easy to see how a convincingly realistic video request from a known boss to transfer funds could attract less scrutiny from an employee than a video from someone they know less well.

A New Era of Employee Security Training

Companies must empower employees to question and challenge requests that are deemed to be unusual, either because of the atypical action demanded or the out-of-character manner or style of the person making the request. This can be particularly challenging for organizations with very hierarchical and autocratic leadership that does not encourage or respect what it perceives as challenges to its authority. Fortunately, some business owners and academics are already looking into ways to solve the issue of detecting deepfakes. darkreading.com

Cyber attackers turn to business disruption as primary attack objective
Over the course of 2019, 36% of the incidents that CrowdStrike investigated were most often caused by ransomware, destructive malware or denial of service attacks, revealing that business disruption was often the main attack objective of cybercriminals.

Another notable finding in the new CrowdStrike Services Report shows a large increase in dwell time to an average of 95 days in 2019 - up from 85 days in 2018 - meaning that adversaries were able to hide their activities from defenders for longer, and that organizations still lack the technology necessary to harden network defenses, prevent exploitation and mitigate cyber risk.

Third-party compromises serve as a force multiplier for attacks. Threat actors are increasingly targeting third-party service providers to compromise their customers and scale attacks.

Attackers are targeting cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Threat activity around API keys for public cloud-based infrastructure has become more targeted as attackers increase their ability to rapidly and systematically harvest information assets.

1-10-60 benchmark

The report found that organizations that meet the 1-10-60 benchmark - detect an incident in one minute, investigate in 10 minutes and remediate within an hour - are improving their chances of stopping cyber adversaries. However, the found that the vast majority of organizations struggle to meet the 1-10-60 standard. helpnetsecurity.com

AI in Retail - Big investments can deliver new business and happy customers

Maryland proposed Bill HBO215 would make possession of ransomware guilty of a misdemeanor