ADT Commercial Purchases Alliant Integrators, Inc.

ADT Commercial continues growing its geographic footprint and strengthening its capacity to serve mid-market, national and large-scale commercial customers with today’s announcement that it has purchased Alliant Integrators, based in Louisville, KY.

Established in 2006 by Beverly and Jim Bozarth, Alliant Integrators, Inc., is one of the largest providers of commercial fire alarm detection, installation, inspection and maintenance services in the Kentucky and Southern Indiana region.

“A wide range of commercial clients in education, healthcare and at industrial facilities trust Alliant’s team of talented and tenured professionals for their integrated fire, life safety and security systems requirements. Alliant is a significant and welcome addition to ADT Commercial and will deepen our ability to be the one ideal integrator in the Kentucky and Southern Indiana areas,” said Dan Bresingham, Executive Vice President, ADT Commercial.

Johnson Controls release new Illustra Pro Bullet with Smart Wide Dynamic Range

New Illustra Pro Gen3 Bullet camera automatically optimizes video quality while minimizing configuration time

Johnson Controls has added to its successful Illustra Pro camera family with the Illustra Pro Gen3 Bullet, featuring new Smart Wide Dynamic Range that optimizes video quality while minimizing configuration time. Available with standard or telephoto lens and in megapixel resolutions of 3MP and 4K, the Pro Gen3 Bullet provides customers with a selection of video images to match their operational requirements and is ideal for a wide variety of deployments in both medium and large-sized facilities. illustracameras.com
 

Coronavirus Update

U.S. Readies for Coronavirus Pandemic Some Experts Now See as Likely

“This is about mitigation at this point.”

Now scientists know its spread can be minimized at best, and governments are planning for the worst.

“There is not a doubt this is going to end up in most countries eventually.”

The U.S., with 11 diagnosed cases so far, plans to quarantine at military bases potentially more than 1,000 Americans evacuated from China’s Hubei province. State health departments are activating emergency programs to isolate the potentially infected—a piecemeal approach that could range from specialized facilities to hotels. Some hospitals have tents in stock to use as emergency.

Total containment isn’t in the cards, said Nancy Messonnier, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “Given the nature of this virus and how it’s spreading, that would be impossible. Our goal is to slow this thing down.”

“This is an unprecedented situation and we are taking aggressive measures,” she said. “We are preparing as if this were the next pandemic.”

The CDC has developed a new test that would allow samples taken from patients to be tested locally instead of sent to CDC headquarters in Atlanta, saving transportation time and getting results faster. The test was cleared for use by the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday. nytimes.com

China Is About to Find Out Whether Its Mass Quarantine Worked

“This is more and more like flu, which is like trying to stop the wind.”  bloomberg.com

Coronavirus Live Updates:
Hong Kong Imposes Quarantines as China Death Toll Rises

As deaths near 500, no sign of a slowdown of cases in China

66% Deaths Men - 80% Over 60 - With Pre-Existing Conditions

New cases have surged by double-digit percentages in the past 11 days, with no sign of a slowdown. More people have now died in this epidemic than in the SARS outbreak of 2002-3 in mainland China. During that outbreak, 349 people died in the mainland.

The new figures from China’s Health Commission on Wednesday showed that 65 people died on Tuesday and that 3,887 more people had been infected. So far, 24,324 people are known to have been infected.

Health experts say the death toll is likely to rise because of the large number of infections. The mortality rate of the coronavirus, about 2 percent so far, appears to be far lower than SARS, which has a mortality rate of about 10 percent.

On Tuesday, health officials released details of the deaths so far, saying that two-thirds of them were men. More than 80 percent were over 60 years old, and they typically had pre-existing health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases or diabetes.

What is a coronavirus, and how dangerous is it? Read up on the basics, including its symptoms and how it is transmitted.

How bad could the outbreak be? Here are the six key factors that will determine whether it can be contained.

How is the United States being affected? There were 11 confirmed cases as of Tuesday. American citizens and permanent residents who fly to the United States from China are now subject to a two-week quarantine.

How do I keep myself and others safe? Washing your hands is the most important thing you can do.

Drugs to fight H.I.V. and the flu show promise in treatment, China says. nytimes.com

NYC Getting Hammered By No Chinese Tourists

Worldwide Retail Impact:
Paris shops feel the pinch as virus keeps Chinese tourists away

Lunar New Year Retail Sales Plummet in Japan on Virus - Down 10% to 15%
 

Spike in Crime Inflames Debate Over Bail Law in New York

Overall Crime Up 16.9%, Robberies Up 37%

The police commissioner blamed the bail overhaul for the increase, but supporters of the law said he was spreading misinformation.

New York City’s police commissioner on Tuesday blamed the state’s new bail law for a sharp rise last month in serious crimes, warning again that the law allows violent criminals to go free and risks eroding the city’s historic improvements in public safety.

But supporters of the law responded that it was far too early to draw any conclusions about its impact, saying that the data was being framed in politically irresponsible ways.

Precipitous increases in crimes like robberies, shootings and auto thefts drove a 16.9 percent increase in overall crime last month compared with January 2019, according to police data.

Police commissioner, Dermot F. Shea, maintained that the new bail law was clearly responsible for the spike.

He said the new law forces judges to release people even if they are believed to pose a risk to others.

The courts began following the new guidelines in November to avoid a last minute crush of people who were released from jail.

One of the largest increases was in robberies, which rose to 1,290 last month from 943 in January 2019, an increase of nearly 37 percent, according to police records.

Chief LiPetri said the increase was being driven by teenagers who have been robbing other teenagers of electronic devices in greater numbers than before. People younger than 18 committed 26 percent of robberies, he said. nytimes.com

Trump Calls Out 'Second Chance Hiring'
Trump noted that lawmakers passed "landmark criminal justice reform." Trump signed the bi-partisan First Step Act into law on Dec. 21, 2018, which provides job training, treatment and rehabilitation for the formerly incarcerated. The new law aims to reduce sentences for nonviolent offenders in federal prisons and improve programs to curb recidivism.

SHRM supported the First Step Act. The employment of people with criminal records is an issue workplaces should be talking about, according to Taylor. "I encourage HR professionals to lead conversations about inclusive hiring at their organizations so other executives can make informed, sensible and beneficial hiring decisions," he said. shrm.org

Macy's Press Release:
Macy’s Announces Three-Year Polaris Strategy to Stabilize Profitability & Position the Company for Growth

Closing approximately 125 stores in lower tier malls within three years & exploring new off-mall formats

Establishes single corporate headquarters & relocates digital business to NYC

Reducing corporate & support function headcount by 9%, or approx. 2,000 positions

Macy’s plans to close approximately 125 over the next three years, including approximately 30 stores that are in the process of closure now.

Will continue to expand Macy’s Backstage over the next three years. In 2020, the company plans to open an additional 50 Backstage store-within-store locations and 7 additional freestanding, off-mall Backstage stores.

Testing a new smaller store format, Market by Macy’s, located off-mall in lifestyle centers.

Macy’s is streamlining its organization with a net reduction in its corporate and support function headcount of 9%, approximately 2,000 positions.

Closing its San Francisco, downtown Cincinnati and Lorain, OH offices. Also closing its Tempe, AZ customer contact center and consolidate customer service work into its Mason, OH and Clearwater, FL facilities. macysinc.com

Best Buy CEO to stay on after investigation
Best Buy on Tuesday announced the conclusion of an investigation into CEO Corie Barry based on misconduct allegations. In a company press release, the audit committee of the board of directors said Best Buy "immediately retained outside legal counsel" upon hearing the allegations to conduct an independent review and has since decided to support "the continued leadership" of Barry.  retaildive.com

What the CFO's Are Reading
Metric of the Month: Total Cost to Manage & Process Collections

The Lifetime Value - It's a Team Sport

Smart companies take a strategic approach to the collections process by prioritizing and stratifying past-due receivables, setting tolerance limits, establishing strong policies for credit and collections, and negotiating with customers where appropriate.

This month’s metric, the total cost to perform the process “manage and process collections per $1,000 revenue,” includes the sum of fully-loaded personnel cost, outsourcing, overhead, systems, and other costs related to collections, per $1,000 of annual organizational revenue.

Data from APQC’s Open Standards Benchmarking database shows a significant gap between top and bottom performers when it comes to this metric. Top performers spend about 20 cents on managing and processing collections for every $1,000 of revenue, while bottom performers spend close to five times that amount.

Collections Pitfalls - Drivers of Cost-Effectiveness cfo.com

Walgreens to Pay $7.5M For Fake Pharmacist in California
Walgreens will pay $7.5 million to settle with California authorities after an employee was criminally charged with impersonating a pharmacist and illegally filling more than 745,000 prescriptions in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Kim Thien Le has pleaded not guilty to felony impersonation charges. Prosecutors said that from late 2006 through 2017, Le used the license numbers of registered pharmacists in order to impersonate them and dispense prescriptions at Walgreens stores in Santa Clara and Alameda counties. The prescriptions allegedly included more than 100,000 for opioids such as fentanyl, morphine and codeine.

Le herself didn't have a pharmacist license, prosecutors said.

“The burden is on the company to make sure its employees are properly licensed and to complete a thorough background check," Alameda County District Attorney said.

In a statement Monday, Walgreens said Le hasn't worked for the company since 2017. “Pharmacy quality and safety are top priorities, and upon learning of this issue, we undertook a re-verification of the licenses of all our pharmacists nationwide,” the statement said. chicagotribune.com

How Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk

"I'm a danger to the public," one wrote to a regulator.

Pharmacists across the U.S. warn that the push to do more with less has made medication errors more likely.

In letters to state regulatory boards and in interviews with The New York Times, many pharmacists at companies like CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens described understaffed and chaotic workplaces where they said it had become difficult to perform their jobs safely, putting the public at risk of medication errors.

They struggle to fill prescriptions, give flu shots, tend the drive-through, answer phones, work the register, counsel patients and call doctors and insurance companies, they said - all the while racing to meet corporate performance metrics that they characterized as unreasonable and unsafe in an industry squeezed to do more with less.

"I am a danger to the public working for CVS," one pharmacist wrote in an anonymous letter to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy in April.

State boards and associations in at least two dozen states have heard from distraught pharmacists, interviews and records show, while some doctors complain that pharmacies bombard them with requests for refills that patients have not asked for and should not receive.

Michael Jackson, chief executive of the Florida Pharmacy Association, said the number of complaints from members related to staffing cuts and worries about patient safety had become "overwhelming" in the past year.

A spokesman for CVS said it had created a system to address the issue, but Dr. Schwartz said complaints persisted. nytimes.com

ReposiTrak Solution Cuts Out-of-Stocks By An Average 46%

7-Eleven® Pilots Cashierless Store Concept

Hy-Vee Grocery Ends 24/7 Operations (265 Stores) - Closing Midnight to 5 a.m.

NYSE Owner Intercontinental Exchange Makes Takeover Offer for eBay

Tiffany & Co. Stockholders approve Acquisition by LVMH

Quarterly Results
Boot Barn Q3 comp's up 6.7%, net sales up 11.8%
Ralph Lauren Q3 North America comp's up 4%, Europe comp's up 2%, Asia comp's down 1%, total revenue up 1%
The Container Store Group Q3 comp's up 3%, net sales up 3.2%

2020 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report: Threat Actors Pivot Toward More Targeted Attacks, Evasive Exploits

9.9 billion malware attacks recorded, a 6% decrease, due to more targeted attacks

Over 40 million web app attacks detected, 52% increase

Encrypted threats up 27%, almost 4 million identified

SonicWall, the trusted security partner protecting more than 1 million networks worldwide, today announced its annual threat report findings, which highlight the evasive tactics cybercriminals leverage to target businesses and consumers.

The 2020 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report provides in-depth information and analysis of the cyber threat landscape. Major findings of the report include:

• Cybercriminals change approach to malware: ‘Spray-and-pray’ tactics that once had malware attack numbers soaring have since been abandoned for more targeted and evasive methods aimed at weaker victims. SonicWall recorded 9.9 billion malware attacks, a 6% year-over-year decrease.

• Targeted ransomware attacks cripple victims: While total ransomware volume (187.9 million) dipped 9% for the year, highly targeted attacks left many state, provincial and local governments paralyzed and took down email communications, websites, telephone lines and even dispatch services.

• The Internet of Things (IoT) is a treasure trove for cybercriminals: Bad actors continue to deploy ransomware on ordinary devices, such as smart TVs, electric scooters and smart speakers, to daily necessities like toothbrushes, refrigerators and doorbells. SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers discovered a moderate 5% increase in IoT malware, with a total volume of 34.3 million attacks in 2019. sonicwall.com

8 of the 10 Most Exploited Bugs Last Year Involved Microsoft Products
For the third year in a row, cybercriminals employed vulnerabilities in Microsoft products far more so than security flaws in any other technology, new data for 2019 shows.

Eight out of the 10 most exploited vulnerabilities in 2019 in fact impacted Microsoft products. The other two—including the most exploited flaw—involved Adobe Flash Player, the previous top attacker favorite, according to analysis by Recorded Future.

The most exploited vulnerability in 2019 itself was CVE-2018-15982, a so-called use-after-free issue impacting Adobe Flash Player 31.0.0.153 and earlier, and 31.0.0.108 and earlier. This vulnerability, and another use-after-free issue impacting multiple Adobe Flash Player versions (CVE-2018-4878), were the only ones in Recorded Future's top 10 list unrelated to Microsoft.

Four of the remaining eight vulnerabilities in Recorded Future's top 10 most exploited list impacted Internet Explorer.

Troublingly, as many as six of the vulnerabilities in this year's list, were present in the 2018 top 10 as well. One of them—a critical remote code execution flaw in Microsoft Office/Wordpad (CVE-2017-0199)—has been on the list for three years. darkreading.com

What's Your Answer to this Question?

Do your employees feel valued?
64% have one foot out the door

The estimated current cybersecurity workforce is 2.8 million professionals, while the amount of additional trained staff needed to close the skills gap is 4.07 million professionals, according to (ISC)2. This makes retaining employees a top priority, but how can companies be successful at this?

Only one-third of employees surveyed plan to stay at their jobs this year, compared to 47% who said the same in 2019, according to a report conducted by Achievers.

53% only feel "moderately" valued
26% feel being "undervalued and unappreciated" is the highest barrier to engagement.

Risk of turnover and underperformance
The report revealed that in 2020, up to two thirds of employees surveyed could be headed for the door. The likely culprit? Disengagement. In fact, just 19% of employees surveyed consider themselves "very engaged," while 14% are fully disengaged. Even the 32% surveyed with "average engagement" are open to new job opportunities.

"Our data shows a substantial portion of today's workforce already has one foot out the door. This is a huge shift from what we found last year: that despite disengagement, 65% of employees were planning on staying at their jobs," said Dr. Natalie Baumgartner, Chief Workforce Scientist at Achievers.

"Employers must take immediate action to reverse these feelings of underappreciation and disengagement. If they don't, the risk of turnover and underperformance in 2020 is immense."

Leadership is falling flat on culture-building

• The perception of leadership's commitment to culture and employee experience declined, with only 23% of employees surveyed stating senior leaders are "very committed" or have "more than average" commitment, compared to 31% who said the same in 2019.

• One-third of employees (33%) surveyed believe leadership is "minimally committed" to culture and employee experience. This raises serious concerns as it's up by 7% from 2019.

• Twelve percent of employees surveyed believe leadership in their workplace is "not at all committed" to culture and employee experience.

- Employee experience: Absence of recognition is a top driver of turnover

- Employees are leaving because they (still) don't feel heard  helpnetsecurity.com