Zebra Technologies' NRF 2020 Recap

This year at NRF, there was a strong focus on transformative and immersive experiences that are advancing retail into the future. Zebra's booth featured our latest technologies designed to help you gain greater inventory visibility, enhance operational efficiencies and transform the experience for your customers whether in store or online.

At NRF, we showcased innovative solutions that give you an edge in today’s ever-evolving omnichannel retail world and set you up for the future. Revisit our technology solutions featured at the show by watching more videos here.

Download Zebra's latest reports:
● Vol 1: The Shopper Perspective - How they expect digital experiences online and in-store
● Vol 2: The Retailers Perspective - Bridging online and in-store experiences with technology
 

Coronavirus Update

NRF: Coronavirus Resources for Retailers

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the current risk of coronavirus becoming a pandemic in the United States is low, the health and safety of customers and workers from our member companies is a top priority.

NRF is monitoring the coronavirus situation closely, coordinating with U.S. government agencies and health experts as the situation continues to evolve.

NRF has a collection of coronavirus resources from the World Health Organization, CDC and other agencies and organizations. Visit our resource page to access this information.

Tianjin, China: Quarantine Ordered as Cases Are Linked to Shopping Center

11,700 customers who shopped at one department store to be quarantined

Nearly a third of the confirmed coronavirus cases in Tianjin, a city of more than 15 million about 70 miles southeast of Beijing, have been linked to one department store, adding to fears about rapid transmission in tightly clustered communities.

Of 102 confirmed cases in the city, at least 33 patients worked or shopped at a department store in the Baodi district, or had close contact with employees or customers, according to the Tianjin health authorities. Many of them had no history of travel to Wuhan, the city where the outbreak emerged.

Officials estimated that 11,700 customers had visited the shopping complex during a period in late January. The authorities said that those customers would be quarantined, and that the store itself, which they did not identify, had been sealed and disinfected. nytimes.com

First US evacuee infected with coronavirus was mistakenly released
from a San Diego, CA hospital - as US total reaches 13
The first US evacuee from China known to be infected with the Wuhan coronavirus was mistakenly released from a San Diego hospital after an initial test found the person had not been infected, local health officials said Monday.

The San Diego case is the 13th to be confirmed in the US and the seventh in California. Eleven of these cases have been confirmed in people who recently traveled to Wuhan, China; the other two are instances of person-to-person transmission. cnn.com

Coronavirus Cuts Chinese Tourism, and Luxury Retailers Suffer

Sellers of high-end goods in the U.S. and Europe feel the pain

"If you think you see a Chinese shopper these days, it’s probably a mirage"

Chinese tourists are disappearing from major shopping capitals across the U.S. and Europe as a result of the new coronavirus, and their absence is hurting some of the world’s highest-profile luxury brands.

The outbreak has exposed how dependent high-end retailers in places such as New York, Paris and Milan have become on visitors from China, who often spend more than the typical tourist. Estée Lauder Cos. and Capri Holdings Ltd., which owns the Versace and Jimmy Choo brands, warned investors this week their financial results could suffer due to lower sales to Chinese travelers.

A new Galeries Lafayette store on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris, where there are signs in Chinese and a center where tourists can claim value-added tax refunds, was largely empty this week. Normally, more than 1,000 shoppers a day visit the store, many of them Chinese tourists who arrive by the busload after stopping at sights such as the Louvre, a salesman said.

The U.S. economy overall could lose $10.3 billion in Chinese visitor spending due to the outbreak, according to estimates by the research firm Tourism Economics. Chinese represent 7% of all overseas visitors to the U.S., and they spent roughly $34 billion on travel and transportation services in 2019, including spending in the U.S. and on U.S. airlines, the firm said. wsj.com

Why Apple's supply chain is prepared for China's coronavirus
The outbreak of the coronavirus, now infecting tens of thousands of people, has stoked fears that Apple would be dramatically affected both from lost sales in its China and interruptions to its component supply chain. However, while Apple has its work cut out for it, it also has a uniquely proficient operations team to manage crisis events, one that has been challenged before. appleinsider.com

Coronavirus case tally: 43,101 cases - 1,018 deaths

87% of US businesses in China expect coronavirus to impact revenue

Under Armour expects coronavirus hit in first quarter

Coronavirus Toll on Shipping Reaches $350 Million a Week

U.K. Businessman Linked to Coronavirus Cluster in Britain and France Comes Forward
 

Can retailers combat consumer desire for counterfeits?

Online marketplaces have launched initiatives aimed at addressing counterfeit sales, but those efforts can be cumbersome for brands.

For some shoppers, buying fake goods can be about as good as the real thing.

It's not clear how big the global counterfeit market is, but research suggests it costs American retailers a sizeable amount of lost revenue. Per a 2018 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Customs and Border Patrol seized an estimated $1.38 billion worth of knockoff merchandise in fiscal year 2016 alone.

Counterfeit sales were a problem long before digital marketplaces emerged. Now, online sales of fake merchandise have become a growing problem for retailers. While some consumers mistakenly purchase knockoff merchandise, a notable number of consumers find it perfectly fine to buy fake goods and have done so on purpose, multiple experts told Retail Dive. To combat online counterfeit sales, retailers face the problem of addressing not only the appeal of affordable knockoffs but also the rise of third-party sellers on online marketplaces. And they'll likely need international law enforcement agencies' help to effectively do so.

Per a May 2019 report from the International Trademark Association on Gen Z counterfeit consumption habits, 71% of survey respondents purchased counterfeit products in the past year, and 35% anticipated buying fewer fake goods in the future. The majority of Gen Z consumers (64%) said they had a positive experience with the purchase of a counterfeit product, the survey found. retaildive.com

FBI Currently Has 1,000 Investigations into Chinese Technology Theft
FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that China is threatening national security with its efforts to steal sensitive technology and proprietary information from U.S. companies, academic institutions and other organizations.

According to an FBI press release, Wray described the threat from China as “diverse” and “multi-layered” at the Department of Justice China Initiative Conference held February 6, 2020 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He noted that the Chinese government exploits the openness of the American economy and society. “They’ve pioneered an expansive approach to stealing innovation through a wide range of actors,” Wray said.

Wray told the audience that China is targeting everything from agricultural techniques to medical devices in its efforts to get ahead economically. While this is sometimes done legally, such as through company acquisitions, China often takes illegal approaches, including cyber intrusions and corporate espionage, says the FBI. securitymagazine.com

IRS launches Identity Theft Central
The Internal Revenue Service last week launched Identity Theft Central, designed to improve online access to information on identity theft and data security protection for taxpayers, tax professionals and businesses.

Located on IRS.gov, Identity Theft Central is available 24/7 at irs.gov/identitytheft. It is a resource on how to report identity theft, how taxpayers can protect themselves against phishing, online scams and more. irs.gov

New AI-backed tech opens till-free booze sales to retailers
A retail app is using AI to open up retail alcohol sales to retailers, by incorporating age-verification and facial recognition features that allow customers to scan alcohol as they shop.

According to mobile tech company Ubamarket, the new facial age verification feature on its till-less retail app allows customers to scan alcohol and other age-restricted products as they shop, and then use facial recognition to pre-approve them when they check out. It means customers don’t have to go to the till and carry out a check with a cashier or security assistant, the company confirmed. thedrinksbusiness.com
 

Senior LP Job Postings Removed from Website:

● Dir. Loss Prevention - Dollar General - Goodlettsville, TN - Jan. 6
● Dir. Organized Retail Crime - Family Dollar - Chesapeake, VA - Nov. 5
● Loss Prevention Director - Rent One - St. Louis, MO - Jan. 3
● Dir. Compliance Investigations - Walgreens - Deerfield, IL - Dec. 12
● Payments Security Program Manager - eBay - San Jose, CA - Jan. 6
 

FBI warns about ongoing attacks against software supply chain companies

FBI alerts US private sectors - Attacks aimed at your supply chain software providers

The FBI has sent a security alert to the US private sector about an ongoing hacking campaign that's targeting supply chain software providers, ZDNet has learned. The FBI says hackers are attempting to infect companies with the Kwampirs malware, a remote access trojan (RAT).

"Software supply chain companies are believed to be targeted in order to gain access to the victim's strategic partners and/or customers, including entities supporting Industrial Control Systems (ICS) for global energy generation, transmission, and distribution," the FBI said in a private industry notification sent out last week.

Besides attacks against supply chain software providers, the FBI said the same malware was also deployed in attacks against companies in the healthcare, energy, and financial sectors. The alert did not identify the targeted software providers, nor any other victims. zdnet.com

IBM: Stolen Credentials & Vulnerabilities Weaponized Against Businesses in 2019
IBM Security today released the IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2020, highlighting how cybercriminals' techniques have evolved after decades of access to tens of billions of corporate and personal records and hundreds of thousands of software flaws.

According to the report, 60% of initial entries into victims' networks that were observed leveraged either previously stolen credentials or known software vulnerabilities, allowing attackers to rely less on deception to gain access. finance.yahoo.com

Data Shows 41% Hike In Ransomware Attacks In 2019
Ransomware hackers are striking more frequently, taking down computer networks across businesses, hospital and governments, the New York Times reported on Sunday (Feb. 9).

Ransomware cyber-attacks are up 41 percent over last year, with 205,280 enterprises having lost access to hacked files, according to data from the ransomware security firm Emsisoft.

Companies paid an average of $84,116 in the last quarter of 2019 to get their files back from online thieves, according to data from security firm Coveware.

“Anything of value that is smart and connected can be compromised and held for ransom,” said Steve Grobman, the chief technology officer at McAfee. “If critical infrastructure systems are held for ransom, what is our policy going to be for dealing with those?” pymnts.com

Purdue Team Creates a Detection System to Alert Organizations to Cyberattacks
A new tool from Purdue University researchers may help stop cyberattacks. The Purdue team created a detection system to alert organizations to cyberattacks. The system is called LIDAR – which stands for lifelong, intelligent, diverse, agile and robust.

According to the release, LIDAR can be used for computer systems and networks, including wireless networks. In addition, the system works with preprocessing components that are designed to be resilient to adversarial attacks and a cross-layer feature extraction mechanism for wireless networks. The system is made up of three main parts: supervised machine learning, unsupervised machine learning and rule-based learning.

The supervised machine-learning component uses an algorithm to compare abnormalities detected in the system to known attack templates, notes the release. The unsupervised component uses an algorithm to detect any anomalies in the overall system being monitored and uses a novel curiosity-driven honeypot, which lures attackers but does not let them infiltrate the system. purdue.edu

Unlocked Amazon S3 Bucket Lets 36,077 Jail Files Escape
The leaky repository belongs to JailCore, a cloud management and compliance platform used in several states' correctional facilities. Researchers found a misconfigured Amazon S3 bucket leaking sensitive data belonging to inmates of correctional facilities in Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Investigators are working to determine the status of other potentially affected state jails. darkreading.com