Virus Panic Devastates Chinatowns From New York to Sydney
As the outbreak spreads across the world, the impact is being felt in Chinatowns from Sydney to New York and from San Francisco to Toronto. While markets are whipsawed by the crisis and economists calculate the cost to gross domestic product, the deserted lane ways and empty hotpot restaurants show the reverberations at street level and the palpable anxiety seeping through communities. bloomberg.com
 

UK: Facing the Same Theft Trends As North America
NFRN calls for action over crime statistics

Increasing Theft & Decreasing Legal Action

The NFRN is calling for immediate action over new statistics, which highlight a significant rise in shop thefts and a fall in police action.

The statistics were revealed following a Written Parliamentary Question by Laurence Robertson MP, who asked the Ministry of Justice to disclose the number of people who have been imprisoned for shop theft in each year since 2010.

Though Home Office figures show that incidents of retail theft have increased from 305,896 in 2010 to 382,100 in 2018, there has been a reduction of individuals which have been “proceeded against” from 72,608 to 44,795, and a reduction of cautions from 38,930 to 5,514.

The statistics also show that the percentage of shop thefts that are being dealt with by the justice system stands at 13%, down from 36%. This is at the same time that there has been an increase in incidents of 20%

NFRN national president, Stuart Reddish, said: “The answers the Ministry of Justice has given to Mr Robertson’s question shows that the Home Office does not have a grip on this issue. Even using their figures on the number of shoplifting offences that are taking place, this is a worryingly small number of perpetrators that are being punished.

“If it’s a reality that the number of incidents reported only stands at 15% of the true value, this is completely shocking. Our members are working on a 3-4% margin and to have an incident of shop theft can mean a business can no longer afford to function. The government needs to recognize that retail theft needs to be seen as a priority.” talkingretail.com

The UK is edging closer to becoming a cashless society
 

The Basics & In Support of Responsible Usage
Facial Recognition Technology: Minimizing Risk in the Face of Increasing Liability
To combat the risk posed by facial template data and other biometric data, several states enacted laws that regulate the collection and use of facial template data by business entities

Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”) is considered the most stringent state law. Under BIPA, a private entity cannot collect or store facial template data without first providing notice, obtaining written consent and making certain disclosures. BIPA also contains a private right of action provision that permits recovery of statutory damages between $1,000 and $5,000.

Beyond Illinois, Texas and Washington have also enacted biometric privacy laws covering facial recognition technology, which impose similar requirements related to notice, consent, and mandatory security measures.

In addition, many states without laws regulating facial recognition technology ramped up their efforts at the start of 2020 to enact similar laws of their own.

As a starting point, companies should ensure transparency as to how they collect, use, store, and dispose of facial template data used during business operations by implementing a detailed facial recognition-specific privacy policy. securitymagazine.com

REI Agrees to Pay $5M to California Employees for Security Checks Time
Average class member would get $446. Law firm gets $1.67 million and reimbursement for court costs of up to $30,000. law360.com
 

Talking Politics in the Workplace: 3 Tips for Employers
Politics is a sensitive subject in any setting. Today, disagreements seem even more polarizing and divisive, even at work. How much political speech is too much at work? Can expressing a political opinion hurt your career? While the U.S. has robust free speech traditions in the public sphere, disagreements remain over whether political speech should be protected or censored in the private sector.

Who’s silencing whom?

Over half of employees (54%) are comfortable with the current amount of political discussion at work. Yet, 20 percent of employees say politics has no place in the workplace. On the flip side, nearly a quarter of employees (23%) believe political groups are unfairly silenced – with over half (60%) citing peer censorship. Only 10 percent say there is too much censorship.

Do political views affect career growth?

The majority (54%) don’t think expressing political beliefs has any effect – positive or negative – on career paths or growth within their company. Although those who believe their political views could hold them back are in the minority (25%), this perception may encourage people to choose companies they align with politically, potentially leading to even more polarization.

Whether conservative or liberal, the two camps express a similar level of comfort when it comes to discussing politics at work.

Here are three tips for employers to effectively handle politics at work:

- Set policies regarding what is and is not acceptable in the workplace. Many states have laws making it illegal to discriminate against employees based on political beliefs.

- Foster an environment where all employees feel comfortable being themselves while respecting and accommodating differences of opinion.

- Promote a diversity of views – even political ones. It is the recipe for corporate success. shrm.org

Glassdoor Survey: The Dos & Don’ts of Politics at Work
U.S. Politics at Work 2020 Survey
• 3 in 5 employees (60%) believe discussing politics at work is unacceptable.

• 60% of employees believe discussing politics at work could negatively impact their career opportunities

Read the full report here.
 

Consumers Keen On More Unattended Retail

The potential for more unattended places to buy more things is huge

Consumers who use unattended retail channels, such as vending machines, self-service kiosks, self-serve gas stations and cashierless stores like Amazon Go tend to like the convenience.

About half (49%) of them find the process faster, 35% use them due to short lines and 33% because they can take time without talking to employees, based on a new study.

There are plenty of other reasons, including a preference for new technologies (19%), better data security (10%) and lower chance of fraud (9%), according to the study, comprising a survey of 2,300 U.S. consumers by Pymnts and USA Technologies.

As many as 49 million consumers are interested in buying nontraditional items via unattended retail channels. mediapost.com

7-Eleven Expands Evolution Store Concept With Mobile Checkout to Washington, D.C. and San Diego

Amazon Go Grocery - 14,000 sq. ft. - Just Walk Out

Forever 21 Sale Finalized

Quarterly Results
Revolve Group Q4 net sales up 16%, full year sales up 21%

TJX Q4 consolidated comp's up 6%, net sales up 10%, FY20 comp's up 4%, FY20 net sales up 7%
   Marmaxx (U.S.) Q4 comp's +6%, FY20 comp's up 5%
   HomeGoods (U.S.) Q4 comp's up +5%, FY20 comp's up2%
   TJX Canada Q4 comp's up +4%, FY20 comp's up 2%
   TJX International (Europe & Australia) Q4 comp's+10%, FY20 comp's up 8%

TravelCenters of America Q4 fuel sales up 5.3%, nonfuel sales up 1.1%

Lowe's Q4 comp's up 2.5%, Q4 net sales up 2.4%, FY20 net sales up 1.2%

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Q4 comp's up 1.3%, total revenue down 1.2%, full yr comp's down 0.6%, full yr revenue down 1.8%

Dillards Q4 comps down 3%, net sales down 5%, full yr comp's down 1%, net sales down 1.5%

Qurate Retail Group Q4 revenue down 5% and down 4% for the full year 2019
   QVC revenue up 1% in Q4, and increased 1.5% in full year 2019
   QxH revenue decreased 3% in both Q4 and full year 2019
   Zulily revenue decreased 18% in Q4 and 1.5% in full year 2019
   Cornerstone revenue decreased 6% in Q4 and 7% in full year 2019
 

FBI: Half of $3.5B Cyber Losses in 2019 Due to Business Email Scams
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported that it received over 460,000 internet and cyber-crime complaints in 2019, which the agency estimates caused losses of more than $3.5 billion, the bureau wrote in its yearly internet crime report released earlier this month. And, about half of that is due to BEC (Business Email Compromise). Only 23,775 BEC victim accounted for $1.77 billion in losses for victims, which is on average $75,000/complaint.

Here's the breakdown by Victim Loss and by Victim Count:

Cyber Crime News

Insider Threat - From Russia With Love
Former Microsoft Engineer Convicted of $10M+ Fraud

Used accounts and passwords of other employees to embezzle digital currency

A former Microsoft software engineer was convicted today in U.S. District Court in Seattle of 18 federal felonies related to his scheme to defraud Microsoft of more than $10 million.

VOLODYMYR KVASHUK, 25, a Ukrainian citizen residing in Renton, Washington, worked first as a contractor at Microsoft and then as an employee from August 2016 until he was fired in June 2018.

KVASHUK was involved in the testing of Microsoft’s online retail sales platform, and used that testing access to steal “currency stored value” such as digital gift cards. KVASHUK resold the value on the internet.

Initially, KVASHUK started stealing smaller amounts totaling about $12,000 in value using his own account access. As the thefts escalated into millions of dollars of value, KVASHUK used test email accounts associated with other employees. KVASHUK, a knowledgeable software developer, attempted to mask digital evidence that would trace the fraud and the internet sales back to him. He used a bitcoin “mixing” service in an attempt to hide the source of the funds ultimately passing into his bank account. In all, over the seven months of KVASHUK’s illegal activity, approximately $2.8 million in bitcoin was transferred to his bank accounts. justice.gov
 

Internet Security Alliance & National Association of Corporate Directors Release Guide for Cyber-Risk Oversight
The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and the Internet Security Alliance (ISA) released a new, updated Director’s Handbook on Cyber-Risk Oversight, a guidebook to help boards navigate cyber-risk oversight.

The handbook is available on four continents and in five languages. The handbook outlines five “guiding principles” to enhance board oversight of cyber risk and includes tools with guidance on how best to oversee management of specific cybersecurity issues, including M&A due diligence, insider threats, supply chain management, incident response, personal security, model dashboards and metrics, engagement with the security team and what to expect from the government.

The Director’s Handbook on Cyber-Risk Oversight was developed in collaboration with the US Department of Homeland Security and the US Department of Justice, and it is applicable to board members of public companies, private companies and nonprofit organizations of all sizes and in every industry. securitymagazine.com