Sensormatic Solutions COVID-19 Information

Letter to all Sensormatic Solutions customers from George Oliver, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Johnson Controls & Bjoern Petersen, President, Sensormatic Solutions by Johnson Controls

The impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our communities is astounding. The bravery and tenacity of our global healthcare workers who show up every day to care for our communities cannot be overstated. For those with family or colleagues who have fallen ill from the virus, our organization sends you strength and hope for a full recovery. During this difficult time, I wanted to share how Sensormatic Solutions by Johnson Controls is working as a community in order to serve you while keeping our employees’ health and safety a top priority. Read More Here

Johnson Controls Delivers Mission Critical 'Essential Products, Services and Personnel' During Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic

Johnson Controls' role in global fight against COVID-19 started in Wuhan.
Now the front lines are here
 

Coronavirus Update: March 27

US: 85K+ Cases, 1,275 Dead -- Globally: 536K+ Cases, 24K+ Dead

New hot spots emerge across the country as US overtakes China & Italy in number of coronavirus cases

New coronavirus hot spots are emerging in the Chicago, Detroit and New Orleans areas -- and health officials there are pleading for medical resources to meet the surges.

Michigan's roughly 3,000 cases are nearly a tenfold increase from March 19, and officials there say the federal government needs to prioritize states like theirs that face case surges, rather than having governors compete for supplies.

Outbreaks in New York, which has just under half the country's cases, and California, Washington and New Jersey have captured the nation's attention for weeks. Health officials there have long been clamoring for more equipment. But officials warn the newer hot spots will soon look like the earlier ones. cnn.com

Coronavirus Deaths by U.S. State Over Time: NY Times Tracker

The Age of Plexiglass & Protective Gear:
Target and Kroger take social distancing to next level in war against coronavirus
Both essential retailers are leaving no stone unturned in the war to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Target Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell told reporters on a media briefing the company is ramping up its social distancing initiatives. The discounter will have greeters stationed at each checkout lane ensuring customers are at least six feet apart, which is the current government recommendation. Checkout lanes will be cleaned after each transaction. Target is also temporarily halting product returns and the acceptance of reusable plastic bags, both of which could easily transmit the disease. The company will continue with simple product door drops via its same-day delivery service Shipt as a means to avoid interaction.

As for Kroger, it said Tuesday it’s installing plexiglass windows at many of its registers to promote social distancing. Implementation is expected to occur over the next several weeks. Windows will also be added to Starbucks checkouts for stores inside of Kroger’s supermarkets. Kroger is further allowing workers to wear protective masks and gloves.

“We are advocating to government officials at all levels for help securing a priority place in line for all grocery workers - after health care workers - to have access to protective masks and gloves,” a Kroger spokesperson said.

Cornell declined to say whether Target would be going as far as Kroger in installing plexiglass windows for cashiers or allowing face masks. A Target spokesperson told Yahoo Finance, “While we’re not supplying them, if a team member wants to wear a mask while working, they are welcome to do so.”

But who knows, if the outbreak continues at its current pace, all retail store cashiers may be enclosed in plexiglass windows.

Most retailers haven’t undertaken such measures. Instead, they have opted to close stores nationwide in a bid to flatten the coronavirus infection curve. But with deadlines to reopen major store chains approaching next week, many may be looking at the efforts by Target and Kroger as requirements if they want to stay open through the worst of the coronavirus. finance.yahoo.com

Are grocery stores and pharmacies vectors for the coronavirus?
There's so much to touch and grab at the grocery store – shopping carts, freezer door handles, cardboard boxes and plastic packaging. Such surfaces are almost unavoidable for shoppers. But they also carry a certain amount of risk in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding urgency to a troubling question: Have pharmacies and supermarkets become super-spreading virus vectors?

These businesses are among the few places left where people are allowed to gather, and they often get so many shoppers these days that their shelves are being picked clean.

The biggest concern about such stores, experts say, is person-to-person transmission and being around so many people who might be carrying the virus. These stores and pharmacies have ramped up cleaning efforts and promoted social distancing between customers to minimize the risk of spreading the disease. But in practice, these efforts can vary widely between businesses, with some appearing to conduct business as usual, often because their customers aren’t taking their own precautions. usatoday.com

What grocery stores are doing to protect workers during coronavirus outbreak
Grocery stores across the country have taken drastic measures to help and protect their customers and workers from the coronavirus pandemic -- from $2 pay raises to installing plexiglass sneeze guards, and now allowing workers to wear protective masks and gloves. Grocery stores have mentioned Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines in notices on whether they would allow workers to wear masks.

SHOPRITE - STOP & SHOP - TRADER JOE’S - WHOLE FOODS - WEGMANS - PUBLIX - COSTCO - ALBERTSONS COMPANIES - TARGET - H-E-B AND CENTRAL MARKET - WINCO - Read more about what these companies are doing here: nypost.com

Meijer and SpartanNash add sneeze guards throughout their stores

Seniors feel crowded by special shopping hours
 

Bubble People & Hazmat Suits:
Odd Retail Sights in a Global Pandemic


 

Is Trust on Your Menu?
Safety and Sanitation Have Become the Top Concern for Consumers
Over the course of the continuing new coronavirus crisis, foodservice business analyst Datassential has been steadily studying and surveying changing consumer attitudes toward food prepared outside of the home. Below is a summary of the company’s fourth installment – “COVID-19 Report 4: Hands Off” – along with a link to the full report online along with its hard numbers fresh from consumers.

Concern remains high, but it’s stabilizing
While awareness of Coronavirus in the U.S. remains nearly universal, those claiming to be “very familiar” have decreased significantly from the previous wave, by 9%. With 24/7 media coverage and relentless updates, Americans may be struggling to stay on top of the latest information, causing uncertainty to grow.

More than half of consumers now avoid eating out
As of this fielding, 24 states have mandated that restaurants transition to delivery and takeout only, so the number of consumers avoiding dining at a restaurant continues to climb. Concern has grown across all demographic groups, with significant differences between men and women, parents and non-parents, married people and singles, and among generations. Numbers could increase further if more states and localities call on their citizens to shelter in place

Dine-in hits a rough patch, but consumers adapt
While many are doing their best to social distance, the reality is we still need to eat. As we’ve seen in previous waves, when it comes to meals from restaurants, the less contact the better. While people continue to avoid dining in, all forms of take out are still an option. In fact, avoidance of most forms of take out is at similar levels to popular options like discount grocers and warehouse clubs. And in some cases, take out is even more trusted. No surprise, consumers are least likely to avoid grocery stores and supercenters.

Dined, sealed, delivered
Perceived risk extends even to many types of plastic disposables and packaging for takeout, seen in the majority of consumers who find all categories of to-go accessories to be at least somewhat risky. Plastic utensils sealed in plastic wrap come the closest to assuaging the concerns of nearly half of all consumers. cstoredecisions.com

Ross Stores, other retailers cancel vendor orders following coronavirus hit
After closing stores around the world to curb the spread of the coronavirus, retailers are now telling some vendors to immediately cancel orders. On Thursday, discount store operator Ross Stores Inc sent a letter to its vendors, notifying them it would cancel all merchandise purchase orders through June 18 due to the impact the novel coronavirus has had on its business.

Paul Rotstein, President and Chief Executive of Gold Medal International of New York City, which supplies accessories like socks and gloves to Ross Stores, said other retailers are making similar moves.

“We’ve had pretty much 100% cancellation from all major retailers,” he said, naming Macy’s Inc, Nordstrom Inc, TJX Companies Inc, and Burlington Coat Factory among his customers who have pressed pause on orders. reuters.com

Retailers shift production to make masks, gowns for health-care workers in coronavirus pandemic

Navy hospital ships set to arrive in NYC, LA within days to relieve pressure on local hospitals treating coronavirus patients

C-Stores Increase Wages Amid COVID-19 - What Sheetz, RaceTrac, Circle K are paying

Texas Roadhouse CEO gives up salary to pay front-line employees during COVID-19 outbreak

Major Canadian Landlord Offers ‘Immediate Relief’ Program, Retailers Say it’s Insufficient

Sweet: Peeps production stops, but Easter is taken care of
 

Retail Layoffs & Furloughs

Ascena Retail Group has closed all 2,800 stores & furloughed all associates

Cheesecake Factory furloughs 41,000 (90% of employees) as coronavirus shuts restaurants

Build-A-Bear Workshop furloughs 90% of workers

Landry’s Inc. temporarily lays off 40,000 workers

Compass Coffee, D.C. Starbucks competitor, cuts 80 percent of staff

Ashley Furniture furloughs ‘small portion’ of workforce because of COVID-19
 

Image-Scraping Clearview Causing Backlash for NYPD
NYPD’s new facial recognition policy sparks immediate calls for a ban
The New York City Police Department’s (NYPD’s) new policy for use of biometric facial recognition technology immediately fueled a storm of protest and calls for an outright ban.

NYPD said while it has “had an existent policy in place, with rapidly evolving technology, it was important to update it, memorialize the rules surrounding its use, and remind all members of the department of those rules.”

The Urban Justice Center Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), a New York-based privacy group, swiftly condemned NYPD’s revised facial recognition policy, calling for a state-wide ban on facial recognition surveillance and mandatory reporting on the privacy impact of all NYPD surveillance tools.

“The policy does nothing to reform existing facial recognition practices, such as the use of software with higher error rates for New Yorkers of color, the routine alteration of images in photoshop, and the use of facial recognition for low-level offenses,” STOP said in a statement.

STOP said NYPD’s new facial recognition policy “came two weeks after it was revealed that the NYPD was the largest user of Clearview, a controversial facial recognition firm, which took photos from millions of Americans without consent to create their tracking tool. After initial denials that the department used Clearview, leaked company documents revealed that the NYPD ran more than 11,000 searches on the system.”

“This highlights that the NYPD has been operating without oversight of its surveillance technology for far too long,” Cahn responded, saying, “It shouldn’t take a decade to understand how New Yorkers’ privacy is being invaded. This is why we are once again calling on City Council Speaker Cory Johnson to allow an immediate vote on the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act, which has been pending before the Council for 3 years.”

STOP is a leading advocate of the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act, a New York City council bill that would require privacy protections for all NYPD surveillance programs and databases. Sponsored by a majority of the City Council and endorsed by the New York Times, the bill recently had a hearing before the Council’s Public Safety Committee.

Introduced by Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson, the bill would require NYPD to surrender data about its surveillance technology, require public comment, and compel the police commissioner to provide a surveillance effect and use policy report to the City Council. biometricupdate.com

Lowe’s Defeats Former Manager’s Age, Race Discrimination Claims
Lowe’s Home Centers LLC isn’t liable for age and race discrimination against a former department manager, a federal court in Washington state ruled.

Tamble Taylor, who is African American, worked in a Lowe’s hardware and tools department until a 2016 incident were he confronted a suspected shoplifter. Lowe’s says it fired Taylor for violating its policy and creating a dangerous situation by attempting to grab the product, and because Taylor was on his final disciplinary warning at the time. bloomberglaw.com

Supply chain thefts sees losses $150 Million in 2019
Cargo-related crimes have doubled in the last year, leading to $150 M in losses. Cargo thefts from supply chains in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) more than doubled to 8,548 incidents in 2019, compared to 3,981 in 2018, and meant that losses of product worth well over $150 million were incurred, according to the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA). In 2018, TAPA reported cargo-related crimes in 35 countries across EMEA, and in 2019, that number rose to 48. The average loss for "major cargo crimes" in EMEA was more than $587,000 in 2019, compared to $ 413,000. However, thefts in the UK fell 53.6% year-on-year to 1,199. This total ranked it third in the number of countries reporting cargo thefts, behind Germany (2,905) and France (1,542). The biggest single loss reported to TAPA in 2019 was the theft of $19,000,000 of jewelry and precious metals stolen from an Origin Facility in Gauteng province in South Africa. It was one of 19 crimes with a loss value in excess of 1 million euros. logisticsmanager.com
 

CrimeScience Episode 39, Part 1 - Ft. Dr. Ron Clark

In the latest LPRC CrimeScience Podcast, Dr. Ron Clarke, renowned criminologist and recipient of the Stockholm Prize of Criminology, discusses the evolution of Situational Crime Prevention, opportunity reduction techniques, the British government's criminology research department - the Home Office, and more, with host Dr. Read Hayes (LPRC).

View the episode here.

LPRC COVID-19 Webinar - March 31st at 2 pm EST

Natural disasters, emergencies, and global crises provide retail offenders with the perfect opportunity to victimize vulnerable people, and the outbreak of COVID-19 is no different. Join the LPRC on Tuesday, March 31st at 2 pm EST, as they explore how criminals take advantage of these situations and what you can do to protect your organization and your customers from fraud during this trying time.

Click here to sign up.

Russians Shut Down Huge Card Fraud Ring

Major Carding Kingpin Connected to Dozens of the Biggest Retail Breaches

Among 25+ Individuals Apprehended Operating 90 Black Market Websites

Federal investigators in Russia have charged at least 25 people accused of operating a sprawling international credit card theft ring. Cybersecurity experts say the raid included the charging of a major carding kingpin thought to be tied to dozens of carding shops and to some of the bigger data breaches targeting western retailers over the past decade.

In a statement released this week, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said 25 individuals were charged with circulating illegal means of payment in connection with some 90 websites that sold stolen credit card data.

The FSB has not released a list of those apprehended, but the agency’s statement came several days after details of the raids were first leaked on the LiveJournal blog of cybersecurity blogger Andrey Sporov. The post claimed that among those apprehended was the infamous cybercriminal Alexey Stroganov, who goes by the hacker names “Flint” and “Flint24.”

Flint is among the biggest players in the crowded underground market for stolen credit card data, according to a U.S. law enforcement source who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The source described Flint’s role as that of a wholesaler of credit card data stolen in some of the biggest breaches at major Western retailers. krebsonsecurity.com

China-Based Threat Group Launches Widespread Malicious Campaign
APT41, a prolific advanced persistent threat group believed to be working on behalf of the Chinese government, has sharply ramped up its activities in recent months after a relative lull. Researchers from FireEye who have been tracking the activity said APT41 attacked as many as 75 of its customers between January 20 and March 11 alone.

The motives behind the attacks remain unclear, but likely triggers include the ongoing trade war between the US and China and the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. darkreading.com

Cyber Insurance Giant Chubb Might Be Ransomware Victim
Maze, a ransomware operator that typically steals information from a victim and threatens to release sensitive data, says it has successfully attacked Chubb Insurance, a company with a major presence in the cyber insurance industry.

According to a newsletter released by Maze, it has taken personally identifiable information from the insurance giant and will release information on executives and others if a ransom is not paid. (The ransom amount has not be disclosed.) Chubb has stated it is investigating a potential breach at a third-party provider; it says it has no evidence that one of its own networks was breached. darkreading.com

COVID-19 and the CISO: Jim Routh on Leadership

MassMutual CISO on the Challenge of Securing Remote Workforce, Supply Chain

At its core, cybersecurity is about applying scarce resources to the highest risk. And nothing quite puts that tenet to the test like the COVID-19 pandemic. Jim Routh, CISO of MassMutual, discusses the challenges of managing a remote workforce and third-party risk during this crisis.

In an in-depth video interview with Information Security Media Group, Routh discusses:

● His approach to business continuity with his team and supply chain partners;
● Heightened activity from threat actors;
● Advice on cybersecurity leadership during such a crisis. govinfosecurity.com

Locked-Down Lawyers Warned Alexa Is Hearing Confidential Calls
Hey Alexa, stop listening to my client’s information.

As law firms urge attorneys to work from home during the global pandemic, their employees’ confidential phone calls with clients run the risk of being heard by Amazon.com Inc. and Google.

Mishcon de Reya LLP, the U.K. law firm that famously advised Princess Diana on her divorce and also does corporate law, issued advice to staff to mute or shut off listening devices like Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s voice assistant when they talk about client matters at home, according to a partner at the firm. It suggested not to have any of the devices near their work space at all.

Mishcon’s warning covers any kind of visual or voice enabled device, like Amazon and Google’s speakers. But video products such as Ring, which is also owned by Amazon, and even baby monitors and closed-circuit TVs, are also a concern, said Mishcon de Reya partner Joe Hancock, who also heads the firm’s cybersecurity efforts. bloomberg.com

Amazon’s Alexa can now tell you your COVID-19 risk level

Cyber Version of 'Justice League' Launches to Fight COVID-19 Related Hacks