Protesters gathered around the country for the 10th straight day on Thursday, with large crowds forming in New York, Washington and Minneapolis, where the memorial service was held for George Floyd, who died while in police custody.

New York: Video circulated on social media of New York police officers arresting a delivery worker on Thursday night, despite regulations that allow essential workers to continue working after curfew. Shortly after midnight, Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that the arrest was "NOT acceptable" and that he had spoken with the police commissioner, Dermot Shea, about the matter. In a second tweet, he added that the same applies for journalists.

Los Angeles: Large crowds gathered in Los Angeles for another day of mostly-peaceful protests. At one point, Police Chief Michel Moore came out and spoke to people in the crowd.

Washington D.C.: As a spring storm tore through Washington, well over a hundred protesters chanted at the mouth of Lafayette Square: "We're not leaving."

Detroit: Another night of peaceful protests ended shortly after curfew in Detroit. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan attended the demonstration, as did Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey.  nytimes.com

1 Million Protesters in D.C. on Saturday?
Police chief says it could be the 'largest that we've had'
"We have a lot of public, open-source information to suggest that the event on this upcoming Saturday may be one of the largest that we've had in the city," D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said during a briefing Thursday.

"We expect that Saturday's demonstration will, like I said, be more of the same peaceful demonstrators coming to exercise their First Amendment right in Washington, D.C.," he said.

Chatter on social media suggests that as many as 1 million demonstrators could turn out to the nation's capital on Saturday, which sets up the possibility of more clashes with law enforcement and even violent agitators trying to take advantage of the large protest.  wtop.com

Chicago, IL: Thousands Expected To March In Weekend George Floyd Protest

Large crowds expected to attend Green Bay protests this weekend

32,000+ National Guard Troops in 32 States Still Activated
 

'Defund the Police' Movement Gains Steam
Trend Will Impact Retail Response Even Further

Protesters, officials call for police to be defunded

NYC, Philadelphia, LA among the cities targeted for cuts

Some protesters and officials are calling for police departments to be defunded and for the money to instead be put toward programs that benefit communities of color.

The call for police budget cuts comes at a time when most states were already faced with the need to reevaluate spending amid deficits and economic uncertainty that are a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Wednesday in Phoenix, protesters carried signs calling for the defunding of police. That same day in Seattle, demonstrators carried "Black Lives Matter" signs, calling for cuts to the police department's budget and shifting the money to social programs. Protesters have also called for budget cuts in New York City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

In New York, the police department faces the threat of budget cuts for the first time in at least 20 years, the New York Post reported. yahoo.com

NYC Budget Debate Between de Blasio & the Council Might be Dominated
by Push to "Defund the Police"
Anthonine Pierre, Deputy Director at the Brooklyn Movement Center, is part of a coalition of police and criminal justice reform groups calling for a restructuring of the NYPD's budget. "It's time to defund the police, it's time to take $1 billion from their budget," Pierre said.

Advocates are calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to slash the NYPD's $6 billion budget. Instead, they want the mayor to redirect funds to youth services and social programs -- all which they say will be needed as the city's most vulnerable recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

The call to "defund the NYPD" is likely to become a flash point in this year's budget negotiations. A budget agreement is due at the end of June. ny1.com

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Officials Cutting $100 Million-$150 Million From LAPD Budget, Funds To Be Reinvested In Communities Of Color
"We will not be increasing out police budget," said the mayor. That allocation is pegged at $1.8 billion in the mayor's previously proposed budget.

The mayor proceeded to announce $250 million in cuts to the proposed budget and to reallocate those dollars to communities of color, "so we can invest in jobs, in education and healing." L.A. Police Commission President Eileen Decker then announced that $100 million-$150 million of those cuts would come from the police department budget. deadline.com

Minneapolis City Council members aim to 'dismantle' police department, 'rethink' public safety
Several members of the Minneapolis City Council this week have expressed support for radical changes to how the city handles law enforcement, including a move to "dismantle" the police department and replace it with "a transformative new model for public safety."

Jeremiah Ellison, the son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and a representative of the city's Ward 5, explicitly led calls to "dramatically rethink" how the city keeps its people safe. foxnews.com

What does "defund the police" mean?
The basic idea is less that policing budgets should be literally zeroed out than that there should be a massive restructuring of public spending priorities. The idea might be dismissed as politically untenable or lacking public policy backing. But it interacts in a potent way with the other crisis of the moment - the Covid-19 pandemic, which has pushed state and local government budgets into crisis.

The "defund" slogan dances ambiguously between abolition-type schemes and just saying officials should spend less money on policing at the margins. The Black Lives Matters #DefundThePolice explainer page argues that "law enforcement doesn't protect or save our lives. They often threaten and take them." vox.com

Two Officers Charged In Floyd's Death Were On The Job For Less Than A Week And Derek Chauvin Was Training Them, Lawyer Says
 

Protest Arrests & Looting
Mass Arrests in NYC - Saks in the News - Retailers Beef Up Security

NYPD enforces curfew, arrests dozens of protesters across NYC

Police finally enforced an 8 p.m. curfew Thursday evening by busting up protests across the city - making dozens of arrests.

Thousands of protesters had continued to march in defiance of the deadline, including in Upper Manhattan, in the Bronx and in Brooklyn, on the eighth day of citywide demonstrations against police brutality.

An approximately 100-person demonstration in the Bronx organized by activist group DecolonizeThisPlace, devolved into chaos when NYPD cops in riot gear blocked off the march near East 136th Street and Brook Avenue. The marchers chanted "let us go," but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Just minutes after 8 p.m., cops stormed in to make arrests. They were seen pulling individual protesters out of the melee, placing them in zip ties and taking them into vans, as a recording about the curfew played. nypost.com

Safest Store in NYC - Saks Fifth Gets More Press
Retailers continue to beef up security as looting fears continue
Retailers across the country are boosting their defenses to protect against looting, including by hiring armed guards, planting scouts to keep watch out front and securing storefronts with barbed wire, The Post has learned.

As The Post reported on June 2, iconic department store Saks Fifth Avenue has fortified its New York City flagship with a razor wire-topped fence and security guards outfitted with attack dogs. But sources say the trend is becoming more widespread and even hitting the normally peaceful suburbs.

Security professional Michael Sapraicone, head of Squad Security, says he's received multiple requests by retailers looking to protect against a spate of high-profile ransackings by people looking to take advantage of nationwide civil unrest. Some of the requests are too risky to even consider, he said. "We are turning down the calls we are getting to put armed guards inside unopened stores at night." nypost.com

1st COVID Class Action Moves Forward
McDonalds Can't dodge COVID-19 Class Action Safety Suit in Illinois
Ill. state court refused Wednesday to toss out a proposed class action of Chicago McDonald's employees accusations that the company and certain franchisees haven't done enough to protect them amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Judge rejected McDonald's argument that government agencies had primary jurisdiction to hear claims that the fast-food giant allegely subpar response to the coronavirus has endangered its workers and constitutes a public nuisance.

"No one is asking the court to create any safety regulations" regarding the pandemic, Judge Reilly said. The dispute in the workers case concerns whether McDonald's has followed regulations already distributed in response to the health crisis. law360.com

"Tidal Wave" of OSHA Record-Keeping Violations Coming
How Can Employers Tell If COVID-19 Is Work-Related?
Employers should expect a "tidal wave" of OSHA citations for record-keeping violations, said Eric Conn, an attorney with Conn Maciel Carey in Washington, D.C. But he said that employers usually will prevail if they conduct case-by-case workplace analyses for employees who have contracted COVID-19 and either conclude an illness is not work-related or record it in the OSHA 300 log if it is.

Employers must investigate whether workers with COVID-19 contracted it at work, but determining that is difficult because the virus is so widespread. One option employers have is to document alternative explanations for the cause of the illness, if there are any, to prevent Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) penalties.

If someone at work contracts the coronavirus, investigate the cause and document the investigation. If the case is not work-related, carefully document the reasons why not. This may not prevent an OSHA citation, but it can be useful for a company defending itself against paying penalties.

An employee's COVID-19 illness is likely to be work-related if any of the following apply:

• There is a cluster of employees who have tested positive.
• An employee tests positive shortly after long-term interaction with someone else at work who also tested positive.
• A worker has regular, frequent exposure to the public.

OSHA included an exception to the recording rule: Coronavirus is not work-related if there is an alternative, nonwork explanation, Conn explained. "That's an enormous carve-out that almost swallows the entire rule," he said. shrm.org

The Five Most Valuable Global Retail Brands in the Surreal Age of COVID-19

By Tony D'Onofrio, Global Retail Influencer

Every year I look forward to the latest BrandZ Global Most Valuable Brands Report. Timely for 2020, BrandZ published a separate Global Top 75 Retail Brands edition that includes in-depth COVID-19 analysis on the impact of the pandemic to brands. "The combined value of the BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Retail Brands has risen by 12% in the past year, to $1.514 trillion. These brands come from four sub-categories: Pure Retail, Fast Food, Apparel and Luxury, and they are growing despite - and in some cases as a result of - severe disruption in the market."  Read More Here

Top 5 Global Retail Brands

A Conclave of America's Top CEOs Talks Race and Making Change
More than 300 chief executives, mayors and government officials gather online for a rare peer-to-peer conversation about race relations and social justice

Leaders of General Motors Co., Johnson & Johnson, American Airlines Group Inc. and other big businesses gathered via Zoom this week for a roundtable about the business impacts of the coronavirus. With protests gaining momentum across the U.S., the participants quickly changed the subject.

What followed was a rare peer-to-peer conversation among more than 300 chief executives, mayors and government officials about race relations and social justice-and the public role plenty of chief executive officers now see for themselves.

"There are few decisions we make that aren't political-whether it's access to restrooms, whether it's what candidate we might support in a particular stand that we're going to take on an environmental issue-so, frankly, I think that comes with the territory," Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said.

The CEOs this week on the call stressed a heightened sense of urgency and responsibility to drive change. wsj.com

RILA: Retail Response to Protests
This week leading retailers responded publicly to the senseless death of George Floyd and the injustice, anger, and devastation it has uncovered. As we collectively seek to do better, retailers have a critical role to play as communities, cities, and the country look to change, heal, and rebuild.

Linked below are responses issued and actions taken from across the retail industry to date. See the list of 47 retailers with links to their statements.

AP Hero
Heroic Actions from a Front-Line AP Worker
Molly Turner, Asset Protection Coordinator at Stop & Shop
We are proud to share stories that describe truly heroic actions by our associates in these difficult times. Here is a story about Molly Turner, Asset Protection Coordinator.

Molly has been making masks and meal baskets to help those in need. Molly has sewn over 5,000 fabric face masks and donated them to a local hospital. She has also raised funds, shopped for and made meal baskets that include 30-minute meals for families of four. She has donated over 50 meal baskets to healthcare workers assigned to that hospital's COVID unit.

Way to go, Molly!!
#staysafe #heroic #difficulttimes #thoseinneed 

Thanks to Jim Cosseboom for submitting this article: linkedin.com

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sends out updated:
Interim COVID-19 Contact Tracing Communications Toolkit for Health Departments

Ragan Communications, Corporate Communications Leader
Crisis Communications: How to communicate during civil unrest

NYC reports no new coronavirus deaths for first time since mid-March

'A path forward': J.C. Penney's bankruptcy judge approves $900 million lifeline

Looting, COVID-19 Prolong Modell's Bankruptcy Pause

J.C. Penney's 154 store closings list released: Is your local store facing liquidation in bankruptcy?

Wilson's Leather to liquidate

Coresight Research
Retail Store Databank Week 23
4,005 2020 YTD Closures
3,348 YTD Openings


Quarterly Results
Michaels Q1 comp's down 27.6%, sales down 26.8%
Express Q1 sales down 53%
Gap Q1 stores down 61%, online up 13%, net sales down 43%
   Old Navy Global stores down 60%, digital up 20%, net sales down 42%
   Gap Global stores down 64%, digital down 5%, net sales down 50%
   Banana Republic Global stores down 61%, digital down 2%, net sales down 47%
   Athleta stores down 50%, digital up 49%, net sales down 8%
 

Senior LP & AP Jobs Market

Associate Director, Safety & Loss Prevention job posted for HelloFresh in Grand Prairie, TX
In this position, you will assist the Director of Safety & Security in managing multiple projects and multiple sites, inclusive of distribution center safety, corporate safety, building security, loss prevention design, site visits, investigations, and project management, as well as drive the safety culture and compliance in multiple sites, on-board and train site Safety & Loss Prevention Managers and conduct audits as necessary. linkedin.com

 

RH-ISAC 90-Day Complimentary Membership Offer

RH-ISAC is excited to offer a 90-day complimentary membership for retail, travel, and hospitality companies to join our highly active intelligence and information sharing community. This exclusive offer ends on June 30, so make sure to contact us today at membership@rhisac.org.

Join the strong community RH-ISAC has built to secure and protect the retail and hospitality sectors and the billions of people who rely on a stable, functioning system. rhisac.org
 

Cybercriminals exposed 5 billion records in 2019,
costing U.S. organizations over $1.2 trillion
Cybercriminals exposed over 5 billion records in 2019, costing over $1.2 trillion to U.S. organizations, according to ForgeRock. Coupled with breaches in 2018 costing over $654 billion, breaches over the last two years have cost U.S. organizations over $1.8 trillion.

● Personally identifiable information (PII) remained as the most targeted data by attackers and was exposed in 98% of 2019 breaches, up from 97% in 2018.

● Unauthorized access was the most common attack vector used in 2019, responsible for 40% of breaches, followed by ransomware and malware at 15% and phishing at 14%.

● By targeting PII and leveraging unauthorized access, cybercriminals highlight how weaknesses in enterprises’ identity and access management (IAM) practices increasingly allow for greater volumes and more sensitive types of data to be pilfered.

● In fact, social security numbers (SSNs) were the most targeted type of data compromised as they were exposed in 384 breaches in 2019. helpnetsecurity.com

Security Think Tank: CISO Stress - Moving from Recognition to Action
Cyber criminals are enjoying a boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, and security teams are working overtime as a result. How can security professionals manage their increased workload, safeguard their mental well-being and avoid burnout?

In our report released earlier this year – CISO stress: Life inside the perimeter: one year on,  research showed that stress is now taking a greater toll on CISOs’ mental and physical health, as well as their personal relationships. Even when they are technically out of the office, only 2% of CISOs said they were always able to switch off. Adding to that, 83% said they spent half their evenings and weekends or more thinking about work, blurring that line between personal and work lives even more.

A lack of work-life balance is one of the key components that contributes to work stress, so trying to fix this is imperative.

Part of that is a work culture shift: 39% of CISOs said they found long hours to be one of the most stress-inducing parts of their job. Adding to that, 95% said they worked more than their contracted hours, with 59% of CISOs working an extra 10 hours or more per week. computerweekly.com

CISA Launches CISA Central to Keep Public and Private Partners Informed on Relevant Physical and Cyber Threats
CISA Central is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s hub for staying on top of threats and emerging risks to our nation’s critical infrastructure, whether they’re of cyber, communications or physical origin. CISA Central is the simplest, most centralized way for a critical infrastructure partners and stakeholders to engage with CISA, and is the easiest way for all critical infrastructure stakeholders to request assistance and get the information, you need to understand the constantly evolving risk landscape.

Through CISA Central, CISA coordinates situational awareness and response to national cyber, communications, and physical incidents. CISA works closely with public, private sector, and international partners, offering technical assistance, information security, and education to protect our nation’s critical infrastructure from a broad range of current cyber, communication, and physical threats. If you’re already working with CISA through any one of our more specialized engagements, or if you’re signed up for alerts or bulletins, those will all continue unaffected and for more specific work with CISA programs, such as working groups and sector partnerships, you should continue to engage in those relationships.
For more information, email us at central@cisa.gov.

Nearly 80% of Companies Experienced a Cloud Data Breach in Past 18 Months
Ermetic, cloud access risk security company, announced the results of a research study conducted by global intelligence firm IDC which found that nearly 80% of the companies surveyed had experienced at least one cloud data breach in the past 18 months, and nearly half (43%) reported 10 or more breaches.

According to the 300 CISOs that participated in the survey, security misconfiguration (67%), lack of adequate visibility into access settings and activities (64%) and identity and access management (IAM) permission errors (61%) were their top concerns associated with cloud production environments. Meanwhile, 80% reported they are unable to identify excessive access to sensitive data in IaaS/PaaS environments. In the recent 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, only hacking ranked higher than misconfiguration errors as a source of data breaches. securitymagazine.com

Malware Campaign Hides in Resumes and Medical Leave Forms

Part of the overall increase in coronavirus-related malware activity

Criminals are using resumes to hide malicious payloads in a business climate that has seen hundreds of thousands of individuals searching for jobs. According to new research, the fake CVs disguise banking trojans and data stealers in macros within Microsoft Excel files.

Researchers at Check Point Software say that a new campaign of Zloader malware has been part of an overall doubling of recume-based subterfuge in the last two months. A similar campaign involving the TrickBot loader hides within an attachment labeled as a family leave request within the parameters of the Family and Medical Leave Act. darkreading.com

Office 365 users: Beware of fake company emails delivering a new VPN configuration

Zoom to offer end-to-end encryption only to paying customers

Columbus, OH: Minority-owned business seeks help after ransack during Columbus protests
A downtown Columbus clothing store is seeking assistance after it was looted during protests last week. Sam Mabrouk, who moved to Columbus from Egypt more than a decade ago, said he tried to stop protesters who vandalized his downtown store, 89 & Pine. On Friday, the looters made off with piles of premium men’s and women’s denim, according to the Associated Press. The creator of a GoFundMe for Mabrouk said insurance will not cover the loss of merchandise, which is estimated to be over $70,000. abc6onyourside.com

Scottsdale, AZ: 8 arrested in connection to looting at Scottsdale Fashion Square; $46K worth of stolen property recovered
Police say eight people have been arrested and more than $46,000 worth of stolen property has been recovered in connection to rioting and looting in Scottsdale on May 30. Total number of arrests up to 20.  fox10phoenix.com

Sumter County, FL: Sumter Sheriff seeks help in nabbing bandits who hit Lowe’s near The Villages
Sumter County sheriff’s deputies are searching for two thieves who recently ripped off the Lowe’s Home Improvement store just outside The Villages on U.S. Hwy. 27/441. The men pictured above are accused of entering the store on April 10 and removing three Craftsman 3000W inverter generators from their boxes. The suspects then exited the store without paying for the items, which were on a cart and valued at more than $2,600, a sheriff’s office report states. villages-news.com

Hillsborough County , FL: Woman arrested for stealing $8000 of alcohol during protests
The Sheriff’s Office is searching for a group of women who allegedly broke into a liquor store and stole thousand’s of dollars worth of alcohol under the guise of the George Floyd protests. Lawrencia Dixon, 19, was been identified from the surveillance video from inside the store, then arrested at her home, where deputies found four bottles of Ciroc vodka in her kitchen cabinet. tampadispatch.com

Odessa, TX: Man charged with stealing more than $4,700 worth of cigarettes