Sensormatic Solutions seamlessly combines the power of a cloud-based analytics platform with exacqVision VMS for smart loss prevention

Johnson Controls today announced that Sensormatic Solutions, its leading global retail solutions portfolio, offers a powerful combination of cloud-based Shrink Management as a Service (SMaaS) and exacqVision VMS software to help retailers take loss prevention to the next level. Retailers can now conveniently access video clips associated to Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) alarm events directly from the SMaaS user interface. This seamless integration allows users to quickly view video of EAS alarm events in one single dashboard, improving efficiency and saving time. Users will also benefit from having 24/7 remote monitoring of the health status of their video devices through the Sensormatic network of Remote Diagnostic Centers (RDCs).

Read more in today's Vendor Spotlight below.

Video Recap: Profitect P.A.C.T. User Group 2019

Amber Bradley, owner of the Calibration Group, went on-location to cover Profitect’s P.A.C.T. User Conference in Orlando, Florida. This was Profitect's sixth annual Prescriptive Analytics Collaborative Training event. Check out why retailers attend this event and see what it’s all about!

Spotlight on California Prop 47 & Its Impact
National News Coverage on Fox News

Prop 47 Has "Given Free Rein to ORC Gangs"
It's Been Called "One of California's Biggest Plunders" - Prop 47 - Monday Morning on Fox

New Shoplifting & ORC has 'Dramatically Increased' in California since Prop 47 Five Yrs Ago

Rachel Michelin, President California Retailers Association, appeared on Fox news broadcast Monday morning talking about how ORC is impacting retailers as a direct result of Prop 47 and the higher felony threshold.

She also mentioned the effort to reduce the felony threshold back down to the $450 level with a ballot initiative November 2020 and the $5M budget line the governor just added for task forces for public safety to help with this problem. foxnews.com

California's Prop 47 leads to rise in shoplifting, thefts, criminal activity across state
SAN FRANCISCO – In a lighted garage on one of San Francisco's busiest streets, a young man in baggy trousers and messy brown hair pulled down his pants. He had been hiding two pairs of stolen jeans with the tags still on them. He handed them to another man waiting nearby, took some money, pulled up his pants and headed back into another store on Market Street — home to the city's high-end designers and big-chain retail shops.

The incident wasn't a one-off. These brazen acts of petty theft and shoplifting are a dangerous and all-too-common consequence of Proposition 47, a referendum passed five years ago that critics say effectively gives shoplifters and addicts the green light to commit crimes as long as the merchandise they steal or the drugs they take are less than $950 in value. The decision to downgrade theft of property valued below the arbitrary figure from felony to misdemeanor, together with selective enforcement that focuses on more “serious” crimes, has resulted in thieves knowing they can brazenly shoplift and merchants knowing the police will not respond to their complaints, say critics.

Over in the City by the Bay's famous Tenderloin district, Cassie, a 21-year-old mother of two and a former heroin junkie, told Fox News that when times were tough, she too has stolen from stores.

"If my babies need diapers or formula, who is going to get that for me? No one. I have to do it," she said. "They ain't out here arresting people for (shoplifting) and everyone knows it."

Proposition 47 is seen by critics as one of California's biggest blunders. Supported by the state Democratic Party and championed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the referendum was passed by a wide margin in 2014. The idea behind it was to reduce certain non-violent felonies to misdemeanors in order to free up resources for cops and prosecutors to focus on violent offenders.

A Must Read! Best article detailing the consequences that we've ever seen and capturing the overall attitude of the thieves themselves.

McD’s former CEO resigns from Walmart’s board
The New Dynamic in this #MeToo Era
Steve Easterbrook resigned from Walmart's board a day after announcing his exit from McDonald's.

Easterbrook informed Walmart (WMT) on Monday that he was stepping down from its board of directors effective immediately, according to a regulatory filing. The departure follows his dismissal as CEO of the fast food chain for having a consensual relationship with a McDonald's employee.

Easterbrook joined Walmart's board of directors in 2018. He sat on committees that focused on management development and finance. cnn.com

Buffalo Wild Wings asked group to move
Customer didn’t ‘want black people sitting near him’
The staff has been fired
But the family and their party, a mostly African American group of parents and young kids celebrating a birthday, say they faced discrimination head-on instead when staff at a Buffalo Wild Wings repeatedly ordered them to leave their table — all because another customer did not want to sit next to black people.

Now, the incident has gone viral, the staff has been fired, and the restaurant chain is facing backlash after yet another troubling example of public discrimination captured online. washingtonpost.com

Fighting Counterfeits Leads to Industry First & A Host of Other Benefits
Ralph Lauren Corporation Unveils Digital Product Identities to Tens of Millions of Products
November 1, 2019 (New York) – Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) announces the launch of Digital Product Identities (IDs) for tens of millions of Ralph Lauren products, starting with the Polo brand, as it continues to deliver on its strategic priority to Lead with Digital. Ralph Lauren’s Digital Product IDs give consumers the reassurance of authenticity paired with a connected product experience. By scanning the Digital Product ID on the product label with a smartphone, consumers can confirm whether their purchase is authentically Ralph Lauren, learn about the product detail and receive styling tips and recommendations. Equally, the technology provides insight into the supply chain that helps drive efficiency around orders and inventory. Ralph Lauren Corporation (RLC) is the first global retail brand to apply this technology at this scale and in unprecedented ways.

“The launch of Digital Product IDs demonstrates how we continue to use technology to deliver more for our consumers and ensure the integrity of our products throughout their lifecycle,” says David Lauren, Chief Innovation Officer. “The application of this technology means every Polo product will be ‘born-digital’ which represents a new milestone in data intelligence innovation in our sector.”

In addition to authentication, creating unique digital identities for each product enables a variety of applications that personalize the consumer shopping experience and create efficiencies across supply chain management. These include increased connectivity for consumers who can scan the QR code to receive additional product details and styling recommendations. Across the supply chain, Digital Product IDs enable real-time visibility to track product from the point of manufacture and improve inventory management.

Brands and second-hand retailers alike have been attempting to combat counterfeit merchandise with the help of technology. Ebay, LVMH and Goodwill have tapped into blockchain, artificial intelligence and other technologies to fight fraudsters. Per the company's press release, the technology allows consumers to authenticate their goods at a time when fake merchandise is entering the market. retaildive.com ralphlauren.com

Political Discord Is Disrupting the Workplace
Research: Almost half of U.S. workers have argued about politics while at work
Republican, Democrat and independent employees have something in common in these partisan times: nearly half have had a disagreement in the workplace over politics, according to new research released today by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The "Politics at Work" survey, fielded Oct. 7-14, suggests many workers are involved in political discussions in the workplace, and those discussions are leading to conflicts:

• 56 percent of American employees say politics, and the discussion of political issues, has become more common in the last four years.
• 42 percent have personally experienced political disagreements in the workplace.
• 34 percent say their workplace is not inclusive of differing political perspectives.
• 12 percent have personally experienced political affiliation bias.

"One year out from the 2020 election, and we should expect to see political disagreements increase even further in the coming months," said SHRM President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP. "Companies can't, and shouldn't, try to quash these conversations because—contrary to popular belief—they're already happening. But what they can do is create inclusive cultures of civility where difference isn't a disruption."

Companies have been responding to the increasing division and disruption since the presidential campaigns of 2016. Three years ago, 52 percent of employers reported more politically volatile conversations at work than during previous political campaigns.

Workplace law attorneys advise promoting political discussion, as long as it is civil. While freedom of speech is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, employers can put guidelines on how employees express themselves in the workplace. Workers are free to talk about working conditions and labor relations matters, but most employers can limit discussions about politics. State laws in California forbid discriminating against employees based on their political affiliation.

In research released earlier this year, SHRM found that toxic workplace cultures are costing employers billions in turnover. Nearly one in five Americans have quit a job in the past five years due to toxic workplace culture.

Employers can create civil and tolerant cultures where employees can learn to work with the people they disagree with, Taylor said, speaking at SHRM's recent Inclusion 2019 event.

"Companies need to be proactive, not reactive. We're talking about hot button issues that fire people up, so it's important to put up 'guard rails' when facilitating constructive, inclusive environments where employees can disagree without being disagreeable," Taylor said. shrm.org

Shoppers crave the convenience of cashierless tech
Backers say cashierless checkout improves customer experience & brand perception
In a world of busy schedules, endless retail options and new technologies designed to make everything more convenient, today’s consumers have far less patience for lines than they did in the past.

While retailers offer online ordering, in-store pickup and delivery to increase convenience, many are also looking to automated and mobile checkout to reduce lines. For retailers, these technologies offer the opportunity to improve the customer experience and devote staff resources to more value-added activities. For consumers, the ability to shop faster and more efficiently reduces the time commitment of shopping.

New technologies enabled by smartphones, cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence might soon reduce the relevance of the traditional cashier-based checkout system.

Many other retailers are trying cashierless checkout systems powered by apps and consumer mobile devices. In November 2018, Sam’s Club opened a Sam’s Club Now store in Dallas that operates with no cashiers. The 32,000-square-foot facility uses 700 cameras in tandem with an app and electronic price tags that can be updated in real time. Shoppers use the Scan & Go app to scan their products and pay for them on the way out. smartbrief.com

'Micro-fulfillment centers'
Why supermarkets are building 'dark stores'
Albertsons and Stop & Shop are testing automated "micro-fulfillment centers" in the backs of their own stores that are dedicated to fulfilling deliveries and pickups. At two stores, Albertsons is using robots to prepare customers' orders, which it says speeds up the picking process.

Stop & Shop, owned by Dutch parent Ahold Delhaize, is building a 12,000-square-foot fully automated fulfillment center in the backroom of a store in Windsor, Connecticut, for deliveries in the Hartford area. Stop & Shop offers delivery through its online Peapod service.

Meijer announced this month that it will also begin testing micro-fulfillment with a logistics company to "maximize space in our stores" and expand online options, said Sid Handa, the company's director of strategic supply chain initiatives.

And in Salem, New Hampshire, Walmart is piloting a system with autonomous carts that gather customers' grocery orders and bring them to Walmart workers, who then prepare them for delivery or pickup. cnn.com

It's An Exciting Time in the Supply Chain
Never thought you'd hear that in the Supply Chain
The Supply Chain & Logistics Takes on Huge Roles in Today's & Tomorrow's Retailing
In the 70's and 80's and even into the 90's, supply chain jobs both security and operations were just long hours and lots of manual labor. With tow motors, trailers, train cars, bills of lading, Detex keys, guard shacks, and a good seal program being all you need along with guys willing to work shift work and over time during the holidays.

Having spent a couple of years working in them back then certainly added to my retail education even though the retailers considered us the step children of the business. But we did drive the business and made sure the merchandise moved in one door and out the other.

Now the tides have changed and the importance elevated to the point that these same facilities are now as important as the stores, and in some cases even more important than the brick and mortar stores themselves. Driving the e-commerce business and owning the 'last mile' for the most part these facilities are now the front lines to double digit sales increases and in some cases saving a retailer and selling more than the stores.

Representing the biggest growth opportunity for retailers, one merely needs to look at Amazon to see what a successful fulfillment program can do and how critical their role really is in today's retail world.

From job creation to real estate growth to transitioning old depressed malls into fulfillment centers, the logistics supply chain side of retail is booming. And soon we'll see the 'last-mile' drones invade the sky's in their own highways with speed limits and probably with sky cops issuing tickets. As cities have never been known for missing an opportunity.

Add to all of this the emphasis on out-of-stocks, sustainability, the increasing need for data, item level merchandise shipment data and the rising global counterfeit problem and what you see is RFID and NFC and all at the supply chain level if not the manufacturer. And that will ultimately drive the data the marketing group and merchants have all been clamoring for, to deliver the ultimate customer experience, never be out of stock, know exactly where the shipment is at any given time, and be able to deliver it same day - that last mile push. And it all begins and finishes at the warehouse.

And let's not forget the huge move to robotics. Now happening at an elevated adoption speed at every level in retail. With the warehouses being the early adopters and in some regards leading the way.

Point being that our supply chains are going through as much disruption and evolution as the stores and in some cases they're giving birth to a whole new group of retailers. As the successful e-tailers are opening stores now at a healthy clip. All of them having just come out of a warehouse and in the biggest case, came out of his garage, Amazon's Mr. Bezos.

So the next time an old retailer thinks of the supply chain as step children think again because you could end up working for or servicing one of them. As they appear to be driving retail right now.

Just some thoughts,

Gus Downing

Setting Training & Development Goals for 2020
'Wanna Boost Employee Retention? Focus on Leadership Training & Certifications'
A new report from PayScale found that most employees wanted either a strong focus on certifications or to be trained on skills related to leadership and management.

In a job market where competition is aggressive and a new position is always around the corner, employees want a skills upgrade. And if your association is offering that to them, you could stand to benefit in terms of increased employee retention.

According to Professional Development: What Employees Want, a new report from PayScale, the nearly 38,000 workers surveyed by the compensation software firm were asking for two things: management and leadership training (32 percent) and professional certifications (30 percent). More specific skills, such as technical training (17 percent), teamwork/interpersonal skills (8 percent), public speaking (4 percent), and diversity and inclusion (2 percent) fell further down the list. And just 7 percent of respondents were looking for employers to subsidize a degree.

“For the most part, management/leadership training was the most commonly selected option across the generations."

“Employers should take the time to truly understand which programs and training opportunities would be most important to help every employee progress in his or her career in a meaningful way.” associationsnow.com

Editor's Note: From the LP Foundation's LP Qualified & LP Certified to WZ's numerous courses and CFI certification and even ASIS' CPP, to Northern Michigan University's online Loss Prevention Management Bachelor's degree, there's a number of educational and leadership development programs for our community. And with the new year approaching, it's a great time to set some 2020 educational goals for yourself and for your team members. Just a thought, Gus Downing

Senior Jobs: Director of Risk & Analysis for Genesco, Nashville, TN

Olympia Sports Closing 76 Stores it Didn't Sell to JackRabbit

UNTUCKit is on track to reach 100 retail locations by 2022, Has 75 now

UPS expects 26% jump in returns this peak season
 

What the CEO's Are Reading
The Robin Report:
The Top Target for Cybercrime: Retailers
Gini Rometty, CEO of IBM, has said, “Cybercrime is the greatest threat to every company in the world.”

Global cybercrime will cost the world economy $6 trillion annually by 2021 (yes, that’s Trillion, with a “T” –the equivalent to the GDP of Japan), and the problem is rapidly getting worse. Malware attacks have increased by 2,000 percent over the past decade. The ten biggest data breaches in history have occurred over the past five years – and ransomware cost organizations $11.5 billion in 2019 alone.

Retail Blues
Cyberattacks have become the most preventable and consequential threat of our times. Malware, hacks, phishing, botnets, trojans, worms, keyloggers, virus, spyware, adware, ransomware, SQL Injections, DNS and Man-in-the-Middle attacks, The problems multiply every day. As if the ubiquity of cybercrime wouldn’t be enough to keep the C-suite and Board regularly reaching for antacids, a recent report examining millions of hacks that occurred across over 4,000 organizations in 2018 showed the top target for cyber-attack to now be Retail.

Surprised? Don’t be. Hackers attack retailers for the same reason Willie Sutton robbed banks: “Because that’s where the money is.” The two perpetrators of the 2013 Target hack walked away with PII on 41 million customers – and were only caught by dumb luck when they tried to cross the U.S. border.

Cops and Robbers
Vexing as the challenge of cyber criminality may be, it is only the tip of the iceberg of a truly titanic challenge. In the topsy-turvy world of today’s technology, well-intended privacy legislation may occasion an even greater risk to your company from the cops than from the robbers. Those hackers that targeted Target? Adding insult to injury, Target was fined $18.5M subsequent to the breach, for the privilege of being robbed.



Microsoft Tools Focus on Insider Risk, Data Protection at Ignite 2019
Microsoft yesterday kicked off its 2019 Ignite conference, bringing with it a wave of security-related announcements across its products and services. A few key focus areas surrounding today's updates are data protection and governance, insider risk management, and threat detection.

While the industry often talks about advanced attacks, what businesses need to focus on is basic protective steps and defending against the threats they face on a daily basis, says Rob Lefferts, corporate vice president at Microsoft Security.

Unfortunately, we continue to see success with the same sets of techniques," he explains, noting "there is a need to swing the pendulum to think about protection." Defenders have a "truly endless" to-do list in terms of what they can do to improve on threat prevention.

"We need to use that kind of insight — what's going on in the threat landscape, geography, industry [and] what are the most important things they can act on so they'll be ready for the next wave of attacks," says Lefferts.

This idea of driving defense has driven many of the announcements coming from Ignite today: Microsoft is extending Application Guard container protection to Office 365 starting today, in limited preview. It's also adding endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities to Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac, available in public preview this week. Moving forward, it plans to offer Microsoft Defender ATP for Linux servers for broader network protection.

Below are a few more updates from the Orlando conference yesterday.

Insider Risk Management - Data Protection in Power BI - Labeling and Classification in Outlook - Compliance Score  darkreading.com


Iowa Arrests Put Spotlight on Penetration Testing
Unprecedented Incident Causes Uproar in Cybersecurity Industry
Incident highlights communication gaps and risks faced by staff, experts say.

In the early hours of Sept. 11, two men were caught with lock picks in the Dallas County Courthouse in Iowa after a tripped alarm summoned the sheriff. They were arrested, despite the fact that the state paid them to break in and they had the contracts to prove it.

The men, Gary Demercurio and Justin Wynn, are employees of Coalfire Systems Inc., a cybersecurity company that the Iowa State Court Administration has hired in recent years to conduct penetration tests on the state’s computer infrastructure. The pair said they intentionally triggered the alarm to test response times.

They were charged initially with third-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools. The felony charges have since been downgraded to criminal trespass, a misdemeanor, which they are contesting. They were released after Coalfire paid a $50,000 bond for each of them, and they are due to appear in court Wednesday for an initial hearing.

“Frankly, this matter is unprecedented within the tightknit security industry and to our knowledge, no physical security professional has been arrested and officially charged while executing a contract,” Coalfire’s chief executive, Tom McAndrew, said in a statement.

The incident has caused an uproar within the cybersecurity industry and has prompted questions about how these teams should undertake their work.

Companies that hire such testers must clarify terms and, in some cases, brief authorities, experts said. Offensive cybersecurity, where authorized hackers test defenses, is generally divided into two camps: penetration testing and red-teaming.

Issues can also arise due to the methods used by offensive cybersecurity, which can resemble tactics used by criminals. In August, BlackBerry Ltd. ’s Cylance cybersecurity business published a report detailing how a purported threat group, which researchers had designated as a nation-state or criminal enterprise, was actually a security company based in Brazil.

There’s always an inherent risk that you could go to jail prior to it being de-escalated,” he said. wsj.com

How to Manage Supply Chain Risks
Chet Wisniewski of Sophos Offers Insights on Mitigation

Agile environments benefit from development platforms and open-source software, but that also raises the risks of attacks seeded in those supply chains, says Chet Wisniewski of Sophos, who describes steps that organizations can take to mitigate the risks.

Almost all organizations are using technologies such as containers and frameworks such as Node.js or those for Python, he says. That allows organizations to use pre-built software templates and add their own custom code, speeding development. But that can come at a price.

"The problem is more and more of that stuff is getting poisoned with backdoors," Wisniewski says in an interview with Information Security Media Group. "So it really requires careful software review, but unfortunately that kind of goes against the whole purpose of originally doing it [agile development]."

Wisniewski says the most important step organizations can take to secure their supply chains is to ensure mutifactor authentication is used internally as well as by their suppliers. Credential theft is one of the most common ways that organizations are comprised, he says. Also, organizations should work supply-chain reviews into their cybersecurity plans, he recommends.

In this interview, Wisniewski discusses:

• Why supply chain risk has increased in recent years;
• How to evaluate the risk a vendor may bring to your environment;
• What are the most important steps to take to manage supply chain risk.

Wisniewski is principal research scientist at Sophos, where he has worked for the last 16 years. His role includes research, public speaking and writing on computer security trends and threats. careersinfosecurity.com

Senior Job: The Gap Inc., Information Security Strategy Manager posted in San Francisco, CA

40 Million U.S. Adults Were Victims of Fraud in 2017

Three-Quarters of U.S. Consumers Less Likely to Make Online Purchases from Small Businesses That Suffer Cyber Attacks

Ransomware Gangs' Not-So-Secret Attack Vector: RDP Exploits

Strategic Asset Protection

ALTO is a comprehensive collaboration program that combines technology, marketing, intelligent prosecution, and concierge-level support services to bridge the gap between retail and law enforcement to create safer store environments and enhance business profitability. Over 7,000 store locations in 100 cities in Latin America, Europe and now the United States have signed on to ALTO’s service. Karl Langhorst, Senior Advisor for ALTO US, tells us about some of their early success here in the States.
 

Denver, CO: 24 people busted in alleged ‘drug-fueled’ crime operation in the Denver area
A Denver grand jury indicted last month two dozen members of an alleged criminal organization on 175 criminal counts, according to a news release Monday from the Denver District Attorney’s Office. Many of the suspects in the 24-person crime ring lived together and conspired to commit a multitude of crimes in the Denver metro area between February 5, 2017, and October 2019, to support their illegal drug habits, prosecutors allege in the release. Authorities said three suspects led the group as they shared stolen money, property, cars, IDs, food, clothing and illegal drugs. The alleged ring leaders were charged with violating Colorado’s Organized Crime Control Act, among other charges.

The group’s criminal activity didn’t cease, prosecutors said. Fueled by drug addiction, the 24 suspects stole at least 28 vehicles across the Denver-metro area and used the stolen cars to commit other crimes, including burglaries. The suspects would then trade or sell the stolen property, guns, social security cards, credit cards, bikes, golf clubs, professional makeup kits and numerous other items to acquire methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine. thedenverchannel.com

West Allis, WI: Police caught serial cell phone robbers after they accidentally made off with a tracking device
Two men suspected of several armed robberies of cell phone stores in the Milwaukee area have been charged after a tracking device from a West Allis holdup led police to their location. As of Nov. 4, Richard Tolbert, 36, of Chicago and Maurice M. Tolbert, 40, of Milwaukee have only been charged in connection to the Oct. 29 armed robbery that led to their arrests. But the two are believed to be responsible for at least three other robberies in which thousands of dollars of merchandise was taken, a criminal complaint said. jsonline.com

Claremont, CA: Grab & Run Thieves hit T-Mobile for $3,500 in merchandise
Police are looking for four people who snatched $3,500 worth of phones from a T-Mobile shop last Monday. Police were called to the store on 416 Auto Center Drive at approximately 5:31 p.m. on October 28 on a call of a possible robbery. According to Lt. Karlan Bennett of the Claremont Police Department, four men walked in, grabbed display phones and took off running. There were no injuries to employees or customers. claremont-courier.com

Edinburg, TX: Walmart electronics thieves busted at Pawn Shop minutes after shoplifting; police chase

Franklin, TN: Brazen thief steals $500 in products from small business