Retail Vandalism and Smash-and-Grab:
What We Know about Retail Perimeter Security

Interface’s Virtual Perimeter Guard delivers proactive outdoor defence by combining AI detection, automated deterrence, and live human intervention. Virtual Perimeter Guard extends Interface’s indoor Virtual Security Guard platform, giving retailers continuous coverage from curb to cash wrap.

Read more in today's Vendor Spotlight column below
 

New Report Highlights Retail Violence Risk
Incidents of workplace violence increase 25 percent year over year in US
Workplace violence across all industries is on the rise, according to a report from Trailant. The company specializes in compliance training.

Thirty percent of respondents to a workforce violence safety survey said they’ve witnessed violence in the last five years, and 15% said they have been targets of these incidents themselves. That’s a 25% and 20% increase, respectively, from last year’s report.

The increasing frequency of violent incidents in the workplace has left many employees feeling uneasy about their safety. As headlines of workplace shootings, retail assaults and rising tensions dominate the news cycle, employees across industries are bringing their fears to work.

Workplace violence also varies across different sectors based on workers’ level of interaction with internal or external parties. From overbooked hotel rooms to upset guests disputing charges, customer conflicts are becoming more frequent and intense in industries like hospitality and retail, leaving employees to manage them without the necessary tools.

Retail employees also face increased rates of violence from customers or strangers, including verbal abuse, threats, and physical confrontations. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, retail workers account for approximately 13% of all workplace violence incidents and a substantial 27% of all workplace homicides.

While overall training rates are improving, not all employees benefit equally — particularly younger workers in high‑risk roles. Gen Z employees report significantly lower training exposure than their older peers. This gap is alarming given Gen Z’s heavy representation in customer‑facing roles such as retail or hospitality — sectors with heightened exposure to violence.

Industry‑specific risk profiles highlight the urgent need for customized policies, particularly in the healthcare, retail, and hospitality sectors, which bear the heaviest burden yet receive the least support. traliant.com mcknightsseniorliving.com


Did 'Out-of-Control Shoplifting' Sink the Target-Ulta Partnership?
'40% of Ulta products received throughout the year vanished after checking inventory reports.'

Target, Ulta partnership allegedly doomed by out-of-control shoplifting— including $10k a month at one store
The shop-in-shop partnership between Target and Ulta Beauty was allegedly doomed by rampant theft of the cosmetics company’s pricey products — including at least $10,000 a month at one store.

The retail giants last week announced that they’ve “mutually agreed” to terminate their union — where Ulta’s popular makeup items were sold at 610 Target locations around the country.

Execs from both companies lauded the “synergy” they enjoyed after joining forces in 2021, but many claiming to be current and former Target workers flooded Reddit to allege that shoplifting was the real culprit behind the partnership’s demise.

“The amount of theft is f–king insane. I could be wrong but at least 10k a month in theft,” one purported Target worker in the unnamed store posted on Reddit earlier this year. The complaint echoed those made by others in the r/Target and r/Ulta threads that blamed brazen bandits for snatching Ulta’s high-end cosmetics at understaffed Target stores.

Organzied retail theft surged after the pandemic, resulting in major retailers, including Target, being forced to put items under lock and key.

Nevertheless, the security precautions seemingly did little to prevent shoplifting at some locations. One Target worker claimed 40% of all Ulta products received throughout the year had vanished after checking inventory reports. nypost.com


Has Kroger's Receipt Check Program Cut Theft?
Kroger added new receipt checks in Columbus last summer. Here's what's happened since
Just over a year ago, retail grocery giant Kroger launched a program placing armed security guards at the exits of six Columbus stores to check customer receipts.

Today, one of those stores reports that its guards stop attempted shoplifters two to four times a day, but police logs don't show a consistent change in calls for service across the six locations since the program began.

The program went into effect on May 13, 2024, in response to increased incidents of theft, per prior Dispatch reporting. Data shows that in 2021, Ohio ranked seventh in total U.S. retail sales at nearly $169 billion, while its estimated theft losses the same year totaled $2.11 billion — the sixth highest nationwide.

The same report — a 2021 presentation on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's website about the impact of organized retail crime and product theft — shows retail theft has an economic ripple effect, costing the state more than 21,000 jobs and over $1.1 billion in lost wages across multiple industries, plus nearly $4 billion in overall economic output.

"Security tends to catch quite a bit of product that we would have otherwise lost," Corey Romine, an assistant store leader, said.

Columbus police records don't show a statistically significant link between the presence of security guards and the number of theft reports at the six Columbus Kroger locations. The records, however, don't account for thefts thwarted by local security that don't necessitate a call to police. dispatch.com
 

More States Deploy National Guard Troops to D.C.
3 more GOP governors authorize deployment of National Guard troops as part of Trump show of force
Three more Republican governors authorized the deployment of National Guard troops to Washington on Monday, part of President Donald Trump’s escalating show of force that he says is designed to crack down on crime and boost immigration enforcement in the nation’s capital. The announcements by Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana brought the number of state troops detailed to the president’s effort to more than 1,100 — and the number of states to six.

Governors from the states said they were responding to requests from the Trump administration to join the operation. It was not immediately clear why the administration requested additional military support. About 800 troops have already been called up from the Washington, D.C., guard and have had a limited assigned role so far in Trump’s 10-day-old attempted takeover of D.C. law enforcement.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the descriptions of the operation needed to be more honest — and acknowledge that they weren’t just about curtailing crime but about immigration enforcement, a centerpiece of the second Trump administration that has echoed across the country in recent months. apnews.com


Trump's return to 'law and order' highlights a sore spot for Democrats: crime policy

20 states and D.C. sue Trump administration for tying billions in crime victim grants to immigration enforcement
 

Cybersecurity on the Store Floor?
Retail’s New Cyber Frontier: Securing the Store Floor

By the D&D Daily staff

Cybersecurity in retail is no longer confined to protecting e-commerce platforms and payment systems. Increasingly, the frontline of digital risk is found right inside the physical store.

From smart shelves that track inventory in real time to digital kiosks, handheld scanners, and Wi-Fi-enabled cameras, retailers are embedding connected devices across their operations. These tools promise efficiency and better customer experiences—but they also open new gateways for cybercriminals.

Unlike traditional IT systems, many of these Internet of Things (IoT) devices run on outdated or stripped-down software that may not receive regular patches. A compromised kiosk or camera may seem minor, but security experts warn it can provide a foothold into wider networks, exposing sensitive customer and business data. In 2024, several high-profile breaches in retail were traced not to point-of-sale systems, but to overlooked devices on the sales floor.

The challenge is compounded by scale. Large retailers may operate tens of thousands of connected devices across hundreds of locations. Tracking, updating, and securing each one can overwhelm IT teams already stretched thin. Smaller retailers, meanwhile, may not have the resources or expertise to recognize that their “smart” equipment could be a liability.

To address this, some companies are adopting network segmentation strategies, isolating IoT devices from core systems. Others are turning to automated patch management and requiring vendors to meet stricter cybersecurity standards before devices are installed. Training store associates to recognize suspicious behavior—even on digital kiosks—is also becoming part of the equation.

The bottom line: as stores become more digital, cybersecurity risk is no longer hidden in the data center. It’s on the floor, sitting on shelves, behind cameras, and in the very devices designed to make shopping more seamless. Retailers that recognize and act on this shift will be better positioned to protect both their customers and their operations.


AI Platform Used By 11K Companies Attacked
Hackers target Workday in social engineering attack

Researchers cite increasing evidence of collaboration between Scattered Spider and the cybercrime group ShinyHunters in the campaign.

Workday has confirmed that it fell victim to a wide-ranging social engineering campaign that allowed hackers to access information at one of its third-party vendors.

The hackers work by impersonating IT and human-resources personnel in order to trick employees into sharing their personal information and account credentials, Workday said in a blog post published Friday.

Breaching the customer-support system gave the hackers access to support tickets that included Workday customers’ names, email addresses and phone numbers, which the hackers could use to conduct further social-engineering attacks. But Workday said there was no sign that the intruders had accessed data stored on its own servers.

“All signs show that our customer Workday data remains secure,” a spokesperson told Cybersecurity Dive via email.

Workday is a major AI-based platform for managing human resources and payments. More than 11,000 organizations around the world use its services, including more than 60% of the Fortune 500. cybersecuritydive.com


Ransomware Attack Hits Pharmaceutical Firm
Pharmaceutical firm Inotiv investigating ransomware attack that disrupted operations

The company says it doesn’t yet know if the incident will have a material impact.

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Inotiv Inc. is investigating a cyberattack that led to hackers encrypting the firm’s data, it said in a filing on Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Aug. 8 attack disrupted access to certain data storage and business applications, according to Innotiv. The company said it is working to bring certain systems back online and has moved some operations to offline alternatives in order to maintain business continuity.

The company has restricted access to its systems, retained third-party experts and notified law enforcement, according to its SEC filing. cybersecuritydive.com
 

What makes airport and airline systems so vulnerable to attack?

Reston, VA: Organized Retail Theft Crew Charged After $20,000 Home Depot Shoplifting Spree in Reston
Detectives from our Criminal Investigations Division and officers from the Reston District have charged an organized retail theft crew for over $20,000 worth of theft from the Home Depot in Reston. On July 19, at 4:51 p.m., officers responded to the 1600 block of Reston Parkway in Reston for a shoplifting case. Home Depot Loss Prevention reported multiple suspects were in the store stealing merchandise. Officers arrived and arrested Roberto Hernandez Cruz, 27, of Ashburn. Detectives from our Criminal Investigations Division responded and assumed the investigation. Detectives worked closely with Home Depot Asset Protection and uncovered an organized theft crew involving Hernandez Cruz and six other suspects who were linked to additional thefts committed at the same store dating back to June of this year. Detectives learned the crew visited the store on over twenty different occasions and stole various tools. Detectives and Asset Protection connected the below suspects to over $20,000 worth of stolen merchandise from the Home Depot.  fcpdnews.wordpress.com


Chicago, IL: U Haul Truck downs streetwear store barricade in Wicker Park smash-and-grab
Burglars behind the wheel of a box truck breached a barricade outside a retail store in Wicker Park and fled in a black car after grabbing merchandise early Wednesday. Officers responded to a burglary call at a retail store in the 2100 block of West Division Street about 1:50 a.m. and found the barricade outside the front entrance had been damaged by a box truck that remained on the scene, police said. A witness told police they saw three unknown males exit the box truck and enter through a metal gate at the front before fleeing in a black car after taking merchandise. There is no one in custody.  chicago.suntimes.com


Philadelphia, PA: Snipes sneaker store burglarized in Philadelphia's East Falls section
A trio of criminals burglarized a sneaker store in Philadelphia's East Falls neighborhood. Police responded to alarms going off at Snipes along the 2900 block of Fox Street at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Officials say three people broke into the store and made off with merchandise. They fled through the front door of the store and into the streets. It is unclear how much merchandise they stole.  6abc.com


Lafayette, LA: Police search for suspects accused of stealing $6,000 in Victoria's Secret merchandise

Indianapolis, IN: Woman arrested after allegedly trying to steal over $2,000 worth of sunglasses at Sunglass Hut

Petaluma, CA: Three Arrested for Alleged Organized Retail Theft at Safeway