Technology

Retail stores and other commercial properties are experiencing fewer burglaries. In the first half of 2019, burglaries for all properties fell by a substantial 11.1 percent nationally.

Even companies that send employees home with proper safeguards face challenges, but those relying on uncontrolled employee-owned phones, computers, and internet to get work done “are sitting ducks” when it comes to data security.

Hackers are now using the frenzy around the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic to put malware on computers to steal personal or business information. With more and more employees working from home without the protection of corporate cyber security measures, it will likely get worse quickly.

More than 850 Wawa convenience stores and gas pumps had malware in payment processors that potentially compromised customers’ credit and debit card numbers, expiration dates, and cardholder names. What can companies do to prevent phishing attacks?

Big or small, a retailer has a range of technology options to improve security and loss prevention—but none of those should be used in a silo.

CEOs and corporate boards of directors are recognizing that a greater amount of dynamic risk attaches to cyber security-related matters than to physical security issues. However, survey results do not indicate a diminishing role for physical security. Instead, respondents tended to report a unified security plan.

It’s evident that there is a new battleground for loss prevention. The product exists as bits and bytes, and it won’t be carried out of stores or looted from warehouses. Indeed, the threat is data theft.

The key trends from Genetec’s perspective include artificial intelligence, facial recognition, physical identity management, blockchain, and cybersecurity.

Technology is not here to eliminate us; it’s here to make our jobs and lives easier. Retail will continue to evolve with technology. As retailers, our responsibility is to focus our efforts on improving the customer experience using the new tools at our disposal.