The Romanian National Police and the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crimes and Terrorism (DIICOT), assisted by Europol and Eurojust as well as a number of European Law Enforcement authorities, disrupted an international criminal group responsible for ATM malware attacks. This operation, one of the first in Europe against this kind of threat, resulted in multiple house searches in Romania and the Republic of Moldova and the final arrest of 8 individuals. The criminals used Tyupkin ATM malware which allowed the attackers to manipulate ATMs across Europe and illegally empty ATM cash ca...

Gifts of clothing and other stock donated by the public to charity shops that are left on the retailer’s doorstep outside of opening hours are at risk of theft and may not be protected by the law, says Pete Thomas, a retail loss prevention specialist. This follows a spate of incidents where Police were notified of items that were taken from charity shops without permission. Despite the Police identifying who was responsible in at least one incident in Eccles, no further legal action was taken. “It’s a grey area. Until donated goods are physically handed over to the shop staff then they...

In terms of the Regulated Security Services in 2015, it was pretty much a non-event, other than the appointment of a new Chief Executive of the Security Industry Authority, writes Interconnective's Bobby Logue. Margins of security companies continued to fall and the Regulator was given extended powers in terms of the Proceeds of Crime Act. Peter Webster reviewed the wider security picture on Infologue.com last week in his blog - Peter Webster – The issues that shaped the security industry in 2015. Finally, the spectre of workplace violence raised its head further in the security industry...

With Christmas fast approaching, vacant property expert Orbis warns property owners and tenants to carefully secure and protect their properties over the festive season. Buildings that shut down and are empty over the holidays are particularly vulnerable to being targeted by thieves and other intruders such as squatters. Even commercial properties with professional facilities management teams are at risk. Regular security officers might be on holiday, over the extended break, meaning that buildings are protected by temporary cover or no cover at all in some cases. Many of the regular staf...

Retail crime has risen by 18% in the last 12 months, and now that the busiest shopping period of the year fast approaching the pressure is on for retailers. With increased footfall comes higher risk of retail losses. Keeping stores stocked and tidy, along with the influx of customers, leaves staff preoccupied allowing thrifty consumers to help themselves. With this is mind, here are Cordant's tips for controlling crime: Increase security and manpower Thieves are more likely to target unguarded stores so having a security presence is a must. A well trained security officer will act as a d...

The Government has amended the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) changing powers available to regulatory bodies, including the Security Industry Authority. Effective from the end of November 2015, the SIA now has wider powers to financially investigate companies and individuals who are benefitting from criminal activity. The aim is to remove assets from offenders and halt further criminal activity. The SIA has been working with partners on POCA enquiries for some years, experiencing successes in confiscating assets. Following convictions for the supply of unlicensed security operatives and falsel...

The 3rd of December 2015 saw Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce (J-CAT), alongside other enforcement agencies, partnered with Microsoft and other members of the private sector disrupt one of the most widespread malware families – Win 32 / Dorkbot. Since its discovery in 2011, this malicious software has infected over a million computers in 190 countries. Commonly spread via USB flash drives, instant messaging programmes and social networks, Dorkbot causes damage by opening a backdoor on the infected computer, allowing for remote access and p...

G4S today announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei Technologies, a multinational telecommunications and networking company, which gives G4S preferred supplier status for security services in all of the markets in which both companies operate for the next five years. G4S, the leading integrated security company, currently provides manned security and total facilities management for Huawei in Tanzania, Namibia, Egypt, Guatemala, UAE, Angola and DR Congo. This agreement expands the scope of cooperation between the two companies so that G4S will provide - when ce...

Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, has today annouced that nearly one thousand websites that were illegally selling counterfeit merchandise online to consumers have been seized by law enforcement authorities, following the international operation In Our Sites (IOS). The operation tackled the sale of counterfeit goods and online piracy on e-commerce platforms and social networks. Law enforcement agencies from Belgium, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, France, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal,...

The prestigious award, presented as part of the IFSEC Security Excellence Awards was awarded to James Eaton for his paper, Key Performance Indicators For Information Security Management In The Public Sector. James, a post graduate student at Buckinghamshire New University, was the unanimous choice of the judging panel who praised the work as an original piece of applied research that will have definite appeal to IT security managers, policy developers and scholars within the traditional security management field, the information security discipline and broader business continuity. The judging ...