Safeway Alberstons merger starts budget cuts in the field - with District LP jobs being reduced - 1 per 2 operating districts  With the merger only having been approved two weeks ago we're now starting to see the impact. Looks like Safeway is cutting some field LP jobs at the district level and doubling up district coverage from an LP prospective.  They had been operating with an LP executive for each district and now according to our sources they're going to one LP exective for every two districts. More to follow.

White House hold summit on Cybersecurity today at Stanford University  President Obama is set to sign an executive order aimed at encouraging companies to share information about cybersecurity threats with the government. Obama will sign the order at a day-long conference on cybersecurity at Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley. President Obama will give a speech at 11:20 a.m. PT from the summit. He is also expected to meet privately with a small group of business leaders, part of an effort to mend fences with tech companies still angry over damage to their businesses when government surveillance practices were exposed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. Upset about the lack of reforms to those practices, the heads of Google, Facebook and Yahoo are not attending the Stanford conference. But Apple CEO Tim Cook will give an address. "Information sharing may be the single highest-impact, lowest cost, and fastest way to implement capabilities we have at hand as a nation to accelerate our overall defense from the very many increasing threats," American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault says. cnbc.com

Obama Order Will Help Firms Get U.S. Cyberthreat Data
One significant part of the executive order would allow the Department of Homeland Security to approve classified information sharing arrangements. DHS previously wasn't among the federal agencies that had this power. A significant part of the executive order is meant to push companies to share more information about cyberthreats with their peers, with the belief that if they alert each other to a new virus or malware, they can help prevent other companies from being hacked. But participation in the "information sharing and analysis organizations" that Mr. Obama is trying to promote will remain voluntary, the White House said, which means companies can choose whether or not to become involved. wsj.com

National Retail Federation Joins Retailers at White House Cybersecurity Summit
The National Retail Federation issued the following statement from President and CEO Matthew Shay on the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection held today at Stanford University. We commend the White House and President Obama for providing solution-based leadership around the significant threat posed by hackers and other cybercriminals. We are encouraged that the administration is pursuing a comprehensive approach and proposing the creation of new Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations, where companies can share information about cyber threats with the government and across sectors of the economy. nrf.com

The executive order is very much in line with what we are already doing to identify, classify and disseminate intelligence on actual and potential cyber threats to more than 150 of the best-known retail brands and companies, large and small. It is an acknowledgement that industries need more flexible and nimble information-sharing platforms to combat cyber threats in the future. nrf.com

Retail/Financial Services Cybersecurity Proposals Released
Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) CEO Tim Pawlenty and Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) President Sandy Kennedy, co-chairs of the Merchant Financial Services Cybersecurity Partnership, released new recommendations to protect the payments system at a presidential cybersecurity summit in California. The recommendations cover ways that companies can use technology to reduce data theft and the value of payment information if it's stolen or breached, as well as calling for more collaboration in the development of technology standards to safeguard the payments systems. The partnership's goals include fostering data sharing, proactively addressing emerging threats and sharing responsibility for protecting the payment's ecosystem.  progressivegrocer.com

Why New Cyber Agency Matters - Obama's new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center - Private Sector Benefits Without Direct Ties  A new federal cyberthreat intelligence center could help the government build more resilient networks and better identify cyber-attackers, leading to arrests and punishments, a former top Defense Department IT executive says. Raduege says he doesn't see the private sector working directly with CTIIC, but says it should benefit from the center's work. He explains that cyberthreat intelligence will be fed to CTIIC from other governmental cybersecurity organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, a 24x7 cyber-situational awareness, incident response and management center known as NCCIC (pronounced n-kick). NCCIC, which works with the private sector, will forward to CTIIC cyberthreat information from the business community. When CTIIC comes up with a plan to defend against or respond to attacks, it alerts the other centers, including NCCIC, to execute it. If private sector systems are threatened, NCCIC will work with affected businesses using the CTIIC plan. govinfosecurity.com

Visa moving to "tokenization" of credit card numbers by spring to reduce value of stolen cards  Payment card giant Visa will announce Friday at the White House Cybersecurity Summit here a move to make hacked credit card data far less valuable to hackers. Specifically, Visa CEO Charlie Scharf will take to the stage at Stanford University to announce the "tokenization" of credit card numbers for online transactions. The announcement is one of many the Obama administration expects private sector companies to make during the summit. Visa rival MasterCard is announcing a new $20 million investment in cybersecurity technology. Tokenization means replacing the real 16-digit payment card number used to complete transactions with a substitute number called a "token." A stolen credit card number can be used again and again until the account is closed. But if the token is stolen, transaction analytics can detect subsequent use and prevent a fraudulent payment.  politico.com

Visa, MasterCard to Roll Out New Cybersecurity Features - Facial Recognition & Biometrics Coming  Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. have unveiled plans to ramp up cybersecurity features for online transactions, amid growing concerns over credit-card theft. MasterCard, which plans to spend more than $20 million on the efforts, intends to roll out a pilot program later this year that will use a combination of biometrics, such as facial and voice recognition and fingerprint matching, to authenticate and verify transactions. The company said it would also launch a new product, MasterCard Safety Net, in the U.S. this spring to add an independent layer of security to monitor and block specific transactions based on selected criteria. wsj.com

Merchants footing the bill for data breaches incurred at banks - NRF & NACS inform Senate Banking Committee in joint letter  Contrary to what the banking community says, merchants pay the most for costs associated with data breaches at banks. Banks have been falsely claiming that they pay for everything associated with data breaches that happen at retail establishments, and have gone so far as to ask for legislation that would require merchants to pay the banks for costs associated with data breaches. The reality is that merchants not only pay for their own data breaches multiple times over, they also pay for the banks' data breaches. Therefore, the banks should actually be refunding money to merchants – not the other way around.  nacsonline.com

Retail sales fall more than forecast in January

GNC plans 125 new U.S. stores with 30 new GNC-Rite Aid store-within-a-store locations

Whole Foods to open 38 to 42 stores and refresh 200

Thirty-One Gifts cuts their LP Director and a number of other positions after seeing a 15% decline in sales

Laid-off RadioShack employees lose severance pay - 40 'key' employees to split $3M closing bonus 

Fuel Station Skimmers: Primed at the Pump

 

5 Ways to Achieve Insurmountable Goals  Everyone has goals that they want to accomplish, but what keeps us from actually achieving them? Often we get sidetracked and pulled away from achieving them, or maybe we're just too worried about what will happen if we fail. Here are some tips to help you get over the humps and make your goals happen. Jot a thought

Spread the Love in the Workplace
The month of February has become synonymous with love, but Valentines Day isn't the only time of the year to show your appreciation for your employees! Here are some year-round ideas you can use to show your employees you appreciate their hard work. Public recognition