News #1

Are Violent School Threats Escalating?

Between August 1 and December 31, 2014, 812 threats were made in or against schools across the U.S. Based on available data, the National School Safety and Security Services study concludes that threats are up 158 percent since the 2013-14 school year. Threats were reported in 46 states, and the top 10 states account for 55 percent of threats reported.

Electronic devices and social media apps are fueling the growth of these threats, the study says, especially as students adopt anonymity-based applications, which can create problems for investigators. Out of the 812 threats, 299 were sent electronically, and social media threats alone – such as those posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – account for 231 threats.

High schools received the majority of the threats (70 percent), while middle schools got 18 percent, and elementary schools got 10 percent. Six percent of the threats were leveled against entire school districts, requiring district-wide lock-downs, cancelations or sending students home early. Almost 30 percent of the threats involved schools being evacuated, and nearly 10 percent closed school for at least the day of the threat.

Police made at least 320 arrests for school threats during this period, and the majority of offenders were children ranging in age from 8 to 18, the study reports.

News #2

The average annualized cost of cybercrime (from a benchmark sample of U.S. organizations) was $15 million– representing nearly a 20-percent increaseyear over year and an 82 percent increasesince the Ponemon Institute’s Cost of Cyber Crime Study was created six years ago. The average time to resolve a cyber attack has increased by nearly 30 percentduring the same period; it now takes 46 days. The average cost to resolve a single attack totals more than $1.9 million.

News #3

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Chief Security Officers could see salary increases of up to seven percent in 2016, according to projections from Robert Half Technology’s 2016 Salary Guide. IT salaries, especially, appear to be on the rise – the average increase is marked at over five percent, and wireless network engineers will see nearly a 10 percent increasein starting pay.

News #4

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Techonology Directorate First Responders Group has released a mobile applicationthat provides step-by-step instructionson search plans for first responders and response teams in the event of a missing person incident. The app provides search guidance, protocols and strategiesused by search and rescue teams around the U.S.

News #5

International and mCommerce merchantswere hardest hit on fraud losses as a percentage of revenue, with 1.56 percent and 1.68 percent loss, respectively, according to the 2015 LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud study. In addition, the study found that in 2015, every $100 of fraud costs a merchant $223.