@Risk

Last month, federal officials cracked down on West Coast shop owners who allegedly sell counterfeit merchandise.

In one of the largest federal enforcement actions ever taken against West Coast retailers suspected of selling counterfeit designer apparel and accessories, the authorities seized approximately $100 million worth of counterfeit merchandise and charged the owners, operators and employees of eight shops in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf district with a 25-count indictment.

According to a press release, the designer fakes, which were illegally imported from China, included clothing, handbags and wallets, jewelry and watches, scarves, sunglasses and shoes –all bearing the labels of more than 70 well-known designer brands. Among the brands were a number of US-based companies like Oakley, Dooney and Bourke, Nike, Coach and Kate Spade, and foreign designers such as Armani, Burberry, Prada and Louis Vuitton. Affidavits filed in connection with the case describe multiple instances where clerks at the targeted stores acknowledged to ICE undercover agents posing as customers that the merchandise they were buying was counterfeit. (more…)

Virtually all aspects of our society, business, and government are dependent our information infrastructure, and yet we, as a nation, are extraordinarily vulnerable to cyber threats, according to a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In A Human Capital Crisis in Cybersecurity, CSIS describes a few of the current problems, which seem to portend disastrous consequences if these very real threats are not addressed.

From the report: (more…)

Global supplies of tantalum are running low, and that could cause a steep spike in prices and significant disruptions in supply chains over the remainder of this year, according to an article from earlier this week in the International Business Times.

Tantalum –a rare earth metal that is used in a wide variety of products, ranging from bone implants and camera lenses to iPhones and laptop computers –is in short supply mostly because there aren’t many suppliers. A major tantalum mine located in Australia stopped production in 2008 when the price of most commodities collapsed, and production from other suppliers has not filled the void. (more…)

Following a decrease in market size of some $20.0 billion from 2007 – 2009, researchers from Analytiqa now predict that spending on logistics across North and South America could increase by approximately $106 billion through 2012, including an impressive 32 percent increase in logistics outsourcing expenditures.

Even so, the North and South American Logistics 2010 study, which sized logistics markets and evaluated outsourcing rates across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United States, found that 3PLs looking to capitalize on this enormous growth will have to overcome a few significant challenges, related mostly to flexibility and speed. (more…)

Corporate boards and senior executives are becoming increasingly disconnected from their organizations’ security and privacy decisions, according to new research from Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab.

That’s more than a little disheartening to hear, considering that cyber attacks are increasingly common and increasingly effective. In fact, Symantec now estimates that attacks like these cost businesses an average of $2 million per year. They cause loss to productivity, efficiency, revenue, and customer trust.

CyLab’s new research, which follows up on a 2008 study, included a survey of 66 business execs at the board or senior executive level from Fortune 1000 companies. Based on the data collected, CyLab was able to uncover several disturbing trends. For example: (more…)