Data Management

Sterling, Va. - Neustar Inc., a provider of real-time information services and analytics, has entered a partnership with comScore Inc. that will give marketers a unified marketing solution incorporating comScore’s validated Campaign Essentials (vCE) ad validation metrics in its offering. The partnership builds on Neustar PlatformOne’s capabilities and partner ecosystem and enhances its ability to provide marketers with the visibility needed to measure and optimize digital campaigns.

San Jose and Menlo Park, Calif. – EBay and Facebook both reportedly experienced technical issues on Sept. 3. According to Fox Business, some EBay users were unable to gain entry to their accounts, while others reported their accounts had disappeared and their sales were no longer listed on the site.

San Francisco -- Costco Wholesale Corp. agreed to pay a $335,000 in penalties federal Clean Air Act violations, according to a settlement announced Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, the retailer will fix refrigerant leaks and make other improvements at 274 of its stores, which EPA estimates will cost about $2 million over the next three years.

Sterling, Va. - Neustar Inc, a provider of real-time information services and analytics, is releasing AK Media Insights Pro, a service that gives brands and agencies the ability to model and analyze their own media and audience data to uncover campaign insights that go beyond standard reports and dashboards.

Hingham, Mass. - Talbots has selected Mi9 BI, Mi9 Merchant, and Sales Audit solutions with loss prevention software products to replace its existing core merchandising and inventory management systems. Talbots needed technology to help streamline the merchandising process, including the re-classifying of product hierarchy and centrally managing inventory across all channels.

Wakefield, Mass. – In light of the recent announcement of the “Backoff” malware threatening the POS security of retailers, the PCI Council strongly encourages companies as a matter of urgency to consider the following recommendations:

1. Contact your provider of antivirus solutions and ensure you have the most recent and up to date version of antivirus software that will detect “Backoff” and other similar malware.

San Francisco – Icix, a provider of supply chain risk management technology, is expanding its Audit Manager suite. Audit Manager applications help companies automate and streamline their audit programs to provide more insight and verification of trading partners’ practices and facilities.

The Icix Audit Manager Suite now includes:

New York -- Poor data collection and linkage practices are leaving organizations unable to move forward with key business goals, according to a new study by Experian Data Quality, a part of Experian Marketing Services.

The report, “Finding insight through data collection and linkage,” finds that while most organizations are looking to leverage data better to drive consumer insight, they are hindered by a lack of reliable and consolidated data sources.

By Deena Coffman, IDT911 Consulting

Retailers working to improve their security posture have a new threat to consider: Backoff malware. Although its appearances have been traced back as early as October 2013, Backoff is still inflicting harm in the retail sector by actively targeting point-of-sale systems, and the United State is its favorite target, according to TrendMicro’s analysis.

Supervalu has suffered a data breach that may have resulted in theft of customer payment card data. The stolen information may include account numbers, and in some cases also the expiration date, other numerical information and/or the cardholder’s name.