Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud

When buying at e-auctions, sellers are increasingly motivated to sell surpluses and even regular products via auctions. In some cases, e-auctions provide an opportunity to buyers to find inexpensively or unique item fairly quickly. A prudent corporate buyer should certainly look both at those manufacturers and distributors that conduct auctions periodically (e.g. GM or Dell) and at third party auctioneers (e.g. eBay or auctions.yahoo.com)

E-auctions have several limitations, including Possibility of fraud. Auction items are in many cases unique, used, or antique. Because buyers cannot see the item, they may get a defective product. Buyers can also commit fraud. Thus, the fraud rate in e-auctions is very high.

There are several types of e-auction fraud:

• Bid shielding (a buyer’s action) - Having phantom bidders bid at a very high price when an auction begins; they pull out at the last minute, and the bidder who bid a much lower price wins.
• Loss and damage claims (a buyer’s action) - Buyers claim they never received an item or received it in damaged condition and then ask for a refund. They might be trying to get a freebie. The seller sometimes cannot prove whether the item ever arrived or whether it was in perfect condition when shipped.
• Fake photos and misleading descriptions - In reaching for bidders’ attention, some sellers distort what they can truly sell. Borrowed images, ambiguous descriptions, and falsified facts are some of the tactics that sellers might employ to convey a false impression of the item.
• High shipping costs and handling fees - Some sellers just want to get a little more cash out of bidders. Postage and handling rates vary from seller to seller. Some charge extra to cover “handling” costs and other overhead intangibles, whereas others charge to cover the cost of packaging supplies, even though such supplies are often available for free.
• Selling reproductions - A seller sells something that the seller claims is original, but it turns out to be a reproduction.

The largest Internet auctioneer, eBay, has introduced several measures in an effort to reduce fraud which is:

• User identity verification - Verified eBay User, a voluntary program, encourages users to supply eBay with information for online verification. By offering their Social Security number, driver’s license number, and date of birth, users can qualify for the highest level of verification on eBay.
• Feedback Forum - The eBay Feedback Forum allows registered buyers and sellers to build up their online trading reputations. It provides users with the ability to comment on their experiences with other individuals.
• Insurance policy - eBay offers insurance underwritten by Lloyd’s of London. Users are covered up to $200, with a $25 deductible. The program is provided at no cost to eBay users.
• Nonpayment punishment - eBay implemented a policy against those who do not honor their winning bids. To help protect sellers, first-time nonpayment results in a friendly warning. A sterner warning is issued for a second-time offense, a 30-day suspension for a third offense, and indefinite suspension for a fourth offense.
• Authentication services - It is to determine whether an item is genuine and described appropriately. It difficult to perform because their training and experience, experts can detect counterfeits based on subtle detail.

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication toll for Companies

Corporate blogging is another communications and marketing channel. However, unlike a press release, advertisement in a magazine or a listing in the Yellow Pages, corporate blogs are two-way communications It is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals.

Benefits of Corporate Blogging

1) Build rapport with customers. If you publish a corporate blog, you’re giving your customers a channel to interact and get to know your brand and organisation in a format that they’re familiar and comfortable with.

2) Free feedback and suggestions from key constituents. Corporate blogging gives you insights to what people are saying about your products, your brand, your competitors, your marketing from the comfort of your office chair.

3) Position your business as a thought leader. One of the most effective marketing strategies is to show instead of telling. You can use your corporate blog to take advantage of this strategy by demonstrating your expertise and experience in your industry through commentary, guides, analysis, etc. The quality of your blog content reflects the quality of your organisation.

Corporate blogs are a new, powerful marketing communications tool for any organisation. It doesn’t matter what kind of organisation you are: small or large, SMEs or corporates, for-profit or non profit—done correctly, corporate blogging can give you a massive Return On Blog.

Corporate blog examples:

• Kid Chan Studio Blog - A good example of a corporate blog from a Malaysian company.

• Exabytes Blog - Another Malaysian blog, the Exabytes Blog does a good job of humanising a ‘virtual’ company and notifying readers of special offers.

• English Cut - Thomas Mahon isn’t nearly as big as Sun or Google, but his blog has made him a very successful small business. He tailors Prince Charles’ suits!
  

Information above are obtained and refined from:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog

• http://buzzmedia.com.my/blog/08/corporate-blogging-breakdown-what-it-and-why-does-my-organisation-need-it

Review A Local E-Commerce Site

The local e-commerce site that i choose to review is a local florist shop, Blooming Florist. The site provides quality flowers and quality services to its customers.

The services includes :

• Floral Fresh Cut Flowers For All Occasions


• Specialises in Roses, Tulips, Gerberas, Lilies & Heliconias


• Flowers & Fruits, Fruit Baskets, Hampers, Gifts, Cakes and Candies
  

The catalogs of the products are included with a rough description of the product, picture of the product and the price of the product.

The orders could be made via the website or through their retail outlet or even through fax. The form for ordering through fax is available for download at: http://www.blooming.com.my/blooming/blooming_order_form.pdf

The website also allow various type of payment method which could be one of the advantage compared to the competitors. The payment methods that are provided are :

1. Online Credit Card Payment
   VISA or Mastercard
   AMEX, Diners Club, JCB


2. Online Banking:
   Maybank2u.com
   RHB e-Banking
   Hong Leong e-Payment
   FPX(HLB, BCB, Bank Islam, PB)
   PosPay


3. Mobile Payment - Mobile-Money.com


4. Pay using Kawanku ATM


5. Open Bill Payment
   Maybank2u.com
   RHB e-Banking
   Hong Leong e-Payment
   Public Bank


6. Cash Payment-Pay cash at Blooming's Outlets
   Mid Valley Megamall 03-2282 0300, Jalan Sultan 03-7958 7558, Kelana Business Centre 03-7803 3333, Lucky Garden, Bangsar 03-2096 1833

The website is also being protected by VeriSign.

This would certainly increased the security and the confidence of customers toward the security system of the website. All the features above will help a lot in improving the business.

All information above are obtained from http://www.blooming.com.my/blooming/index.jsp

E-Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen’s adoption strategies.

E-government is a general term describing the use of technologies to facilitate the operation of government and the disbursement of government information and services. E-government is an abbreviation of the phrase electronic government. E-government deals heavily with Internet applications to aid in governments, but also covers a number of non-Internet concerns.

The Electronic Government initiative was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. It will improve how the government operates internally, as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses. At the same time, it will improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement

The implementation status of e-government project in Malaysia:

• Project Monitoring System (SPP II)


• Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)


• Generic Office Environment (GOE)


• Electronic Procurement (EP)


• Electronic Services (E-Services)
  
• Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)


• E-Syariah

The current applications of e-government in Malaysia such as:

• Government’s drive for e-government services


• Electronic Labour Exchange (http://www.elx.gov.my/) has matched 75,000 potential employees with employers since 2005.


• SMS alert on e-government services


• Online renewal of driving licenses


• Electronic filing of income tax forms


• Voter information


• Details for government tenders
  
• Employment opportunities
  

Problems faced in e-government implementation:

• Lack of public awareness – 60% of the public are not aware of the services offered. Solution: Increase awareness through TV advertisements and organizing workshops at shopping malls.


• Online Behaviour - Malaysians remain sceptical on being distrust on electronic transaction especially on banking online and buying from an Internet store.


• Language barrier – Most of the government websites had in the past been in Bahasa Malaysia. However, there are English versions now. But still have many citizen are not proficient in english languages, so they are lack of language to access the e-government applications.
  

Ways to encourage more citizens to use the e-government applications:

• The government needs provide websites with multiple language version such as chinese, malay,india and so on. For these purpose, it allow citizen can select the language they want and also make more convenient for them to read and understand it.


• Next, increase awareness through TV and radio advertisements, and organising workshops at shopping malls.


• Provide consultation services on how to use those services. It is provided who is lack of knowleged for using computer to access e-government.


• The government needs marketing expertise to better promote awareness, encouragement and dissemination of information on the benefits that can be obtained by using e-government

As a conclusion, the main challenge in e-government in Malaysia is the technological challenge, which includes issues like standards, data integration, legacy maintenance and privacy and security. The key priority in Malaysia now is to improve the core government application and integrating more service across agencies.

Electronic Currency

Electronic money (also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency) refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically. Typically, this involves use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit are examples of electronic money. Also, it is a collective term for financial cryptography and technologies enabling it.

Advantages and disadvantages of electronic money

Advantages.

• Issuer advantages:Electronic currency works in a much simpler and cheaper way,which makes it ideal for micro-payments and thus much more attractive for credit companies. The low cost of electronic currency is that it does not require the huge amount of expensive infrastructure that other systems do, in particular credit cards,because the value in a card can be transferred into a reader without need to contact a network facility to corroborate the payment, the transaction can be performed locally and the money will stay in the reader until later download.

• Consumer convenience: Electronic currency could prove very convenient for consumers. Because it involves advanced charge of money from the owner’s bank account, almost anybody can be supplied with a smart card, as there is no risk to the issuer. Consumers will also find it useful to have to do without carrying cash for small transactions, such as bus fares.

• Increased consumer confidence: Because a smart card only holds the amount of money that the bearer has placed on it, consumers will be more willing to use it to purchase over the Internet without fear of somebody else misusing the payment information, as happens with credit card fraud. Some of the schemes are also being issued with a built in locking code, which will allow users to lock the cash on a card, making sure that if the card gets lost or stolen another person will not be able to use the money.

• Payer anonymity: The payer can remain anonymous, as is the case with paying in cash.

Disadvantages.

Although the potential advantages for electronic money are considerable, there are still several problems that should provide a healthy dose of skepticism for this payment system.

• Consumer confusion: With three schemes competing to become the electronic currency standard, there is a real possibility of the whole system becoming too complicated for users. One of the main problems with too many schemes would be that the user may not be able to use the card everywhere, which is what would be expected of a system that is meant to replace physical currency.

• Regulatory maze: The regulation for electronic currency is still unclear in some vital points, which must be answered before the system is made more widely available.

• Security: The main concern that must exist in the minds of those interested in the implementation of electronic cash must be security. As happens with physical cash, widespread counterfeiting of electronic currency could have huge implications for the economy.

Information above are obtained and refined from:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cash

• http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/2255/1/electronicmoney.pdf

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: Its Potentials and Consumer Adoption Strategies

Humans are born creative. With rapid improvement in technology and communication systems, humans created a new way of performing sale and purchase process. The new way is known as mobile payment. Mobile Payment is where consumers could make payment through thier mobile phones. In Malaysia, Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd is providing this service.

Mobile Money have the potential to grow as it works almost the same as the ATM cards but with no cash involved. In the view of security, consumers are protected by the PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution where consumers are required to enter a 6-digit pin to confirm transactions through their mobile phones.

Mobile Money also reduce the problem of consumers having to que for long hours to make a payment such as telephone bills and electricity bills. With Mobile Money, payments of the bills can be done anywhere and anytime with just a single SMS made through the mobile phone. Consumers are also provided a Refund and Reversal Feature where consumers are allowed to do reversal (within same business day) and refund (within 10 days from transaction date). This is to ensure that the consumers are protected if the are any wrong in making a transactions.

Consumers are also adopting the mobile payment system. In Malaysia, consumers frequently use the system to pay for donations. Payment for ringtones and wallpapers are also a common transaction seen in the mobile payment system. For advanced consumers, they use the mobile payment system to pay credit card debts, electricity bills, telephone bills and even summons.

With this, I could predict that soon all transcations will be changed to mobile transactions as it is more convinient. For more details on the mobile payment system, kindly visit the Mobile Money website by clicking the image below:

All information above are adopted from www.mobile-money.com

The application prepaid cash card for consumer

With a debit card, the money for a purchased item comes directly out of the holder’s checking account (called demand deposit account). The actual transfer of funds from the holder’s account to the merchant’s takes place within 1 to 2 days. Master card, Visa, and EuroPay are the predominant debit cards.

Traditional debit cards are associated with bank checking accounts held by bankable people Visa/ MasterCard and member banks cannot issue normal debit cards to “Un-banked” people without checking accounts.

In the recent years, the “Prepaid Debit Cards” came into existence and popularity. The biggest distinction with “Prepaid Debit Cards” is that no checks are associated with Prepaid Debit Card accounts.

Prepaid Debit Cards are much safer for the banks to issue because:

• All transactions for these new debit cards are authorized online against account balances
• There are no “Floats” from written checks that can cause overdrafts

One of the examples of prepaid debit card is Visa card. Visa card is a stored value card designed to handle small purchases or micropayments. This chip-based card can be used in the physical (off-line) world or on the internet. When a purchase is made, the cost of the purchase is deducted from the cash loaded on the card. Visa Cash can be used only at vendors having special terminals displaying the visa cash logo.

The prepaid debit card applications are:

• General Spending Debit Card
• Payroll and commission payout Card
• Remittance - Funds Transfer within and across borders
• Affinity Group Card
• Travel Card
• Student Card
• Gift CardElectronic Benefits Payment Card – Government benefits

Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit card is represented an account that extends to consumer, allowing consumers to purchase items while deferring payment, and allow consumer to make payment to multiple vendors at the same time. Holders are charged high interest on unpaid balance. For example, visa or master card.

Credit card debt is like gaining weight - easy to get; hard to lose. But losing weight is not impossible; neither is getting out of debt. In the same way that you can shed those extra pounds, you can get yourself out from underneath all that debt and avoid bankruptcy. It takes hard work, discipline, and getting the right kind of help. Credit card debts occur when he or she unable to pay that money they have been spent. The consumer did not settle the bill on time, it will charge as late payment and cause credit card debts increasing.



Causes of Credit Card Debts:

1)Unlimited spending

Poor for manage the money or unavoidable spending money will cause the larger debts. Especially, it is happening for woman. The woman who likes to spend at the fashion such as buy new branded shoes, handbag and shirt. At the ended of the month, they only realized that they spend more than their budget. The sum that accumulated month by month due to payment due and interest has been charged. There must be a proper spending plan to avoid over budget and money gone.

2) Saving too little or not at all

The simplest way to avoid unwanted debt is to prepare for unexpected expenditures by saving three to six months of living expenses. With a savings cushion in place, a job layoff, illness or divorce will not cause immediate financial strain and increase debt. You always hear, "Pay yourself first." Do it and it will grow and be there when you need it. No one has ever regretted having a savings cushion.

3) No money communication skills

It is important to communicate with your spouse or significant other and your children about finances. Keep the lines of communication open and discuss financial goals and spending styles. If you are married to a spender and you are a saver, you will want to map out a strategy for you both to get what you want. Know what credit accounts you each have and promise each other to be honest about what each other spends. Many people find out that their spouses have racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt and they had no idea that the accounts even existed. This often leads to number 2 above.

4)Medical expenses

Gaps in coverage, lapsed policies and increasingly costly alternatives make this a popular category. Just about every doctor I know now takes credit cards. If you think it's for convenience, think again. The medical industry wants to get paid at the time service is rendered. They know that if they don't, the chances of their getting paid drops. This means more debt for you, less for them. To be fair, they are not in the lending business, but this only masks a bigger problem

Prevention of Credit Card Debts:

1)Think before you act

To avoid falling into that trap, take a hard look at your finances and determine how much you can realistically afford to pay each month. Rhode suggests that people track their spending every day for a month to get a firm handle on where their money is actually going.
"People will save 20 percent just writing down where their money goes," he says. "Because they will start cutting back."
After tracking their spending, people can better decide how much they can afford to pay toward credit card debt. Experts point out that just $50 more a month can make a big difference.
If logging expenses for a month doesn't turn up additional money try these tips for saving $50 a month from Consumer Credit Counseling Service:

· Brown bag 10 lunches per month.
· Have movies and popcorn at home instead of going out.
· Use coupons for groceries and buy store brands.
· Make pizza at home instead of ordering out.
· Buy in bulk and freeze dinner entrees.
· Give handmade cards and gifts.
· Shop at consignment, thrift and discount stores.

2)Pay more than the minimum

Once you start paying more than the minimum, the debts start to disappear. Paying just the $60 minimum payment on a $3,000 credit card balance would take eight years to pay off and cost a person a whopping $2,780 in interest. By paying an additional $50 a month, the debt would be paid off in three years and they would be spared $1,800 in interest charges. Use Bankrate.com's credit card minimum payment calculator to see how increasing your payments will cut your time in debt.

3)Cancel Credit Card
Many people have been close their credit card account when they are awared that they are unable to pay anymore. They are just stick to one credit card rather than 2 or 3 credit cards. The reason is they do not want to be debtors that owing money to the financial institutions.

4)credit counseling and debt management agency

Bank Negara Malaysia (National Bank of Malaysia) has establish the Credit Counseling and Debt Management Agencyto provide counseling and advice on financial management, debts management programs and financial education for free of charge such as:-

• Financial education on the responsible use of credit and basic money management skills
  
• Counselling and advice on financial management, including financial budgeting to manage expenses
  
• Debt management programme to assist financial consumers to regain financial control

As a conclusion, i hope that all people realise what is the way to prevent card credit debt in order to avoid such debt occur.

The Application of Third Party Certification Programme In Malaysia : TRUSTGATE

TRUSTGATE is a licensed Certification Authority (CA) in Malaysia since 1999. They offer complete security solutions and leading trust services that are needed by individuals, enterprises, government, and e-commerce service providers using digital certificates, digital signatures, encryption and decryption.

One of the services provided by the company is SSL Certificate for Internet, Intranet and Server Security where the server of your business will be secured by the programme. The increasing phishing and spoofing attacks on the internet makes customers wants to make sure they are dealing with trusted parties when they are dealing business online and ensure that their information traveled over the Internet reaches the intended recipients and is safe from intruders.

There are seven reasons why to choose this service provided by the company:

1. Authentication: An SSL certificate securely authenticates your web site to your customers - they can be confident that the site they are dealing with is genuine and not a forged or "spoof" site. MSC Trustgate authentication procedures are recognized as the most thorough in the industry. A VeriSign certificate gives confidence that your web site, intranet, or extranet is one that can be trusted.
   
2. Encryption: When a Digital Certificate is correctly installed on your web server, your customers can communicate with your website over an encrypted HTTPS connection - all data (such as credit card details) sent to or from your customers will be secured against interception or eavesdropping. Seeing HTTPS in the URL reassures your clients that they can deal safely with your site.
   
3. High Grade Security: Choose a VeriSign Global Certificate, and you'll receive 128bit SSL encryption - the strongest grade of encryption available. Compare features of our Global and Secure certificates.
   
4. One Year or Two: Our SSL comes with a choice of one or two year validity periods. Two year certificates bring significant cost savings and means fewer certificate renewals.
   
5. Local Support: MSC Trustgate, affiliate of VeriSign in Southeast Asia, prides itself on the quality of our local based support that we offer on our certificates. Get the help you need to enroll, install, use and renew your certificates.


6. VeriSign Secured Seal: Included with your digital certificate is the VeriSign Secured Seal the Web's most recognized trust mark. The seal allows your customers to quickly and easily verify your site's credentials and that their personal data is secure.
   
7. Protection Plan: For your peace of mind a warranty cover of up to RM 400,000 is included with every SSL Certificate. This protects you should you experience any economic loss resulting from corruption, identity theft, or loss of use of your web server certificate.

The services are also divided into:

• Global Server ID that adopts today's strongest encryption commercially available for secure communications via Server Gated Cryptography (SGC) technology. GSID authenticates your web sites and enables 128- or 256-bit encryption to secure communications and transactions between the site and its visitors.

AND

• Secure Server ID which is Secure Site SSL Certificates protect the transfer of sensitive data on Web sites, intranets, and extranets using a minimum of 40-bit and up to 256-bit encryption. It includes the VeriSign Secured Seal.

By having this security in your business website, customers would be more confident in dealing business with you and they will feel more secured. Thus, this increases the success of your business one step further.

All information above are obtained from:

Phishing:Examples and Prevention Method

In computing, phishing is the act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has.

EXAMPLE:

In the year 2003 the users received e-mails supposedly from eBay claiming that the user’s account was about to be suspended unless he clicked on the provided link and updated the credit card information that the genuine eBay already had. Because it is relatively simple to make a Web site look like a legitimate organizations site by mimicking the HTML code, the scam counted on people being tricked into thinking they were actually being contacted by eBay and were subsequently going to eBay’s site to update their account information. By spamming large groups of people, the “phisher” counted on the e-mail being read by a percentage of people who actually had listed credit card numbers with eBay legitimately.

Prevention Methods:

Downloads

• Establish a download policy for your household or workplace. This is especially important if young people share the computer as game and file sharing sites are major sources of spyware.
• Banish peer-to-peer file sharing completely. Or, if that will cause a revolution in your household, banish it to a non-networked, standalone computer which contains no financial or other personal information. Do not use this computer to access financial Web sites or other sites which require a log-in or store account details. Treat this computer as a pariah.
• Before downloading, read the software licence (EULA) in its entirety.

Email

• Never click links in spam.
• Never buy spam-advertised products.
• Never click links to financial institutions or log-in sites; instead, open your browser manually and type the address in directly, or use a previously saved bookmark for the site.
• Establish a Web-based email account and use it for all non-critical email. Do not download this mail to your local machine, view it online.
• Never open attachments from unknown sources.
• Scan attachments from known sources for viruses before you open them.

Browsers

• Always read links and dialog boxes carefully before you click online.
• Never click the Close or Cancel link in a pop-up. Often these links are coded to install spyware.
• Close pop-ups using the X in the top right-hand corner, or click the window's title-bar and press Alt+F4.
• If a pop-up has no apparent way to close it, use Ctrl+Alt+Del to terminate your browser. If you're using Internet Explorer, this will have the unfortunate side effect of restarting the Windows Explorer as well (another reason for not using Explorer).
• Watch how questions are phrased online. Frequently, they are phrased in a way which makes it hard to work out how to avoid signing up for something, or a series of No, No, No responses will precede a question which requires a Yes to avoid accidental sign up.
• Set your browser to kill pop-ups. Most browsers display a notice when they block a pop-up, so you can always allow a specific pop-up if it's on a trusted site.
• Check for updates to your browser each week.
• Regularly check security settings of your browser, to ensure they have not been changed. For example, check that IE's Trusted Sites list contains only those sites you have added.
• Look for the https:// prefix (note the 's' on the end) in the Web address, indicating a secure site, before entering sensitive information online.
• Watch for subtle changes in the way a site appears. If it doesn't look right, close your browser.
• Patch all browsers on your system, not just the one you use as the default. One recent attack used a flaw in Firefox's Java plug-in to worm its way into Internet Explorer and from there to launch pop-ups. Remember that Internet Explorer is integrated into Windows in all sorts of ways, so you must patch it even if you don't use it. IE is used by Messenger, Outlook Express, Digital Imaging Studio and many other programs even if you have chosen another browser as your default.
• Use Microsoft Update to keep Windows patched.

Information above are obtained and refined from:

• http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/p/phishing.htm
• http://www.wikipedia.com/
• http://www.geekgirls.com/security_spyware_prevention.htm
  

How to safeguard our personal and financial data...

Computer and network security attacks are on the rise. Data collected by the computer security institute (CSI), the FBI, and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) indicate that the number of security incidents has skyrocketed since 1998, that the overwhelming majority of firms have experienced computer security breaches from inside and outside the organisation, that the financial losses from these breaches have been substantial, and that it takes a concerted effort to guard against cyber attack. So we have to know how to safeguard our financial and personal data.

First, we need to concern with a variety of security issues:
1) Authorization – The process that ensures that person has the right to access certain recourses.
2) Auditing – The process of collecting information about attempts to access particular resources, use particular privileges, or perform other security actions.
3) Confidentiality – Keeping private or sensitive information from being disclosed to unauthorized individuals, entities, or processes.
4) Integrity – As applied to data, the ability to protect data from being altered or destroyed in an unauthorized or accidental manner.
5) Nonrepudiation – The ability to limit parties from refuting that a legitimate transaction took place, usually by means of a signature.

Several technologies exist that ensure that an organisation’s network boundaries are secure from cyber attack or intrusion and that if the organisation’s boundaries are compromised that the intrusion is detected:
1) Firewall – A network node consisting of both hardware and software that isolates a private network from a public network. Firewall that filter data and requests moving from the public Internet to a private network based on the network addresses of the computer sending or receiving the request. These firewall called Packet-filtering Routers.
2) Personal firewall – A network node designed to protect an individual user’s desktop system from the public network by monitoring all the traffic that passes through the computer’s network interface card.
3) Virtual Private Network – A network that uses the public internet to carry information but remains private by using encryption to scramble the communication, authentication to ensure that information has not been tampered with, and access control to verify the identity of anyone using the network.
4) Intrusion detection systems – A special category of software that can monitor activity across a network or on a host computer, watch for suspicious activity, and take automated action based on what it sees.

The threat of online security: how safe is our data?

Nowadays, the technology became more and more advance. There are many type of online security to secure our information and data. On the other hand, there are also several of online threat to attack our personal computer, data, and access our system without authorization and permission.

Threat to attack online security:

• A hacker is a person who creates and modifies computer software and hardware, including computer programming, administration, and security-related items. This can be done for either negative or positive reasons. Criminal hackers create malware in order to commit crimes. A virus is a computer program file capable of attaching to disks or other files and replicating itself repeatedly, typically without user knowledge or permission. For example, Hackers broke into the systems of an Ohio hospital. To obtain Personal data of 230,000 patients and their family members plus the financial information of 12,000 donors. It happened when the hospital was upgrading its systems.
  


• Trojan horse is a destructive program that can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on your system. Trojans are also known to create a back door on your computer that gives malicious users access to your system, possibly allowing confidential or personal information to be compromised. Trojans are not same with the virus or worms; they do not copy themselves to other files.
  


• Denial-of-Service (Dos) which is an attack on a web site in which an attacker uses specialized software to send a flood of data packets to the target computer with the aim of overloading its resources. Many attackers rely on software created by other hackers and made available over the internet other than developing it themselves.
  


• web server and web page can be hijacked and configured to control or redirect unsuspecting to scam or phishing sites.
  


• Click fraud occurs when an individual or computer program fraudulently clicks on an online ad without any intention of learning more about the advertiser or making a purchase. Click fraud has became a serious problem at google and other website that feature pay-per-click online advertising.
  


• Worm is a software program that runs independently and consuming the resources of its hosts in orders to maintain itself and capable of propagating a complete working version of itself onto another machine. Therefore, the macro virus or macro worm is a virus or worm that is executed when the application object that contains the macro is opened or a particular procedure is executed
  
  Safeguard for our data
  


• Anti-virus software scans a computer's memory and disk drives for viruses. If it finds a virus, the application informs the user and may clean, delete, or quarantine any files, directories, or disks affected by the malicious code. For example, AVG antivirus
  


• Encryption is the scrambling of data so that it becomes difficult to unscramble and interpret.
  


• A firewall prevents computers on a network from communicating directly with external computer systems. A firewall typically consists of a computer that acts as a barrier through which all information passing between the networks and the external systems must travel. The firewall software analyzes information passing between the two and rejects it if it does not conform to pre-configured rules.

On the other hand, not only these three safeguard, actually is more than that. By the way, there is several way of online security to make sure be safe.

• Trust only yourself, or only do business with the company you know and trust.
  


• Only use your credit card number on internet sites that have a secure, encrypted system.
  


• Once you think something is wrong, leave it immediately, do not follow any of the instructions it present.
  

The history and evolution of E-commerce

Electronic commerce (EC) is the process of buying, selling, transferring, or exchanging products, services, and/or information via computer networks, including the Internet. In the late 1970s electronic commerce was meant to facilitate of commercial transactions electronically using technology such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) which helps to extend interbusiness transactions from financial institutions to other types of business and also provides transactions and information exchanges from suppliers to the end customers. Besides that, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) was also being introduces allowing organizations to transfer funds between one another electronically. Both EDI and EFT was introduced to allow businesses to send commercial documents such as purchase orders or invoices electronically. In the 1980s, the growth and acceptance of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking are also a form of electronic commerce. From the 1990s onwards, electronic commerce includes enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing.

According to Schneider and Turban, with the progress of Internet technology and a highly developed global Internet community, a strong foundation of prosperous electronic commerce continues to be built. During the 1990s, the Internet was opened for commercial use; it was also the period that users started to participate in World Wide Web (WWW), and the phenomenon of rapid personal computer (PCs) usage growth. Due to the rapid expansion of the WWW network; e-commerce software; and the peer business competitions, large number of dot-coms and Internet Starts-ups appeared. Integrated with the commercialization of the Internet, Web invention, and PC networks these three important factors made electronic commerce possible and successful.

TIME LINES:

• 1990: The first web browser WorldWideWeb (www) was wrote by Tim Berners-Lee , using a NeXT computer.
• 1992: J.H. Snider and Terra Ziporyn published Future Shop: How New Technologies Will Change the Way We Shop and What We Buy. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312063598.
• 1994: The Navigator browser with the code name Mozilla was released by Netscape in October. Pizza ordering was offered by pizzahut on its Web page. The first online bank opened. Attempts to offer flower delivery and magazine subscriptions online. Adult materials were also commercially available, as were cars and bikes. Netscape 1.0 in late 1994 introduced SSL encryption that made transactions secure.
• 1995:Amazon.com was launched by Jeff Bezos and the first commercial-free 24 hour, internet-only radio stations, Radio HK and NetRadio started broadcasting. Dell and Cisco began to aggressively use Internet for commercial transactions. eBay was founded by computer programmer Pierre Omidyar as AuctionWeb.
• 1998: Electronic postal stamps can be purchased and downloaded for printing from the Web.
• 1999: business.com was sold for US $7.5 million, which was purchased in 1997 for US $150,000. The peer-to-peer filesharing software Napster was launched.
• 2000: The dot-com bust.
• 2003: Amazon.com had its first year with a full year of profit.

Information above are adopted and refined from:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce

• M/Cyclopedia of New Media

An example of an e-commerce failure & its causes

One of an example of an e-commerce failure is Webvan. Webvan was an online grocery retailer. In the quest to become the number one online grocer, Webvan managed their way through a tangled web of operational changes. Webvan is an interesting failure, it was started in 1999 by Louis Borders, founding partner of Borders Books. The company spent an extraordinary amount of money during its short tenure as the largest and most promising pure play e-grocer.

The reasons for failure of Webvan are because Webvan invested in technology and an infrastructure that was too expensive for low margin products. Webvan’s founder, Louis Borders, had experience with larger margin products, where profits are not solely dependent on volume. Webvan expected a high adoption rate to their e-grocer business, however, people were skeptical about the lack of control over the quality of the product. Thus, the lack of volume in grocery sales was the prime contributor to the lack of debt repayment. With regard to technology, Webvan did not rely on the experience of others. Neither did they have any experience in the grocery market.

Besides, the poor to connect with their customers also may cause their business failed. They want to satisfy the customer so they tried to deliver the groceries in 30 minutes. Although it is a good service but some of the customers would like their groceries to be delivered at night because they were working at day time. Moreover, the deliveries will sometimes be late and the customer was not at home when the van was there.

Thus, on 9 July 2001, Webvan went bankrupt and began its liquidation.

E-commerce Success : eBay

The company that we think is very successful in e-commerce is the eBay Inc. which is the owner of eBay.com. eBay.com is an American Internet company that provides the function of online auction and shopping. The website has also established localized websites in a total of total over countries including Malaysia.
The reason that contributes the success of the company is that eBay provides a variety of goods from all over the world to be sold online. However, users are required to be registered first as a user of eBay.com before proceeding in any transactions. Goods are being sold including antiques as long as it does not violate the eBay Prohibited and Restricted item policy. Items would be sold in either the auction method or the fixed price method. In the auction method, the starting price and minimum bid will be set by the seller and the buyer that quote the highest price will get the goods. In the fixed price method, the item would have a price where buyers who agree to that price will get the goods. eBay always update its website where currently gifts for Father's Day are being auctioned.


Some purchases in eBay are made through the usage of the eBay payment system, PayPal. This made the company earn more as eBay owns the payment system and with every transactions made in eBay, fees are being paid to both eBay and PayPal.

Currently, more and more people from all over the world are using internet to sell or purchase items which they desires. This is because shops online would not close and operates 24 hours a day for the whole year round. Therefore, by having a website (eBay.com) that provide this function would certainly make eBay Inc a successful e-commerce company in present as well as in the future.

You can visit the website yourself in:

• http://www.ebay.com.my/
• https://www.paypal.com/

Information above are adopted and refined from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay

Discuss how E-Commerce can reduce cycle time, improve employees' empowerment and facilitate customer support

Reduce the cycle time
Nowadays e-commerce became most commonly for seller and buyer for doing business transaction. One of the ways to reduce the cycle time is going through by e-commerce. Cycle time is the total time from the beginning to end of processing between customer making an order and obtaining the goods. The purpose of e-commerce is reduced the cycle time because it can avoid spending too much processing time and labor hour, very convenient to conduct business. For example, e-banking can help student paid UTAR student’s bill without queue up in the internet. Besides that, e-commerce can also reduce sales transaction through the internet without face to face meet the customer. For these purpose, the e-commerce system can carry out the transaction effectively and save time.

Improve employees’ empowerment
E-commerce can empower employee by using the decentralization authority to make own decision rather than using the centralization authority. These methods can let the employee perform their work better, free to make own decision, able to share the knowledge with the other collogue by using the internet technology. For example, empowered salespeople and customer service employees are given the authority to make customer satisfied with their products and services and this helps to increase customer loyalty. On the other hand, empowerment employment can allow the employee provide their feedback by setting up the forum to chat with subordinate.

Facilitate customer support
For the facilitate customer support, e-commerce can provide customer service which is Frequently Ask Question (FAQ) to get the customers' understanding. Besides that, it can try to improve their quality of service by getting customer comment. The customer can go through the company website to place order they want. And it also can let customer customize their own product in that website such as nike.com and jaguar.com. for this purpose, it lead to customer is more satisfaction about their product when product is placed order.

My First time blog

Moshi moshi (Hello), everybody! My name is TAN KOK SIEW, I’m stay in Kuantan, Pahang. Now I’m studying in University Tunku Abdul Rahman as a full time student in Year 3 Semester 1 of Bachelor in Commerce (HONS) Accounting. And also I’m the student group 14. This is my first time writing the blog so that I felt happy that I have chance write the blog for e-commerce assignment. Based on e-commerce assignment, I would like to introduce myself as well as my hobbies. My first hobby is watching Hong Kong TVB series drama such as catch me now and forensic hero 2. So that it can help me spending my free time. Next, I also like play video game such as final fantasy 8 with my friend so that it can let me felt happiness and enjoyable.

The top five website that I always visit are as below:

• http://www.friendster.com/
• http://wble.utar.edu.my/
• http://www.tvb.com/
• http://www.baidu.com/
• http://www.google.com/

First of all, I access the friendster.com website which can look for a lot of new friends, updated photo, new messages, new comments and so forth. Next, wble website that can easy for UTAR student to login and downloading the lecture note, tutorial and other material relevant to subject. For the tvb.com, I can search for new Hong Kong drama and download it as well as artist’s news. For baidu.com, the website can help me search and listen the MP3 music. There also can download the updated new song that I like. Lastly, google.com website which can help me search a lot of information for the purpose of assignment in order to help me to complete the assignment.

My top five internet activities are:

• downloading the drama song
• look for new friend
• chatting with friend
• for assignment purpose
• listening MP3 muisc

Hello~~

Hello~,my name is Teoh Wei Ping,i'm from Sitiawan,Perak which is a small but a nice town.Currently.I'm a Year 3 Sem 1 student of Degree of Commerce (HONS) Acoounting in University Tunku Abdul Rahman.
For the time being,my hobbies are to surf the internet,blogging ,shopping and to sleep.Basically,there's no one fixed hobby for me,it changes from time to time.When i found something new and exciting,it will probably become my hobby.

The top five website that I always visit are as below:

• http://www.friendster.com/
• http://www.xuanjing1213.blogspot.com/
• http://blog.sina.com.cn/musiq
• http://www.sinchew.com.my/
• http://www.google.com/

I visit friendster to keep in touch with my friend from my hometown,secondary school and college.By visiting this website,I can know the current conditions of my friend by sending or replying messages to them or when they upload pictures,posted new shoutout and even by reading their testimonials which other people commenting on them.
The second webbie is my friend's web log,i like to visit her blog merely because her blog are interesting and by reading her blog i can those funny and interesting things that happen in her everyday life.
The third website is my idol's blog,he is the vocal of a band call Mayday,as a fans of the band i like to read his blog just to get a peek on what my idol is doing currently.^^
The fourth website is our local newspaper website,to know the current issue in our country and even international news,i can get the most updated news from there,instead of having to buy newspaper,this can help a poor student like me to save some money and to protect the world from pollution by reducing the use of papers. :p
The fifth webbie is the search engine that i use to search all the information i need to do my assignments and thesis.

My top five internet activities are:

• to chat through msn
• Blogging
• to read news
• to play online games
• to search for information

Yo~Its Kid In the House~

Hey yo~My name is Saw Gim Wooi aka Kid. After leaving my schooldays and Tunku Abdul Rahman College (TARC), I'm currenly being tortured in University Tunku Abdul Rahman as a full time student in Year 3 Semester 1 of Bachelor in Commerce (HONS) Accounting. Basicly, I'm writing this blog just to comply with the e-commerce assignment which needs me to blog a brief intro of myself. As a anime maniac, my hobby is to watch any funny anime as it could help me to reduce stress. Manga would also do the trick. Another 'healthy' hobby of mine is listening to music and lying on the bed which eventually I will fall asleep.

The top five website that I always visit are as below:

• http://www.friendster.com/
• http://www.kennysia.com/
• http://www.mininova.org/
• http://www.imeem.com/
• http://www.fansub.tv/

Friendster.com is the website I visit most as I use it to keep in touch with a lot of my friends and as well as to know more new buddies. As for kennysia.com, all I could say is, Kenny really helps in reducing stress. I always laugh when reading his blog and there is a point in every words he posted there. Mininova.org is the website where I find the torrents to download my anime. It is quite a good source there. Imeem.com is the website where I listen to new songs. It is very updated and even songs that are just released will be there. Fansub.tv is the website that lists out all the latest episode of anime which are fansubbed.

My top five internet activities are:

• chatting through msn
• listening to music
• downloading anime
• reading blogs
• knowing new friends

Elo~~Elo~~

hello~everyone, i'm Yuen Ling Xiao from Kuala Lumpur. I'm studying accounting course (HONS) in University Tunku Abdul Rahman which university that i like it so much, and i'm now is group 14 in year3 semester1. I feel very happy because i have this opportunity to write my blog at here, although this blog is for my e-commerce assignment's purpose.At here, i would introduce myself. I have many hobbies, if all activities relate to sport, that means are my hobby too, but for the hobby that i like it so much is playing ping pong. Besides the sport, i also quite interesting in watching movie, always watch the newest movies with my friends.

The top five website that I always visits as below:

• http://www.friendster.com/
• http://www.google.com/
• http://www.onemanga.com/
• http://wble.utar.edu.my
• http://www.baidu.com/
  

I access to friendster website is to meet many new friends, send message to others, receive any comments from my friends about my profile or photo and know what happening to my friends recently. For google, this website can help me a lot in finding information about my interesting activities. And for onemanga, this website is providing us a lot of funny comics, i always download the comics from there, and also learn english from there because since all the comics there are english version. wble can lead student downloads the lecture notes and tutorial notes, and also can lets students know about the news from lecturer. The last is baidu which i access to download new song for free.

My top five internet activities are:

• chatting with friends
• downloading new songs and drama
• sharing information with my friends
• searching information
• reading comics