Monday, February 23, 2009

Review a local e-commerce site-FRONTIER

Frontier Safety Footwear was initially started as a hand-made shoe manufacturer by name of Chung Hing Shoe Store. Through years of experience, innovation and producing high quality footwear, the company slowly upgraded themselves into a highly productive machine-oriented shoe manufacturing company.

By the year 1990, in view of the call of the Malaysian Government in turning our country into an industrialized nation, their company saw great opportunity in the area of safety footwear. As such the company diversified itself into a manufacturer of safety footwear and thus Frontier Safety Footwear was started to meet the demands and opportunities of our country ever growing industrial sector. Quality is Frontier’s utmost priority. Automated machinery was introduced to meet the ever increasing demand of the safety shoe market. Their production facilities were constantly monitored and upgraded in order to maintain a high quality of range of products.

Highly skilled workers were provided with the necessary training on a regular basis in order to keep themselves equipped with the latest safety footwear standards and technology. As a result of stringent monitoring and maintaining a high quality of products, the company has been awarded the following safety certifications for having complied with safety standards.

They are EN345-1:1993, MS1599:1998 and MS SIRIM. In the year 2001, the company was awarded the prestigious ISO9001:2000 standard for quality in products and factory operations. The company is also a member of the International SATRA Technology Centre and The Association of Malaysian Shoes Manufacturer. As of today, Frontier Safety Footwear is a pioneer in the area of safety shoe manufacturing. Besides manufacturing own range of safety footwear, they also involved in manufacturing for other OEM branded safety footwear. With their established team of professional marketing personnel and stringent Quality control production personnel, the company is confident that it is able to continuously provide top quality services and products to customers.

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies


Nowadays, Corporate Blogging is widely used and published by an organization to achieve the organizational goals through internal, external and CEO Blogs. Every day, 70,000 new blogs are appeared on the Internet. Corporate blogging provides a clear mind map or guidelines of overall marketing or communication strategy to its employees and third parties with organization communication plan and media mix.


Besides that, corporate blogging encourages employee participation in contribution of expertise, free discussion of issues or topics and deal with it, collective intelligence, be a direct communication between various layers of an organization and shares with others employees, teams or spokespersons publicly. Furthermore, it can be used to announce new products and services, explain and clarify policies of the company and to react on public criticism on certain issues.


Blog for business are no differences from the channels such as video, audio, presentations and so on. The kind you can expect from blogs is mainly about stronger relations with important target groups.


From a business perspective there are several potential reasons to lead the corporate has a blog. The reasons are as below:



1. The Conversations

Author is not alone out there. There's always other bloggers sharing their interests. Author must become a part of the conversation by linking to those blogs from posts of their own, stating his or her opinions, publishing related information or thoughts. If the author does it well and they link to the author and a kind of conversation between blogs have started. It's of course not necessary to actively try to converse, but most bloggers would argue that this is an important part of blogging.

2. Customer RelationshipsIn a forum where author’s main objective is not to sell, but expected to have a more personal relationship between them and their customers. Blogs are a fast way to join the customers' discussions, provide tips and insights or receive feedback.

3. Internal CollaborationUse blogs as a workspace where project members keep each other updated without wasting time to write reports or search the Outlook inbox. At the same time, also can increase the employees’ motivation in their jobs.

4. Test ideas or productsA blog is informal. It's part of a conversation where people can comment, and the blog can provide the corporate with a measure of value. Publish an idea and see if it generates interest.

5. Knowledge ManagementBlogs works in two ways. First of all, there are an easy way for the readers to find information and resources that they want or need. That's obvious could be used internally in many organizations. Secondly, blogs are a kind of "university light" for the bloggers. Blogging is on-the-job learning.

Finally, a blog is a tool, not a panacea to solve your company problems when you face it. Therefore, don't expect it to turn your company around.

For further information, please refer to these links:
1. http://www.corporateblogging.info/basics/why/
2.
http://www.corporateblogging.info/basics/what/
3.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/28/news/companies/pluggedin_fortune/index.htm 4.http://mariosundar.wordpress.com/2008/05/19/the-5-types-of-corporate-blogs-with-examples/

Friday, February 20, 2009

Things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction






An auction is a competitive process in which a seller solicits consecutive bids from buyers (forward auctions) or a buyer solicits bids from sellers (backward auctions). The prices are determined dynamically by the bids. Electronic auctions are auctions conducted online. For examples, www.ebay.com, www.dellauction.com and www.lelong.com.my
Because of the lack of meaningful consumer protection with respect to online auctions in the form of consumer education efforts and appropriate regulation and effective enforcement thereof, the rising numbers of online auction fraud victims are left with no meaningful avenues of relief.
Below are some tips on keeping your risk at a minimum when purchasing items from an online auction website.
Become familiar with the auction website. Look into the websites protection policies. Never assume you are protected from auction fraud and check the courier services provided to make sure the delivery are delivered on time without any problem.
Learn as much as you can about the seller before placing a bid. If you can’t find anything out about the seller, then avoid doing business with them. Never fall for promises of better deals by moving away from the original auction website.
If the seller wants you to use an escrow service you’ve never heard of, look into it. Check out the website. Escrow Services is a licensed and regulated company. They collect, holds, and send buyer’s money to the seller according to instructions agreed by the buyer and seller. Once the buyer receives the items and approved, the escrow service will sends the payment to the seller within the agreed time frame. If you can’t confirm the legitimacy, don’t use it.
Never ever give out your social security number, drivers’ license number, credit card number, or bank account information until you have thoroughly checked out the seller and the escrow service.
Always save 100% of the transaction information. You’ll be glad you did in the event your case makes it to court.
Always give attention to the feedback forum. Feedback forum allows buyers and sellers to build up the online trading reputations. Most of buyers will give comment on the business; therefore, you can understand the performance of the business.









link:
http:// www.crimcheck.com
http://www.iescrow.com/

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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

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.

To accelerate the objectives of Vision 2020, a path has already been defined through seven innovative Flagship Applications. These applications are engineered to start the MSC initiative and create a multimedia heaven for innovative producers and users of multimedia technology. Both local and foreign companies work with various government agencies to enhance the socio-economic development of Malaysia. The Multimedia Super Corridor offers a Malaysian initiative for the Information Age. The Flagship Applications are:

  1. Electronic Government

  2. Multipurpose Card

  3. Smart School

  4. Telehealth

  5. R&D Clusters

  6. E-Business

  7. Technopreneur Development


E-Government


The vision of Electronic Government is a vision for government, businesses and citizenry working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all of its citizens. The vision focuses on effectively and efficiently delivering services from the government to the people of Malaysia, enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

The 7 pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application are as follows;

  1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)

  2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)

  3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)

  4. Electronic Procurement (EP)

  5. Electronic Services (E-Services)

  6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)

  7. E-Syariah



Multipurpose Card


The National Multipurpose Card seeks to develop a single and common platform for a Multipurpose Card (MPC) that will enable the government and private application providers to implement smart card solutions without duplications of effort and investment. Initially, the MPC is implemented through the GMPC and PMPC projects. As a result, MyKad and Bankcard are the products developed for the GMPC and PMPC initiatives.

The objectives of the MPC Flagship Application are:

  1. To provide the government and payment application, and other future applications on a single MPC platform;

  2. To provide enhanced services to customers; and

  3. To enhance security and convenience of existing and new applications delivered on the MPC platform.

MyKad developed by the National Registration Department (JPN) and private ICT developers that create a common platform for smart card solutions. The card is embedded with a security enhanced 64K microprocessor chip that is multifunctional across varying systems. MyKad applications are:

  1. National ID

  2. Driving License

  3. Passport Information

  4. Health Information

  5. Touch N Go

  6. MEPS Cash

  7. ATM

  8. Public Key Infrastructure

The GMPC project is developed in two phases – the initial pilot roll-out for an estimated population of 2 millions in the Kuala Lumpur, Klang valley and MSC area followed by a national roll-out. The project was successfully implemented with the issuance of 2.59 million people in the Klang Valley as of October 2002. As for the national roll-out (NRO), the project will be extended nationwide, targeted for 2005.

As one of the Multimedia Super Corridor Flagship Applications, the development and implementation of the chip based Bankcard began in 2000 with the Malaysian Electronic Payment System (1997) Sdn. Bhd. (MEPS) at the helm working together with domestic banking institutions. Bank Negara Malaysia served as the lead agency whose primary function is to facilitate the implementation. The Bankcard will spur the vision of promoting electronic payment in the country. Initially the Bankcard will contain three payment applications namely:

  1. ATM

  2. E-Debit

  3. MEPS Cash

The use of Bankcard encourages cashless payment transaction for various sectors e.g. retail, vending machines, car parks and transport and closed community to leverage on Bankcard to use MEPS Cash as the mode of payment. It also encourages participation of business venture in undertaking merchant acquiring business.

Under this initiative of implementing multiple payment applications onto a single smart card, the domestic banking institutions pioneered the chip based electronic purse during the Commonwealth Games (SUKOM) in September 1998. The full implementation of the PMPC project (ATM, e-Debit and MEPS Cash) commenced in early 2001. In August 2002, several domestic banking institutions began their pilot rollout by issuing the Bankcard to their staff and the public. On 28 February 2003, the Bankcard was officially launched.



Smart School


The Smart School Flagship Application is driven by the need for Malaysia to make the transformation from an industrial to an information-based economy. This would call for a technologically-literate thinking workforce who is well able to perform in a global environment as well as use information age tools and technology to improve productivity. It is also a learning institution that has been systemically reinvented in terms of teaching-learning practices and school management in order to prepare students to practice self-assessed and self-directed learning focusing on individual achievements and development.

The Smart School Flagship Application comprise

  1. School Teaching-Learning Materials

  2. Smart School Management System

  3. Smart School Technology Infrastructure

  4. School Assessment System

  5. Systems Integration

  6. Help Desk and Support



Telehealth


The Telehealth initiative aims to keep people in the wellness paradigm, through the availability of health information and virtual health services thus transforming the way healthcare services are delivered and accessed. Definition of Telehealth is a multimedia network linking all players to provide products and services in health care.

The four Telehealth Flagship Application pilot projects are :

  1. Teleconsultation (TC)

  2. Mass Customised / Personalised Health Information and Education (MCPHIE)

  3. Lifetime Health Plan (LHP)

  4. Continuing Medical Education (CME)



R&D Cluster


MSC’s Research and Development Cluster (R&D) flagship application pools corporate resources and creates an environment to further promote the development of next-generation multimedia technologies. This is achieved by forging collaborative R&D efforts among leading-edge corporations, public research institutions and universities.

To catalyze R&D activities in the MSC, the following programs have been initiated:

  1. MSC R&D Grant Scheme (MGS)

  2. MSC Student Attachment Programs (SAP)

  3. MSC Technology Forum Series

  4. Collaborative R&D efforts between firms, universities and research institutes

  5. Exhibitions (local and overseas)


E-Business


The E-Business cluster aims to shape an Electronic Business environment competitive with the major economic powers. This cluster has an enormous potential market that could be one of the driving forces for future economic growth.

It is transforming the way in which business was conducted - it enables businesses to become more adaptive and responsive. The E-Biz aims to provide more efficient and better quality services to the community, and encourage the business and community to accept electronic business as an integral part of their daily lives.


More on E-Government


The Government wants to make e-government more customer-oriented to complement the large infrastructure build-up that has been the primary focus of its efforts.

The new emphasis on the customer – that is, the public – is expected to be a key item in the Malaysian Public Sector ICT Strategic Plan that is currently being drafted by the Malaysian Administrative and Management Planning Unit (Mampu).

The conference was organized by Microsoft Knowledge Capital Center in collaboration with Mampu, National Institute of Public Administration and, the Energy, Communications and Multimedia Ministry.

There was a need to move up the scale in which the basic services offered online would create new avenues of value added services.

Such a move would involve integrating multiple channels of service delivery – counter, telephone, SMS, and Internet – and end-to-end services that involve “cross-agency collaboration.This will ensure that the Government portrays the image of ‘one government’ to citizens and business, instead of the view of a myriad of agencies and departments.

Malaysia’s huge e-government initiative began in 1997 with the launch of the Multimedia Super Corridor’s E-Government Flagship Application.

Since then, the Government has made large strides in areas such as electronic procurement, project monitoring, and human resource management.

But services that require members of the public to come into regular contact with the government, like driving license renewals or income tax returns, remain at a rudimentary level or have yet to make it online.

The Government has conducted a study to take stock of its e-government achievements so far, and the findings have been used to develop the Malaysian Public Sector ICT Strategic Plan.It will serve as the blueprint for future ICT development and implementation in the public sector.

The blueprint would also chart the public sector’s path towards an “e-government that is able to provide seamless services and information.”

In line with the plan’s customer focus, the Government will set up a portal through which the public would eventually be able to access all online public services. The portal would also provide access to community sites as well and represents a progression from the current scenario of disparate websites too.

Many public sector websites currently focus largely on providing information, rather than services that are available.

The Electronic Government initiative was launched to lead the country into the Information Age. It will improve both 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; simultaneously, it will improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.

The vision of Electronic Government is a vision for government, businesses and citizenry working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all of its citizens. The vision focuses on effectively and efficiently delivering services from the government to the people of Malaysia, enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

The 7 pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application are as follows;

1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)
7. E-Syariah

Sunday, February 15, 2009

• Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumers’ adoption strategies

Mobile payments (also known as mobile web payments or WAP billing) is a collection of money from consumer via a mobile device such as their mobile phone, Smartphone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or any other devices. With such application, it does brings advantages to the world of e-commerce and it’s relatively growing in Malaysia as well.

The examples of mobile payments available in Malaysia are Mobile Money. It are using the concept of making payment transactions just through a mobile device to pay for goods and services anytime without having cash on hand, cheques or even physically present a store.



Mobile Money offers products such as food and beverages, car accessories and personal care products which can be viewed from thier website. They also offer services such as buying or paying broadband bills(Streamyx) by SMS the code of product to them.

Potentials

The potential for this market is quite big, because it is very convenient to use mobile payment. The mobile payment providers have a large market share to be grab on. This mobile payment is still new and developing in Malaysia. It has potential to continue to grow as consumer’s confidence on mobile payment increased. Mobile payment providers has most potential for growing.

To put it simple:

  • Market still at developing stage
  • Many mobile phone users
  • Low competition

Strategies:

  1. Educate consumers about mobile payments, how to use and introduce its functions (e.g. bill payment, mobile purchase)
  2. Enchance security and confidence to mobile users
  3. Collaborate with more banks and companies to widen the ability to pay via mobile at the same time it helps to increased customer’s satisfaction and confidence
  4. Maintain customer’s loyalty

Mobile Commerce

Just like internet commerce, which uses internet to conduct business, Mobile Commerce is a term used to describe businesses done via the mobile phone. Mobile Money enables our members to do just that. With mobile money, one can buy directly from suppliers to save, or to trade.

How does MM provide these business opportunities?

MM is a remote payment platform. We also provide a mobile commerce platform where by we allow suppliers to list their products in our platform. Together with the referral networking platform that we provide, one can refer members to form their network and make money out of the business activities conducted via the network.

What do I need to capitalize on this business opportunities?

Just your phone. You don’t even need to put in large capital, in fact, in many cases, you can even make lots of money with just a couple of hundred ringgit to start with. You can make back this money within a few days, if you really work hard, and grow a permanent business of your own. What you need is the willingness to learn and to work.

The benefit of Mobile Money

It gives you the convenience to pay anyone, including to any bank accounts from anywhere, at anytime. You can pay bills , including credit card bills, and your loan repayments from home. It is safe, secure and convenient. With mobile money, one can start to buy and save from our mobile commerce platform.



~~Electronic Currency~~

Electronic currency also known as e-money, electronic cash, electronic money, digital money, digital cash or digital currency.
It 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.
Typically electronic or digital money is a representation. It is a system of debits and credits, used to exchange value. It happened within another system or as a stand alone system. Which mean: online or offline.
Sometimes the term electronic money is used to refer to the provider itself. A private currency may use gold to provide extra security, such as digital gold currency. An e-currency system may be fully backed by gold. Example: e-gold and c-gold, non-gold backed, or both gold and non-gold backed such as e-Bullion and Liberty Reserve. On the other hand, some private organizations, such as the US military use private currencies such as Eagle Cash.
Many systems will sell their electronic currency directly to the end user, such as Paypal and WebMoney, but other systems, such as e-gold, sell only through third party digital currency exchangers.
In the case of Octopus Card in Hong Kong, deposits work similarly to banks'. After Octopus Card Limited receives money for deposit from users, the money is deposited into banks, which is similar to debit-card-issuing banks redepositing money at central banks.
Somecommunity currencies, like some LETS systems, work with electronic transactions. Cyclos Software allows creation of electronic community currencies. Ripple monetary system is a project to develop a distributed system of electronic money independent of local currency.





A soldier refills his Eagle Cash card at a kiosk


~Credit Card debts: Causes and Prevention~


Credit card is any card that may be used repeatedly to borrow money or buy products and services on credit. It is issued by banks, savings and loans, retail stores, and other businesses. Credit card debt is an example of unsecured consumer debt. Debt results when a client of a credit card company purchases an item or service through the card system. Debt accumulates and increases via interest and penalties when the consumer does not pay the company for the money he or she has spent.



Nowadays, credit card debts are major cause of bankruptcies each year. It is because many people have never realized of its consequences from financial and non financial perspectives when get a new credit card or not enough safety net when there is an incident happen.



Causes of debts are as below:

1. POOR MONEY MANAGEMENT
Many people are unaware to conduct a monthly spending plan and do not keep track of monthly bills. People have never realized their spending on the items that are useless and do not have any value in their life. Thus, it has lead to a rise in debts by using credit cards.

2. UNEMPLOYMENT
People who experience under employment may continue to think of it as only temporary or if they are coming off unemployment feel a false sense of relief. This may lead to a rise in debt when expenses are not cut down in line with the reduction in income.

3. GAMBLING
Today, gambling has become part of entertainments in our life. It is hard to stop when it becomes addictive. Thus, it will surely lead to a financial disaster if borrowing money through credit card for gambling.

4. EXCESSIVE MEDICAL EXPENSES
If one of our family members suffers serious illness and our health insurance is not adequate to cover the medical bills then our credit cards are probably the only source of funds to pay off the medical expenses.

5. DIVORCE
More than half of us do it, some more than once. Fees that must spend for divorce such as attorney, division of assets between husband and wife, proceeds given to children are the way to rack up huge debts by using credit card if it is the gap between the expenses and income. Moreover, it will lead to reduction in income because divorce may force some people to quit their job and to have a walk in other countries.

Preventions for debts are as below:
1. MAKING AN BUDGET
People have to create clear budget and stick on it that includes monthly bills, food, clothes, entertainment and miscellaneous expenses will prevent from overspending and fall under deeper debt load. Avoiding the expensive purchases and not buying things that you don't really need on credit is an important step to getting on the right track.

2. SELF CONTROL AND DISCIPLINE
Keep our credit cards spending to amounts that we know we can pay off, don't go over-board with unnecessary purchases, and budget how we plan on paying back our charges. One of the best practices is to have a direct set up so that able to pay back the full amount each month and use in emergencies. Thus, self control and discipline to keep these cards in wallet and would not overspend.
3. PRIORITIZE YOUR DEBT REPAYMENT
Credit cards users are advisable to pay off the debts to get rid of the highest interest payment first. List out all of the credit card debts, and the amount need to pay for each month. Firstly, pay off the lowest amount and following by the second lowest amount.
4. CONTACTING AND DEALING WITH CREDITORS
Address the problem to creditors instantly to investigate whether they could give revised payment arrangement when you have trouble to pay off debts because running away is not a good solution. You may let the creditors know about your situation and help you to solve it. If not, may refer to Fair Debt Collection Practices Act if the collection of money from creditors is not fair enough. Creditors may approve proposal and accept modified payment plan when hiring a good credit card debt consolidation companies.

Finally, I hope all of the credit cards debtors are cleared to their problems with the causes are provided. Within the causes, they can get the ways to solve it as soon as possible.

http://www.mozdex.com/prevent-credit-card-debt/

Friday, February 13, 2009

The Application Of Pre-paid Cash Card For Consumers

Electronic cash cards are often confused with credit cards and debit cards.

Credit cards are the least like prepaid cash cards because with a credit card the fund are essentially borrowed from the lender, and then you pay the funds back. If the balance of the credit card is not paid back in full by the next statement, the remaining balance is charged interest. Basically, with a credit card you borrow the money and then pay it back later.

Debit cards and prepaid cash cards are similar because they both use your existing money, rather than borrowing. Both debit cards and prepaid cash cards draw funds from your bank account, usually a checking account. The difference is that debit cards can be used without a personal identification number to make purchases where the card is not present.

Therefore, online merchants do not need your personal identification number and why you may come across a terminal or point of sale merchant that allows you to use your debit card with a simple swipe and no personal identification number entry. Since prepaid cash cards always need a personal identification number to be keyed in for the transaction to be authorized, unless you tell someone your personal identification number, no one else can ever use your card.

This means that if someone steals your card information or your physical prepaid cash cards, you do not need to worry about them using your money. This is why prepaid cash cards are considered as the most secure and safe financial transaction cards. The downside of prepaid cash cards is that you cannot use them to buy something online. You also cannot use prepaid cash cards in "quick pay" terminals that have a card reader but no keypad to enter a personal identification number.

The great thing about prepaid cash cards is: they are a portable access point to your checking account. Automated teller machines are everywhere now, and you can use prepaid cash cards at automated teller machines to withdraw funds from your checking account in cash, deposit funds into your checking account, and even make an account balance inquiry. You don't have to go to the bank anymore to get money out of your checking account and don't need to have a personal computer to check your balance.

In addition, you can use your prepaid cash cards to see how much money you left in your account, and get that money out as cash. This helps to keep you from overspending and overdrawing your account. While automated teller machines usually charge your account a convenience fee, this fee is much smaller than the fee your bank charge on you if you spend more than what you have in your account.

Example 1 :
Example 2 :


Example 3 :

Sunday, February 8, 2009

~~PHISHING : Examples And Its Prevention Methods~~

Nowadays, people use online service to done several activities. These activities including online investments, online transactions, online e-commerce, browse for information and a lot more. Even though online services brings a lot convenient to internet user, yet there are still several threats that we user should caution when using these service.

Phishing is the illegal deceptive process of trying to get confidential or private information such as the user name, password, and financial details by commonly masquerading as established institutions or even trustworthy websites.

Provides here are some examples of Phishing..

Example 1 :

Example 2 :



Example 3 :


Example 4 :


~~Ways to prevent Phishing~~

1. Do Not trust e-mails urgently requesting personal financial information.

Phishers want you to react immediately and therefore include upsetting or exciting statements which trigger fear or happiness. They may falsely claim suspicious withdrawals from your banking account, present you as the winner of a lottery or play on your passion for example politics / religion. Never give any account information on the web, no bank or any internet comerce will EVER need to ask you for your account information.

2. NEVER fill out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information.

Typically phishing scams or hoaxes ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and social security numbers through an online form.Frankly speaking, the banking companies have better control over their customers and would never ask for account information. A request for these types of info should ring the alarm bell.

3. Always ensure that you're using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser.
By checking the beginning of the Web address in your browsers address bar showing "https://" rather than just “http://” would ensure that you are using an encrypted secure website. A small chain will also show in your browser when you are using a secure website.
4. Be suspicious of impersonal emails.
Phishing attacks are directed towards millions of people through email spam. The emails sent out during a phish are therefore impersonal and general, contrary to emails from your bank which are usually personal in nature.
linked :

~How to safeguard our personal and financial date?~

Nowadays, computer is common to everyone; we rely on computer to save our personal data and use computer to save our important documentary. In additions, due to lack of times, most of us will only use online financial service to do financial transactions such as e-banking, buying goods and etc. We have to be caution to safeguard our information and financial data from getting threat, unauthorized access, destruction, unauthorized disclosure or other compromise of information. There are some important ways I suggest for you all to safeguard our personal and financial data during using computer to make transactions:


1. Avoid using public computer to do financial transaction
Prevent from logging on to check your bank balance and do any financial transaction when access internet in a coffee shop that offers Wi-Fi. Although the systems are convenient but we do not know how powerful their firewalls are.

2. Do not allow unknown people use our computer
For our own convenience, we usually will safe most of important file or documentary in our computer. Therefore, we should ovoid from borrow others people from using our computer when we are not around. We may not know they will log in to search for our file or will search for what website.

3. Password protect
Password is the most important things to keep our data. The more high quality password is better. Try to avoid using our own identity number or any number that easily be guess as our password. This will prevent from hacker hack to our computer and stole our data.

4. Install and always update your antivirus
Install a good antivirus software such as Symantec and Norton antivirus, Kaspersky, or Avast antivirus to protect our computer from viruses, worm and Trojan that may destroy and steal the data in our computer. In addition, we have to update the antivirus from time to time due to new may virus occurs.

5. Regularly scan computer for spyware
We always search for information by using internet, using pen drive to copy data from others computer and safe in our own computer. Therefore, we may get virus from others computer or from the internet we search for information. As a result we have to regularly scan for our computer and remove any of the infected files that hidden in software programs which may affect the performance of our computer.

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

Nowadays, online is part of the jobs for everyone that needs to do in everyday. Their online activities include online selling, online buying, online searching and others. During online selling and buying, the customers need to submit their private information such as home mailing addresses, home phone numbers, credit card numbers, credit reports, and date of birth, social security numbers, and drivers’ license numbers, medical and insurance records to continue the purchasing process. Security issues include viruses, vulnerabilities, SQL injection and so on.

Threats of online security
1.
Virus- is a program that "infects" a computer so that it does something that the owner does not control, usually to propagate itself, and do some sort of damage. Computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the user.

2. Vulnerabilities- are bugs in server based programs that allow attackers to take over a machine. There is much vulnerability in many software packages, and these are sometimes caused maliciouly, and, more often than not, caused by inexperienced programmers who do not know about things like buffer overflow problems.

3. SQL Injection- is one the most pervasive security vulnerabilities on the web today. It basically takes advantage of poorly constructed stored procedures. This method allows the attacker to create, read, update, or delete any arbitrary data accessible. The most serious scenario is when the attacker can completely compromise the database system and associated services. Many people are totally unaware that even big businesses are selling client's personal information to a variety of third parties and sometimes this information can turn up in the wrong hands.

How safe is our data?
Online activities are not face to face activities but why many people still believe and trust to the online security? There are some approaches can make sure the customers’ data are safety and avoid stolen or copy by others people. How safe is our data? One of the best ways to preserve the security of the Internet is greatly increasing our PC’s protections especially the online security. The best place to protect our servers, and even our workstations, and personal computers is to keep our software up to date. BusinessWeek.com consulted the experts, who offered the following advice for the PC users:
- Don’t show any available or sensitive personal information on our MySpace or Facebook profile or within messages to other members of the network. And don't click on any links in social network messages from people we don't know.
- Furthermore, try to remember that there will not have reputable company ask for our password, account number, or other log-in information via e-mail or instant message. Therefore, don’t respond to the mailing are asking for our private information.
- Use one of the many antivirus, antispyware, and firewall programs on the market. Normally, vendors offer all three functions in a single package. And many Internet service providers offer them free with our monthly subscription.
- Upgrade our browser to the most current version. From Microsoft, that's Internet Explorer 7.
Mozilla's Firefox is on version 2, as is Apple's Safari browser.
- Pay attention to the messages from Windows that pop up on our screen, especially in the new Vista operating system. This is because they alway contain helpful security information that many users overlook.
- Turn on Windows' automatic-update function to get Microsoft's regular security patches.
Therefore, how safe is our data? I consider that how safe is our data is based on how the data protected by ourselves. For example, if our online security is good but we show our sensitive and available information to others, it can lead the attacker easily access to our PC. Otherwise, if our online security is poor also lead the attacker to access our PC easily.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

Third party certification programme is performed in order to verify and authenticate the web site. The third party who issue the digital certificate to verify and authenticate the website is called certificate authorities(CA). Certification Authority is a trusted third party in a public key security system which is responsible for providing the identity of users and issuing them with certificates that attach the public key to their key to their identities

Need of 3 rd party certification :
Third Party Verification adds an important element of proof to electronic transactions. For example, in a just-completed experimental study of consumer reactions to electronic contracts, over 80% of respondents agreed that a transaction was harder to dispute because the verification was made and held by an independent third party.
At present time TPV elements are used in complex verification and approve of different web transactions in conjunction with Address Verification System, IP Geolocation, phone type identifying (land line, mobile, VoIP etc). According to Paul Heyward, head of IT (Proveout.com): "Online fraud is a common headache for vast majority of companies accepting credit/debit cards payments. Such services can significantly ease Merchant's and Webmaster's everyday work and essentially minimize fraud's possibility".


Besides that, those party are needed because they provide e-mail protection and validation, secure online shopping carts, and more services in order to avoid being spammed, hacked and attack by the malicious software.

The company that provided third party certification program in Malaysia, the most famous one is the MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd. MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd was established in 1999 as a licensed Certification Authority (CA) operating out of the Multimedia Super Corridor in Malaysia under the Digital Signature Act 1997(DSA), a Malaysia law that sets a global precedent for the mandate of a CA. More information about MSC Trustgate pleace assess to http://www.msctrustgate.com/.

Second is the MyKad PKI.Malaysian government has provided this smart National Identity Card (“MyKad”) for every citizen. MyKad with PKI capability allows its holder to conduct online transaction with government agencies and private sectors.This PKI is also primarily develop by MSC Trustgate. MyKad now allowed Malaysia citizen to authenticate themselves online and to digitally sign documents or transactions with MyKey (The MyKad PKI solution that works with the physically MyKad) and is accepted by the Malaysian government.











Monday, February 2, 2009

History of Ecommerce

History of ecommerce dates back to the invention of the very old notion of “sell and buy”, electricity, cables, computers, modems, and the Internet. Ecommerce became possible in 1991 when the Internet was opened to commercial use. Since that date thousands of businesses have taken up residence at web sites.

The term ecommerce meant the process of execution of commercial transactions electronically with the help of the leading technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) which gave an opportunity for users to exchange business information and do electronic transactions. The ability to use these technologies appeared in the late 1970s and allowed business companies and organizations to send commercial documentation electronically.

Although the Internet began to advance in popularity among the general public in 1994, it took approximately four years to develop the security protocols (for example, HTTP) and DSL which allowed rapid access and a persistent connection to the Internet.

In 2000 a great number of business companies represented their services in the World Wide Web. At this time the meaning of the word ecommerce was changed. People began to define the term ecommerce as the process of purchasing of available goods and services over the Internet using secure connections and electronic payment services.Although the dot-com collapse in 2000 led to unfortunate results and many of ecommerce companies disappeared, the “brick and mortar” retailers recognized the advantages of electronic commerce and began to add such capabilities to their web sites (e.g., after the online grocery store Webvan came to ruin, two supermarket chains, Albertsons and Safeway, began to use ecommerce to enable their customers to buy groceries online). By the end of 2001, the largest form of ecommerce, Business-to-Business (B2B) model, had around $700 billion in transactions.

Ecommerce sales continued to grow in the next few years and, by the end of 2007, ecommerce sales accounted for 3.4 percent of total sales.Ecommerce has a great deal of advantages over “brick and mortar” stores and mail order catalogs. Consumers can easily search through a large database of products and services. They can see actual prices, build an order over several days and email it as a “wish list” hoping that someone will pay for their selected goods. Customers can compare prices with a click of the mouse and buy the selected product at best prices

Online vendors, in their turn, also get distinct advantages. The web and its search engines provide a way to be found by customers without expensive advertising campaign. Even small online shops can reach global markets. Web technology also allows to track customer preferences and to deliver individually-tailored marketing.

Amazon and Ebay which were among the first Internet companies to allow electronic transactions. Thanks to their founders we now have a handsome ecommerce sector and enjoy the buying and selling advantages of the Internet. Currently there are 5 largest and most famous worldwide Internet retailers: Amazon, Dell, Staples, Office Depot and Hewlett Packard. According to statistics, the most popular categories of products sold in the World Wide Web are music, books, computers, office supplies and other consumer electronics.

History of ecommerce is a history of a new, virtual world which is evolving according to the customer advantage. It is a world which we are all building together brick by brick, laying a secure foundation for the future generations.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

An Example of an E-Commerce and its causes

One of the examples of an E-commerce success is eBay. eBay allows people who have a same hobby to be able to come to same site and look at what's for sale and bid on and buy on these items.

eBay uses auction process as a method for establishing how merchandise is valued and eventually exchanged between buyer and seller. Pierre Omidyar – the founder of eBay realised the needs of fast respond and delivery in the market. Therefore he has come out with an idea to run an E-commerce business. Besides, his fiancée but now is his wife realised another limitation in the real business world. Which are, some business activities are limited by geographical considerations. It is too far away and need time which by several week or even several months just in order to get the product that they wanted.

The opportunities to come together in one internet site and be able to buy and trade a wide range of items have made eBay a success. These trading items including fine collectibles. eBay allows people to often times connect with some very fond and special early childhood memories. Moreover, eBay would be the best place for people who enjoy the experience of the shopping bazaar can look around for merchandise and hunt out!

eBay is a very practical place to buy and sell collective or commodities. People would feel very comfortable looking around and at the same time can get a good price. Besides, bargaining for a most reasonable price happened between seller and buyer in order to get merchandise that they wanted.

People with traditional business found that eBay was very enticing. It is so much fun and in many ways profitable that they created a brand new business in eBay. They've left behind their profession or careers and started a new business on eBay. These are some of the reason why eBay is a success E-commerce.