Amazing 7 year-old kid Declan Galbraith - Tell Me Why

Corporate Blogging

Nowadays, business-like blogging is taking off. Companies are using blogs for both internal and external communications, to improve customer relations and improve business processes

The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads.

Corporate bloggers from leading firms including IBM and Microsoft found that “Listening to customers and acting on their suggestions is one of the best ways to build a group of customers and blogs are an excellent method of being able to listen to customers.

Although there are many different types of corporate blogs, most can be categorized as either external or internal.

External blogs -- publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokepersons share their views. Companies use external blogs for public relations and marketing and demonstration of thought leadership. The expected benefits of external blogs include improved brand recognition and external communications, as well as a vehicle for customer feedback.

Internal Blogs -- generally accessed through the corporation's Intranet, is a weblog that any employee can view. The informal nature of blogs may encourage, employee participation, free discussion of issues, collective intelligence, direct communication between various layers of an organization, and a sense of community. It is mainly used as a tool for sharing knowledge and increase employees’ contribution.

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

Sun Microsystems CEO, Jonathan Schwartz said blogging doesn’t just communicate with the marketplace, though Sun’s CEO also uses his company blog to communicate with the more than 32,000 Sun employees. When they have questions about business decisions, Jonathan can respond to both the company and the marketplace via his blog. He also discusses new products online. His blog attracts approximately 60,000 readers per day.

These are some useful links on corporate blogging:

1.http://www.globalprblogweek.com/archives/how_to_launch_a_corp.php
2.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog

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

Electronic auctions, auctions conducted online, have been in existence for several years on local area networks and were started on the Internet in 1995. Electronic auctions serve as brokers, offering services that enable sellers to post their goods for sale and allow buyers to bid on those items.

There are several types of e- auction fraud conducted over the internet, which are failures to ship merchandise, improper grading techniques, fraud photo and misleading description. Fraud may be conducted by sellers and buyers. Therefore, in order to protect the buyers and sellers in the e-auction, there are several measures in an effort to reduce fraud.

◗ Verification - used to confirming the identity and evaluating the condition of an item. With verification, neutral third parties will evaluate and identify an item through a variety of means.

◗ Authentication service - Product authentication is a way of determining whether an item is genuine and described appropriately.

◗ Feedback Forum - Its 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.

◗ Escrow services -With an easy-to-access link to a third-party escrow service, both partners in a deal are protected. The buyer mails the payment to the escrow service, which verifies the payment and alerts the seller when everything checks out. At that point, the seller ships the goods to the buyer. After an agreed-upon inspection period, the buyer notifies the service, which then sends a check to the seller.

◗ Grading services – determining the physical condition of an item, such as “poor quality” or “mint condition”. The actual grading system depends on the type of item being graded. Different items have different grading systems.

E-Government

E-government: The use of information technology and e-commerce to provide access to government information and delivery of public services to citizens and business partners.

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.

There are four types of e-government services which consist of Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-business (G2B), Government-to-Employee (G2E), and Government-to-Government (G2G).

IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF E-GOVERNMENT PROJECT IN MALAYSIA

Generic Office Environment (GOE) – the aim of GOE is to introduce a fully integrated, distributed and scalable office environment that leverages use of multimedia information technology.

Electronic Procurement (eP) Project – the aim is to re-engineer, automate and transform current procurement system.

Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) – it provide single interface for government employees to perform human resource functions effectively and efficiently.

Project Monitoring System (PMS) – it create a mechanism to monitor project implementation throughout various government agencies and statutory bodies.

Electronic Services Directory (eServices) – it is a pilot project that allows citizens to engage in transactions with government and utilities payments.

Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX) – it improves the mobilization of human resources and optimizes work force utilization through systematic matching of job seekers to job vacancies.

E-Syariah – to improve the quality of service in Syariah.

Other Applications – online tax

CITIZENS ADOPTION

The public sector is facing with three categories of challenges in adopting eGovernment

Operation

- Government reform
- Improve efficiency and effectiveness
- Adoption of technology
- Automating government
- Readiness of the citizens
- Infrastructure development
- Accessibility
- Digital divide

Policy Making

- Policy changes
- Responsible body
- National vs State
- Security
- Transparency
- Privacy

Regulatory

- To keep up with technology
- To standardize regulatory framework

Article from ecommerze.blogspot .com

Another sms scam

After the recent SMS scam attack on Digi subscribers, now is the turn for Maxis subscribers to experience the similar SMS scam.Subscribers will be informed through SMSes that they had won some cash worth a few thousands from Maxis. In order to withdraw the money, they were required to call a foreign 15 digits phone number to provide then with the bank account number.A Maxis spokeperson beside denying their involvement, also reminded the subscribers to ignore SMSes with foreign or weird codes.

Source: TheStar, 14th July 2007.

Personal Opinion:Seems like the SMS scams is getting bolder and innovative. A lot of new tricks are being implemented to trick the subcribers to disclose some crucial financial and personal information. How could the government and telcos help to stop this scam from spreading on? May be they can consider the actions taken by SC in closing down the illegal fund investment websites - blocking all the weird or foreign codes? The government also should control the licenses for mobile services operators which are related to SMS.

source: http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/Legal

Blogger's comment

If you never gotten a piece of SMS scam you should consider yourself lucky. As reported by the Malaysia’s National ICT Security Emergency Response Center (NISER), the top 10 originating countries in the case of SCAM in Malaysia are:

>>USA - 59.09%, China - 5.56%, Korea - 4.46%, Canada -3.33%, Japan - 2.12%, Taiwan - 2.09%, UK - 1.66%, France - 1.60%, Germany -1.30%
>> Local - 3.15%

example of sms scam

According to Wikipedia, mobile phone scam is a form of spamming directed at the text messaging service of a mobile phone. It is described as mobile spamming, SMS scam or SpaSMS but is most frequently referred to as m-span. Most of these scam SMS are sent through the internet to your Email-to-SMS address (10-digit mobile number@carrier.com) which is virtually free of cost rather than sending it directly to your mobile number via the operator/carrier’s SMS gateway which would result in a cost to the sender.








As a mobile phone user, what action shall we take to stop unwanted SMS scam?


If you receive any unsolicited scam SMS and get billed for it, report to the Malaysian Multimedia and Communication Commission (MCMC). Of course, mobile attacks are growing worldwide, but it's hard to imagine users adopting mobile security until the problems become both widespread and unavoidable.


SMS Cpam Manager blocks the unwanted SMS messages without producing any sound or light indication. There are 6 different types of filters to block unwanted SMS. You have the freedom to choose whether to reject all incoming messages or to accept messages only from people listed in your phonebook. You can also choose to block incoming SMS messages from a defined phone number, from a defined prefix number and even messages that contain a defined phrase. With SMS Cpam Manager you can effectively filter all your incoming SMS messages. It is an effective way to stops the junk and unwanted SMS messages.



Malaysia-based mobile services operator Maxis Communications Berhad has launched a new service that enables Malaysia's largest mobile user base of 10 million customers to control, personalize and automate their short messaging services (SMS), including blocking unsolicited SMS, or Scam SMS. Even subscribing the service doesn’t mean it will totally prevent us from receiving sms spam but at least it can help to control it.

Communication through mobile devices is no longer treated as a new phenomenon. Text messaging is currently the best way to keep in touch when the environment is not conducive to talk and this the main reason why sms scam is getting more serious recently. Thus, as a mobile phone user, it is our responsibility to take corrective action to stop this unwanted phenomenon.

Electronic-currency

Just in the last quarter of 1999, dozens of business-to-business e-commerce sites have popped up, and most are experiencing swift activity on their sites. Practices like bartering, trading, and exchanging, which are now taking place at these new sites, have been embraced by buyer and sellers in the automotive, construction, advertising and media, printing, and retail markets. Experts say these practices are going over well because they help users to increase sales and market share, decrease cash expenditures, reduce surplus inventory, take advantage of underutilized capacity, and increase cash flow.

Bitpass is a prepaid account that allows you to purchase digital content and services in a couple of clicks. It was founded in December, 2002 and partnered with major technology and financial services companies such as Microsoft, PayPal, the Royal Bank of Scotland and First Data.

Bitpass provides an innovative commerce, loyalty, promotions and commerce that bundles authentication, payment and access control. Bitpass enables a la carte- and subscription-based purchases at any price point. Their products are designed to be easiest way to promote and sell digital content, required very little time or technical expertise to get started. For the content buyer, Bitpass worked like a pre-paid telephone card. The buyer just needs to sign up for the service and put money into an account using a credit card or PayPal. This stored-value amount could be used to purchase digital content or service.

On January 19th, 2007 Bitpass announced that they were shutting down, and operations officially closed on Junuary 26th, 2007.

Credit Card Debts: Causes and Prevention

Top 5 causes of debt

1. Reduced income / same expenses
Too often we delay bringing expenses in line with a reduction in income for a host of good reasons and let debt fill the gap. The sooner you adjust to your new reality, whether it be temporary or permanent, the better off you'll be.

2. Poor money management.
A monthly spending plan is essential. Without one you have no idea where your money is going. You may be spending hundreds of dollars unnecessarily each month and end up having to charge purchases on which you should have spent that money. Planning is no more difficult than writing down your expenses and income and reconciling the two. You will be surprised at how powerful you'll feel when you are making thoughtful decisions about where and when to spend your money.

3. Banking on a windfall.
Spending tomorrow's money today is very tempting. Especially if you believe that tomorrow will come no matter what. A planned job bonus may not be a sure thing. The inheritance that you believe will come your way may not. The lesson is don't spend the money until the check clears.

4. 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.

5. Financial illiteracy.
Many people don't understand how money works and grows, how to save and invest for a rainy day, or even why they should balance their checkbook. The schools don't teach it, your parents may not have sat you down and explained it. It doesn't matter. You are responsible for your life and your money anyway. Financial mistakes are increasingly expensive and complicated to resolve. Get educated and get in control.

sources : G:\Bankrate's Guide to Managing Your Debt Top 10 causes of debt.mht

Prevention Of Credit Debts

5 simple rules to prevent credit card debt

1. Establish a budget and then follow that budget exactly. In other words, don't be tempted to charge that plasma TV to your credit card on a whim when you haven't budgeted for it this month.

2. Carry a credit card balance for no longer than six months. Skaggs explains that beyond that point, the compounding of simple interest can produce a very expensive balance to pay off. If it helps, think of your credit card balance as a snowball that grows larger as it rolls downhill.

3. Know what you're doing with reward credit cards. Holders of these can end up spending more than the reward itself is worth if they don't pay attention to the fees and interest associated with their credit card.

4. Get a low interest credit card if your credit card's interest rate is excessive. The better your credit, the lower the rate for whichy you will qualify.

5. Be aware that balance transfer credit cards' teaser rates won't last forever. Six months is common now. The "normal" rate will return sooner than you think, so use that interest-free period to aggressively pay down balances.

Sources : mhtml:file://G:\5%20simple%20rules%20to%20prevent%20credit%20card%20debt.mht

Article from ecommerze .com

Buying clothes online that fit your measurement

Have you ever buy clothes online? If yes, do you manage to get the measurement accurately?According to the Forrester Research, the Internet consulting firm, a total of US$ 9.6 billion worth of apparel was transacted over the Internet in 2006. However, none of the buyers tried the apparel on first before buying it. This resulted in almost 30% return on the apparel bought online due to incorrect measurement.

Screencapture of myShape.comnow, you can try myShape.com - a website where users can provide their basic body dimension and style preferences. Through this e-commerce business model, shoppers are able to purchase personalised clothing collection matched to they style and fit preferences and body dimensions. This helps to reduce the rate of return experienced by the online shoppers.May be the guys with the big tummy can try this site too in order to get the right size of the preferred apparel.Current, it does not provide any international shipping. I believe this e-commerce business model will be available soon for worldwide customers.The NewYork Times has an interesting story on this.

source:http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/e-Tailing

Blogger's comment

Tired of fighting traffic at the mall? Are you looking for plus size clothing or vintage clothing? Forget the hassles of parking and pushy salespeople, shopping for clothing online provide more options than ever before.

It is become possible to purchase clothes through online which are match to your shape, preference and measurement nowadays. Thus shopping for clothing online has become more and more popular especially for the true busy mother who can find what they need exactly without leaving their house: they can track their shipments, and have them delivered to their front door.

Despite the growth of e-commerce, most consumers still prefer to buy clothing and apparel in retail stores especially in Malaysia. Online shopping in Malaysia is in its infancy. In a survey of more than 7,000 adults, it has been found that only 9% prefer to buy apparel online.The most common reason given for not shopping online is that it is not possible to try on the clothes. Thus, it is found that buying clothes online still cannot replace the experience of actually touching, trying on, and using the product before purchasing, which allows brick-and-mortar stores to continue to be the true retailing experience.

Consumer attitudes and behavior have a big influence on making the decision to buy from the Internet. In Malaysia, the majority of buyers like to do brick-and-mortar shopping. One of the shopping malls located in Kuala Lumpur, Suria Mall has 450,000 visitors per week. To visit a shopping mall has become a kind of Malaysian “weekend activity”. A growing number of shopping complexes are opening in Malaysia which might be the major competitor to the Internet portal sites.

Malaysia has a huge potential for Internet procurement. However, it is hard to Malaysians to adopt online shopping due to cultural inertia. This culture will change for Malaysian consumers as they become aware of the advantages of online shopping. If the consumer can be convinced that it is safe and reliable to purchase online, the potential will be unleashed.

The Application of Pre-paid Cash Card For Consumers

A pre-paid card is like a credit or debit card. Its give consumers ability to purchase the products and services with a card by just swap the card on the counter.

Because it is a prepaid card, spending limits are set by the amount of money you load onto the card. When you make a purchase with the pre-paid card, the purchase amount is deducted from the card balance. You can add more money on a regular basis or whenever the money runs low.

There are numerous benefits offer by pre-paid card. Pre-paid card have no credit checks, which means you can get a card without worrying about your credit history. Second, its do not have debt risk. With a prepaid card, you do not worry about you spend too much as you are limited to the amount you put on your card. Third, it is safety because you not need to carry large amount of cash to purchase the products and services. If your card gets lost or stolen, your remaining balance will be transferred across to a new account, and you will receive a replacement card.


One of the examples of prepaid card is Touch n Go card. Touch n Go card uses contactless smartcard technology. The card looks similar to a credit card. User can continue using the card as long as it is pre-loaded with electronic cash. User can reload the card at many places such as toll plazas, train stations, Automated Teller Machines, and Cash Deposit Machines.

Touch ‘n Go card enhances the speed of paying for low value but high frequency transactions. Apart from the speed, it is also very convenient because user no longer need to prepare for small change or wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction.

A review of E-Commerce website :
Florist Malaysia

Brief Profile

Florist Malaysia is a specialized store--an online florist specialising in free delivery of fresh flowers, Hand Bouquets, Flower Basket, Fruits & Flowers, Gifts & Flowers, Congratulatory Flora Stands and Cakes to most areas within Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Klang Valley and main cities in Malaysia.

Transaction Process
The design of its homepage is simple, clear, easy to read but attractive. There are catalogs on left side showing various flowers and gifts which categorized by types of products, seasons and occasions. By clicking on any categories, it then turns to another page which displays the description and price of the particular item. For the transaction using US Dollar, there is the price list in USD.

With an intend of purchase, one has 2 options:
(1) Order the item. It requires the buyer to provide details regarding order, billing, recipient, message card, and payment method.

(2) Add the item to shopping cart and continue shopping! Payment procedure is same as above.

The buyers may add some accessories to the item selected to make the item more perfect! Nonetheless, there are only 5 payment methods included credit card and bank fund transfer. This imposes limitations to the buyers and might affect the sales.

Information Provided
It provides a FAQ site to answer the queries of visitors. If they still have problems, they may contact the store as the contact details stated in the website. Information regarding store address, registration number, delivery time and venue, customer contact centre, terms and conditions and career opportunity are provided by the website.

In general...this is a simple design website with attractive products. The product prices are considered reasonable as purchase online saves a lot of effort, time, and transportation cost. However, there is room for improvement especially the design of website. It may refer to some famous websites such as Nokia.

all pic source from http://www.love.com.my/index.asp

UTAR COMPUTERS

Just had RMP test in UTAR lab. When I left 2 questions to complete my test, the screen suddenly zoomed out until I cannot read the words. Called Mr Yap and then the people came to ''recover'' the computer. Within a few second, the computer can function but my answers were ALL GONE! No choice, I had to answer the test again on the papers...

My goodness...UTAR computers have been well-known with its ''efficiency'' and ''security''. Every student would have experienced it if he/she studies in UTAR. If students can answer the online test through WBLE at home, it will be faster and easier. But now we have no choice....

pic source : http://www.mobile-weblog.com/50226711/mcommerce.gif

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

Mobile payment is a point-of-sale payment made through a mobile device such as mobile phone, smartphone, or personal digital assistant (PDA). So how does mobile payment work? For instance, in a restaurant, the bill can be paid directly from the table without waiting for waiter to bring the check. The patron would simply connect to the cash register with a wireless device ( eg. smartphone), punch in the table number and bank personal identification number (PIN), authorize payment and whole payment is done.


The latest product of mobile payment is Mobile Money or MM Wallet. Mobile Money is a PIN-based mobile payment solution launched by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd to address the flaws and bottlenecks brought by cash, cheques and credit cards. Maybank MM Wallet allows consumers to use their mobile phones to make domestic fund transfer and purchases of selected goods and services up to RM500 in value. A RM0.50 fee is charged per transaction.

Besides ordinary users, merchants are targeted market in Malaysia. They can sell to people across town, across the country and take payment around the clock, which is not possible with traditional payment systems. Transaction fee of MM Wallet is relatively cheap compared to credit card interest fee. Moreover, they only need an existing account to apply for MM Wallet. It saves them a lot of time and money to deal with these matters.

pic source : http://www.mobile-money.com/images/aboutus/image012.jpg

pic source : http://www.mobile-money.com/images/aboutus/image014.jpg

What we concerned is how would the consumers perceive and adopt this payment system? There are a few factors consumers might take into consideration when deciding whether to use MM Wallet:

1) Relative advantages of MM Wallet.
Compare the advantages of MM Wallet with traditional payment instruments pertain to time and location independent purchase possibilities.

2) Compatibility.
The ability of consumers to integrate MM Wallet into their daily lives.

3) Complexity.
Ease of use and convenience expected from the payment system.

4) Payment system security and trust in payment system provider.
The key requirements for secure financial transactions in electronic environment include confidentiality, data integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation.


source from http://project.hkkk.fi/helsinkimobility/papers/Mobile%20Applications_2_3.pdf

pic source : http://ktim.edu.my/moodle/file.php/1/exam_comic.jpg

Are you one of them???

We will have RMP test this coming Friday and yet I am not prepared for the test. I think most of you are in the same condition when talking about RMP. Anyway, wish all of us GOOD LUCK in our test...(we really need luck and for sure effort is needed)

pic source : http://bux.to/?r=hackerz0308

Article from Ecommerze.blogspot.com

Impact - to fight cyber terrorism

Malaysian Government has approved RM43 million to set up an international centre which offer the world the best brains and facilities to help fight cyber security threats.

The center is called International Multinational Partnership Against Cyber Terrorism(IMPACT). It will be based in Cyberjaya with leading names in the IT industry serving on its advisory board.

This will be the world's first international public-private sector collaborative institution against cyber terrorism. This idea was brought out last year by our Malaysian Prime Minister at the World Congress on Information Technology in Austin, US.

Well known names like Symantec Corporation, TrendMicro, F-Secure and Kaperskylab have agreed to be the key partners and serving the advisory board.

IMPACT will be run and coordinated by two local IT companies namely Ascendsys Sdn Bhd, a security services company and GITN Sdn Bhd, a government IT network company.

source from http://ecommerze.blogspot.com/search/label/Internet%20Security


Blogger's comment :

The purpose of fighting cyber security threats is good and encouraging. Security threats have been an issue when dealing with any internet activities and also the nightmare to all internet users. Thus, implementation of this project is most welcomed. However, the real questions are:

1. Does our government has the capability to respond as quickly and efficiently as possible?
2. Does our government has the necessary skills and knowledge to fend cyber-attacks?

These are crucial as we are dealing with high technology and it is ever changing and complicated. Frequent update and maintenance is vital to ensure the functionality of systems. Therefore, the government has to pump a sum of money into the maintenance works every year.

Take a look at government related websites, what do you think about those websites' maintenance? Are they up-to-date? Do they provide adequate information? Are they user-friendly? If the answers are majority yes, it indicates that the government is ready to implement such a project.

This project involves a huge amount of funds and thus a good and detailed plan is needed.to ensure the objectives achieved. Yet, I still have some questions. Can this project be carried out as planned? how to measure its effectiveness? Who, as a third party, will superintend the progress of project?

Looking at the past mega projects that launched by the government, which one has achieved its objectives successfully and efficiently? Proton? MSC? Singapore Bridge? Penang Bridge? Southern Johor Economic Region?

So, will this project be a success finally? We will wait and see.

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

In future Malaysia, e-commerce might be an usual transaction and most people trade online. However, it is hard to realize if the online security is not stringent enough. It is because one of the factors that influence consumer behaviour is perceived security and privacy. That is why until today e-commerce is not so popular in Malaysia even though it brings many advantages to the users.

I always read the news of whose credit card details were being leaked or stolen and suffered losses and inconvenience. When I purchased airline ticket through internet, somehow I have faith in the website's security level (maybe it is because the airline company is operating through internet and no security problem since incorporated). And, it proves that I was right because til today I have no subsequent problem.

Despite the websites have taken security procedures, there is certain level of risk we expose to. So, how can we protect ourselves when we engage in e-commerce activities? Be alert, resist temptation, don't simply believe in those generous offers, install antivirus,antispyware softwares...are not enough. We need to always update ourselves, knowing what is hot..(about what threats users are facing currently)

http://www.iss.net/threats/ThreatList.php
This website provides the latest information on Internet threats and vulnerabilities through notifications, such as X-Force Protection Advisories and Alerts. These notifications provide customers with information about how IBM ISS products and services can protect against the threat.

The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report offers analysis and discussion of threat activity over a six-month period. It covers Internet attacks, vulnerabilities, malicious code, phishing, spam and security risks as well as future trends.

Safer online shopping

source from http://youtube.com/watch?v=tXV8kMDsAuI

Phishing

In computer, phishing is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

Phishing technique was described in detail as early as 1987, in a paper and presentation delivered to the international HP Users Group, Interex. The first recorded mention of the term “phishing” is on the alt. online-service.

Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging, and often directs users to enter details at a website, although phone contact has also been used. Phishing ia an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users. Attempts to deal with growing number of reports phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical measures.

An example of a phishing e-mail targeted at PayPal users. In an example PayPal phish (right), spelling mistake in e-mail and the presence of an IP address in the link (visible in the tooltip under the yellow box) are both clues that this is a phishing attempt. Another giveaway is the lack of a personal greeting, although the presence of personal details would not be a guarantee of legitimacy. Other signs that the message is a fraud are misspellings of simple words and the threat of consequences such as account suspension if the recipient fails to comply with the message’s requests.

Social responses – one strategy for combating phishing is to train people to recognize phishing attempts, and to deal with them. Education can be promising; especially where training provides directs feedback. One newer phishing tactic, which uses phishing e-mails targeted at a specific company, known as spear phishing, has been harnessed to train individuals at various locations.

Technical responses – anti-phishing measures have been implemented as features embedded in browsers, as extensions or toolbars for browsers, and as part of website login procedures. There are some of the main approaches to the problems, such as helping to identify legitimate sites, browsers alerting users to fraudulent websites, augmenting password logins and eliminating phishing mail.

Monitoring and takedown – several companies offer banks and other organizations likely to suffer from phishing scams round-the-clock services to monitor, analyze an assist in shutting down phishing websites.

The Application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

Users won't transact business at a website unless they are certain it is secure. They need to ensure that your business is real and that their communications with you are private. VeriSign's solution is to issue SSL Certificate. SSL Certificate, also known as digital certificates, which is issued by a trusted third party called Certification Authority (CA),becomes the "passport" or the digital document that verify the security and authenticity of the interaction.

The SSL certificate is installed on a web server to identify the business using it to encrypt sensitive data such as credit card information. SSL Certificates give a website the ability to communicate securely with its web customers. Without a certificate, any information sent from a user’s computer to a website can be intercepted and viewed by hackers.

How SSL Certificate interaction with the Browser and the Server?

1. Browser checks the certificate to make sure that the site you are connecting to is the real site.
2. Determine encryption types that the browser and web site server can both use to understand each other.
3. Browser and Server send each other unique codes to use when scrambling or encrypting the information that will be sent.
4. The browser and server start talking using the encryption, the web browser shows the encrypting icon, and web pages are processed secured.

SSL certificates provide strong data encryption as well as reliable authentication of the site and the company with which a client is communicating. VeriSign looks to continued participation from its customers, technology partners to guide future development of products and services that allow internet user to use the internet as a secure medium for high-value online business, communications confidently.

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

The e-commerce and e-business scene in Malaysia and around the Asian region is beginning to blossom. E-commerce technology coming to the market and the growing number of Internet users buying through the net stimulate the opportunity to expand the marketplace by deploying a cost effective and efficient solution. But one of the impediments of e-commerce success is the threat of online security. The best practices to help to safeguard your personal and financial data are:

Never reply to e-mail messages that request your personal information
Be very suspicious of any e-mail message from a business or person that asks for your personal information — or one that sends you personal information and asks you to update or confirm it. Similarly, never volunteer any personal information to someone who places an unsolicited call to you.

Password
If your account allows them, strong passwords combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, which make them difficult for other people to guess. Don't use real words. Use a different password for each of your accounts and change them frequently. It's hard to remember all those passwords.

Make sure the Web site uses encryption
The Web address should be preceded by https:// instead of the usual http:// in the browser's Address bar. Also, double-click the lock icon on your browser's status bar to display the digital certificate for the site. The name that follows Issued to in the certificate should match the site that you think you're on. If you suspect that a Web site is not what it should be, leave the site immediately. Don't follow any of the instructions it presents.

Can the Spam

Be very leery of "spam" (or junk email) that works its way into your email inbox. Not only are these messages often from phishers, but they can also contain Trojan horses (viruses) that can get into your computer and send your information back to their unsavory creators. Install spam-filtering software to keep your data safe.

Set Banking Alerts

Many financial institutions are beginning to offer email and SMS alerts when your accounts reach certain conditions (being near overdraft, or having transactions over $1,000, for example). Setting alerts for your accounts can ensure that you find out about unauthorized access as soon as possible.

eBay, a successful marketplace

eBay is an electronic storefront which allows the process of buying, selling or exchanging products, services and information via computer networks. It has revolutionized consumer-to-consumer business. eBay was founded in 1995, connects hundreds of millions of people around the world every day. It empowering us to explore new opportunities and innovate together.

eBay provides the internet platforms of choice for global commerce, payments and communications. People seek fulfillment through it in their day-to-day activities. It continue to expand economic opportunity by fostering an emotionally satisfying experience for people around the world to explore, learn, shop share and talk with each other, we are also aspiring toward a more emotionally satisfying experience as human beings.

eBay’s original vision was to create the world’s first global economic democracy. We saw a “people market” in which anyone in the world could sell or buy just about anything for a fair price. And today on the eBay marketplace, trust, honesty and efficiency are rewarded more than size or status. More and more of our daily lives activities are conducted online. The internet continually enhances its ability to connect with the world around us.

eBay will continue to innovate and integrate the technologies and policies that make these day-to-day activities even more trusted, fair and efficient than they are today. Hundreds of millions of people who use eBay today are already experiencing this new way to connect. eBay will make it so easy and rewarding to engage in Social Commerce that believe hundreds of millions more will participate. And this next generation will bring with them new products, ideas and opportunities for everyone.

Discuss how e-commerce can reduce time cycle, improve employees’ empowerment and facilitate customer support.

In the business environment, traditionally there is a need for a tangible and permanent form of communication in a transaction between buyer and seller. However, in e-commerce there is the ability to communicate in an electronic form where a computer is able to recognize, reproduce and store means that business could now be conducted in a paperless environment. Electronic commerce is the process of trading across the Internet, that is, a buyer visits a seller's website and makes a transaction there.

E-commerce eliminates the traditional purchase approach, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Issuing purchase orders, obtaining multilevel approvals and tracing invoices can lead to high transaction costs. Internet procurement automates this process and helps companies increase the speed and reduce the cost of purchasing transactions. Orders will be placed electronically and the product will be produced and shipped out without the cost of middlemen. Perhaps most importantly, order status and inventory levels could be made available to both the seller and its customers. This should relieve the sales and customer-service departments of phone calls and e-mails to track orders and verify inventory levels. Cyber space can be an outstanding way to nurture the business revenue base.

Customers can reach a company on the Internet globally for 24 hours. It creates new markets and segments, allow customers to make wise purchasing decisions and increases business competitiveness. E-commerce would provide consumers with benefits such as interactive communications, fast delivery, and more customization that would only be available for consumers through online shopping. Product information in the Internet is more compact and it ranges from various sites. Users have more opportunity to choose and compare products they want to purchase or easily find and select specialized products.

Progressive leaders, such as those in many high-tech firms and Internet companies are less likely than traditional leaders to give specific instructions to employees. Rather, they’re more likely to empower employees to make decisions on their own. Empowerment means giving employees the authority (the right to make a decision without consulting the manager) and responsibility (the requirement to accept the consequences of one’s actions) to respond quickly to customer. The increasing use of computer to do routine tasks has shifted the kinds of skills needed for employees in the e-commerce industry. Employees are giving power to handle a variety of responsibilities, interact with customer and think creatively.

While the growth of the Internet is opening up new opportunities for e-commerce, however the limited understanding of e-commerce technology may leads to the cause of failure for the firms which start implementing doing their business online.

The History and Evolution of E-Commerce

What is Commerce?


Commerce is and the exchanging and buying of goods and services occurred before recorded history, now commerce is a basic activity of goods trading and buying in everyday life.

What is E-Commerce?

E-commerce (electronic commerce or EC) is the buying and selling of goods and services on the Internet, especially the World Wide Web. In practice, this term and a newer term, e-business, are often used interchangeably. For online retail selling, the term e-tailing is sometimes used.

How E-commerce gets started?

Entering into the electronic era, the way individuals and organizations do business and undertake commercial transactions have been changed. This indicates the movement towards electronic commerce. This means there is no paper work and physical interaction is limited.

• In the early of 1970s
  
  The emergence of electronic commerce started in the early 1970s with the earliest example electronic funds transfer (EFT), which allows organizations to transfer funds between one another electronically.
  
  electronic interchange (EDI) was introduced. It helps to extend inter-business transactions from financial institutions to other types of business and also provides transactions and information exchanges from suppliers to the end customers. However, the early system development was limited to special networks.

• During the 1990s
  
  With a highly developed global Internet community technology, 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.

Timeline

• 1990: Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first web browser, WorldWideWeb, 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: Netscape released the Navigator browser in October under the code name Mozilla. Pizza Hut offered pizza ordering 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: Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com 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.
  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-commerce
  

In 2007, Fortune magazine ranked Dell as the 34th-largest company in the Fortune 500 list and 8th on its annual Top 20 list of the most successful and admired companies in the USA in recognition of the company’s business model.

According to the research conducted in 2008, the domain Amazon.com attracted about 615 million customers every year.

Source: http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html

An example of an E-Commerce failure and its causes

eToys.com is a retail website that sells toys via the Internet. eToys.com was founded by CEO Toby Lenk, COO Frank Han and Bill Gross . eToys filed for an initial public offering (IPO) valued at $115 million in February 1999. However, eToys delayed the IPO due to the acquisition of BabyCenter Inc., announced in April 1999.

On May 20, 1999, eToys opened the sale of stock to the public. This helped generate praise for the online toy category. Despite the positives, eToys suffered a black eye after it failed to deliver some orders in time for Christmas 1999. eToys’ lead was put in jeopardy after major competitive of eToys; Toys “R” Us and Amazon.com formed a partnership in August 2000.

The company then spent heavily to build two enormous warehouses to handle inventory and delivery. But Christmas sales for the 2000 season drop, leaving the company out in the cold. Having run out of money and other funding options exhausted, eToys filed for bankruptcy in March 2001.

In the following months, eToys sold $5.4 million worth of inventory, trade names, logos, URL’s, and trademarks for $3.35 million to KB Toys.The reasons behind eToys' failure are an immediate need for a large infrastructure and plenty of cash to support an untested business model. eToys built too big infrastructure and spent too much money too quickly.

eToys was reborn in October 2001 as a subsidiary of KB Toys. In 2004, eToys separated from KB Toys and is owned and operated by The Parent Company.