Is it safe to make use of online financial services? This is the doubt everyone concerns when they considers using online banking services. Nowadays, people tend to rely on internet to perform their daily tasks as it is convenient for us. When we make online payment or online purchase, we need to fill up our personal information such as names, date of birth, addresses, phone number, bank account, and credit card number in the online register forms. Phishing, information theft, and security hacking are potential threats that attacks our personal financial information. Therefore, it is important for us to protect the data from being damaged, misused, hacked and stolen by others.
The following tips will help us to become more aware of how to safeguard our personal and financial data.
1. Use strong password and change the password periodically.
We can use a strong password to protect access to our data. This can avoid unauthorized people attempting to view any private and confidential data. We should change the password frequently and never reveal any information, particularly passwords to anyone. Do not use passwords that are easy to guess, such as date of birth, username. A combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols will offer you more security. It is important for us to remember our passwords, because once we forget them, we may loss our data.
2. Use and update anti-virus and anti-spyware software frequently.
We should install a proper antivirus and spyware to safeguard our data against viruses and Trojan horses, such as installing Kaspersky, Symantec, avast! Antivirus or AVG Antivirus. It is also important to make sure the software is up to date and are always connected to the Internet to ensure updates are downloaded as soon as it is released. Spyware is hidden in a software programs which may affect the performance of the computer. We should perform scanning on entire computer periodically to ensure no anti-virus and anti-spyware is hiding in our computer.
3. Do not save any personal and financial data in the computer.
If we save any important data in the computer such as credit card number and ATM pin number, there is a risk of having the data stolen when others are using the computer. If we really need to save any confidential data, consider saving it temporarily on the storage device and remove that data from the device when it is finished. It is important to ensure that data had been completely erased and not just deleted.
4. Avoid accessing personal information in public.
We should use our personal computer to access personal and financial information such as e-mail or online banking. If we use shared computer in public places such as cyber café, public library and computer lab, we may be exposed to the risk of having our personal and financial information leaked or stolen by other user. Therefore, it is advisable to always log out or delete history, cookies and internet cache once we are done.
5. Install and use firewall.
Be sure to have firewall application installed in your computer. It is used to monitor network traffic, allowing and denying communications of information based on the security policy defined by the application. It also provides security against unwanted attempts in breaking into a personal computer, stealing files or harmfully manipulating the computer system through the Internet. 
Here are some links you can refer to if you want to get more information:
1.http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-008.html - Safeguarding Your Data 2.http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103893/Six-Ways-to-Safeguard-Your-Online-Assets - Six Ways to Safeguard Your Online Assets
3.http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/general/2006/09/23/safeguard-your-financial-life.aspx - Safeguard your financial life
By Lishi
Phishing is a type of scam where it attempts to trick users to submit their personal details such as their usernames, password and their bank details. It is usually carried out using e-mail or instant messaging and often direct users to enter their details in a fake website where it looks identical to the original ones.
Phishing usually occur when users receive e-mails stating that the bank is currently performing verification exercise where the user are required to enter their bank details in the link provided to verify their bank account. The linked website will look like the original bank’s website where it is almost impossible to be distinguished. Users who are not careful will most likely be tricked and are exposed to the likely hood of having their money in the bank stolen.
In fact, this had actually occurred in Malaysia. The victim received an e-mail requesting to update the victim’s account because it was upgrading its server. The message looked genuine, so the victim had no doubts in entering the bank details into a website which was a perfect replica of the original. After the victim had updated the details, the victim was told not to log in for a few hours. A few days later, the victim found out that the victim’s account was empty.
Examples:
Maybank – The first example will be a phishing e-mail from Maybank. The sender was Maybank (maybank@security.com.my)
Taken from http://www.shaolintiger.com/2009/03/23/maybank-phishing-scam-e-mails-in-malaysia/
Citibank – another phishing e-mail example is from Citibank.
Subject: Citibank Identity Theft Solutions
Recently there have been a large number of identity theft attempts targeting Citibank customers. In order to safeguard your account, we require that you update your Citibank ATM/Debit card PIN.
This update is requested of you as a precautionary measure against fraud. Please note that we have no particular indications that your details have been compromised in any way.
This process is mandatory, and if not completed within the nearest time your account may be subject to temporary suspension.
To securely update your Citibank ATM/Debit card PIN please go to:
https://www.citibank.com/signin/citifi/scripts/login2/update_pin.jsp
Please note that this update applies to your Citibank ATM/Debit card - which is linked directly to your checking account, not Citibank credit cards.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter and thank you for using Citibank!
Regards,
Madeline Walter
Head of Citi® Identity Theft Solutions
Copyright © 2004 Citicorp. All rights reserved.
Taken from http://antivirus.about.com/cs/allabout/a/citiphish_2.htm
*For more examples of phishing e-mail, please refer to http://www.millersmiles.co.uk/scams.php
Prevention Method:
As there are millions of Internet users in the world, it is almost impossible to completely prevent incidents like these to occur. However, Internet users should be educated to have better knowledge in identifying phishing sites. Users should be aware that banks never request for personal information such as personal identification numbers and passwords for banking accounts through e-mail, SMS or phone calls.
Several precaution steps users should take are:
1. Ensure the address of the website is the original website when logging in
-Always make sure you are in the correct address before logging in.
2. Never reveal your username and password on e-mail or sms
-Do not trust e-mail or sms that request for your personal details.
3. Change password frequently
-You are advised to change your password periodically.
4. Always use anti-spyware, anti-virus and personal firewall
-Install anti-virus, anti-spyware and personal firewall to ensure security on your personal computer.
5. Clear your Internet cache regularly
-Always clear your internet cache after you have logged out from internet banking. It is to ensure there are no traces of internet banking activity on your computer.
-For Internet Explorer, it can be done by clicking Tools > Internet Options > Delete Cookies and Delete Files
-For Mozilla Firefox, it can be done by clicking Tools > Clear Private Data
Please refer to the follow links for more information.
Hong Leong Bank – Online security tips - http://www.hlb.com.my/pfs/hlobtips.htm
Phish, your money’s gone - http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/18/focus/3011417&sec=focus
These days, the world is growing rapidly every second and everywhere. This is particularly true in the world of e-commerce. There are so many companies associated with e-commerce, but there is one company standing on the top position among all the companies; its name is Google.
Google is a world renowned Internet search engine. They all have a common goal, which is to use the internet to deliver information to the world, and make it universally accessible and useful. Although Google did not differ much compared to their competitors, they are innovative, as they always strive to create something new all the time.
Google Spreadsheet is a web-base application design for user to input and share data through the internet. This application has the function of saving the history of the process to prevent the loss of data. Google Spreadsheet has a Formula tab which makes it very simple to apply sum, average and a host of other Mathematical, Financial, Logical, Date, Statistical formulas. Some standard tasks like sorting needs more than a click as these functions are placed in separate tabs. It can share up to 10 users simultaneously, overcoming a key weakness of Microsoft Excel. This service is supported by IE, Firefox and other web browsers.
Besides Google Spreadsheet, Google also provides other services to the users.
For example:
Google Chrome Web Browser, it enhances user’s browsing experience by making the web faster, safer, and easier.
Google Apps, is a service from Google that features web applications such as Google email, calendar, and document applications. It creates, collaborates, communicates and shares information among the users.
Norton Security Scan, it helps to detects, eliminates and protect users from viruses, worms and other malware. It also provides free detection updates and scheduled scanning.
Google Desktop, it helps to manage all your email, files, web history, and get all your personalized info in one place using Google Sidebar.
Google Photos Screensaver, it display photos from your PC and photo sharing sites. It also gives user a cinematic slideshows experience.
Skype, it provides the service of making free voice and video calls. It is able to call landlines and mobile phones at a very low rate.
Google Earth, it zooms from space to street level view and brings the users on tour around the world with the internet. It provides the service such as mapping locations, driving directions, hotels, restaurants, and more.
Picasa, it finds, edits, and shares photos in seconds. It can remove red eye easily on a picture and fix photos.
RealPlayer, is a proprietary cross-platform media player that plays a number of media formats media formats, organizing music and videos. It also provides the service of transferring music to iPod and other portable media players.
Google Scholar, it provides a search of scholarly literature such as academic papers, articles, reports, and citations
With these several functions and many other it helps Google to stand on the top position in the world of e-commerce. Google is having a growing profit analysis in the coming few years. In year 2005, Google had revenue that reached $ 6 billion and its net profit reached $ 1.46 billion. For the next year 2006, they estimate the revenue and net profit will grow to $9 billion and $2 billion.
Google is so prominent that it is becoming a necessity in our life compare to other e-commerce companies. Every time we need to search for some new information, the first word that came in to our mind is Google. As a student, Google is really helpful to me in gathering information for assignments. The technology today has made life so much easier for us as information is just a “click” away and even more with the development of Google that is making a great effect to the world. In conclusion, I wish Google will never stop to develop new and innovative functions moreover leading the world of e-commerce to another new generation.
http://pack.google.com/intl/en/pack_installer.html - Google pack
E-commerce is the process of buying and selling of products or services over the Internet and other computer networks, most often via the World Wide Web. E-commerce is a paperless exchange of business data and information by using communication tools such as email, and to access data by using shared database and electronic bulletin boards. They are commonly referred to as electronic commerce or eCommerce. It is a subset of e-business, which defines not just buying and selling of goods and services, but also servicing customers, collaborating with business partners and conducting electronic transactions within an organisation. The concept of e-commerce is to help consumers to reduce costs while improving the quality of goods and services and increasing the speed of service delivery. E-commerce can be classified into four main categories, which are Business-to-Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-Business (C2B) and Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C).
E-commerce was first developed in the early 1970s. In the early development, e-commerce was meant to assist in the execution of commercial transaction electronically such as the usage of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). They include tasks such as sending purchase orders or invoices electronically to transact business. EDI is used to transfer of date and information from one organization to another. EFT is used to perform financial transactions electronically from one trading partner to another trading partner.
In the 1980s, the introduction of credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking were accepted and also a form of e-commerce. Two types of application were widely adopted in the late 1980s, which are electronic mail (e-mail) and groupware. From 1990s onwards, e-commerce consisted enterprise resource planning systems (ERP), data mining and data warehousing. In 2000s, e-commerce grew rapidly and became commercialized in the business world. Many companies started promoting their products and services through World Wide Web.
Major events that have evolved e-Commerce are:
In the year 1984, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) made a move forward by standardizing their format allowing companies to interact with each other. The standard known as ASC X12 also enhances the stability and reliability in transferring large amounts of transactions.
In the year 1992, the creation of Mosaic web-browser were brought to the world. It was the first graphical web browser where images and text are displayed in the same window. Mosaic web-browser was considered to have led to the Internet boom in the 1990s.
In the year 1994, the Mosaic web-browser was quickly adapted into a downloadable browser known as Netscape. They have developed the Secure Sockets Layer Protocol (SSL) for used to secure online communication by encrypting the web content. Businesses are starting to venture e-commerce; this includes the first bank that offers online internet banking services, Stanford Federal Credit Union.
In the year 1995, two e-commerce giants were launched; Amazon and eBay. Amazon started as a business selling books online but later diversified to sell more products online. Whereas eBay was an online auction site which provides a medium for buyers and sellers to transact.
The development of DSL has also contributed to the evolution of e-commerce. The idea first come about in the late 1980s and the equipment to perform the task were designed in 1993. DSL allowed a faster internet connection and provided an always-on connection to users has changed the user’s behaviour over internet. As DSL encourages users to surf internet more, it also affects users to be more exposed to e-commerce. Due to the development of DSL, AOL had made sales of 1.2 billion over the 10 week holiday season from online sales in year 1998.
In the year 1999, Napster was founded. It was an application that allows users to share their music files online. However, this had led to massive copyright infringements. This results in the shutdown of the service under court order.
In conclusion, the growth of e-commerce is significant. In just nine years, it has already reached worldwide and has become a crucial function to every business around the world.
Please refer to the links below for further clarification:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_commerce - All about E-Commerce
http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html - History of E-Commerce
http://ict.cdimm.org/man/engleza/ecomm03.pdf - History & Evolution of E-Commerce
http://newmedia.medill.northwestern.edu/courses/nmpspring01/brown/Revstream/history.htm - E-Commerce as a Revenue stream, History
http://www.flysyk02.netfirms.com/Ecommerce/History.htm - History of E-Commerce
By Lishi
When it comes to a successful e-commerce company, eBay is definitely on the list. eBay is an online auction and shopping website where large variety of products are sold. However, the products are not sold by eBay, the products are actually sold by millions of users around the world. The reason for this is that, eBay simply provides a platform for buyers and sellers to meet. eBay can be classified under C2C, where C2C means consumer-to-consumer. Consumer-to-consumer means the consumers sells directly to other consumers. 
eBay first come about known as AuctionWeb founded by Pierre Omidyar, a French-born Iranian computer programmer. Omidyar first attempts to sell his broken laser pointer online and surprisingly found a buyer. When he clarify to his buyer that the laser pointer was broken, the buyer simply said that he is a collector of broken laser pointers. It was then that Omidyar realized that anything is possible. He later expands the business by hiring his first employee and president of the company, Chris Agarpao and Jeffrey Skoll in early 1966. Originally, Omidyar tried to register the domain name as echobay.com as the site belonged to Echo Bay Technology Group, Omidyar’s consulting firm. However, it was already taken, so he shortened the name, eBay.com. eBay went public on 21 September 1998.Today, eBay has gone international. Other than their original U.S websites, they have localized eBay in many countries such as Malaysia, Japan, Thailand and many other countries. In year 2008, eBay have reported earning revenue of USD8.46 billion. There are about 276 million users worldwide registered to eBay. More importantly, people all around the world are using eBay as their primary source of income.
In Malaysia alone, study shows that 41% of eBay users consider themselves as serious sellers. This could mean that they are either seriously sourcing for products to sell on eBay or they are using eBay as their primary source of income. The study also revealed the most frequently purchased products on eBay Malaysia, which are clothing, shoes and accessories (38%), followed by books (36%) and computers and networking services (34%). In addition, the study also shows that Malaysian shoppers spent approximately RM411 on eBay out of RM542 spent online.
Factors that contribute to the success of eBay are most likely to be; Web sites design and contents, consumer education, security, and customer service and support
2. Consumer education refers to an online learning centre that provides knowledge to consumer to educate them on online auctions which are especially important for new users of online auctions. Secondly, it also refers to the availability of online auction programs or seminars, where the web sites provide seminars and programs to educate users as well as increase their brand awareness. In eBay Malaysia, they provide an education centre in their web sites where users can learn more about buying and selling information as well as security centre. Other than that, eBay also provides an online course for sellers to be certified power seller. Allowing them to train other users on selling professionally and ethically on eBay.3. Security, refers to the extent user information are safeguarded. They include secure payment mechanism and web site security. Secure payment mechanism provides safer online shopping environment and reduces risk of consumer’s payment information being exposed. Web site security enhances the security of the web site content, login information and personal information with encryption. In eBay Malaysia, transactions are either done via credit card or PayPal where both have their own security mechanism ensuring the safety of their customers. Also, eBay also provides advises on safe trading to help consumers avoid being cheated. When signing in eBay, the sites are encrypted with SSL to prevent information leaked to third party.
4. Customer service and support refers to the extent of help and the quality of support a user can expect from the web site. eBay Malaysia provides discussion boards, eBay blogs to allow discussion among users and people of eBay. Their support includes answer center, help topics, education centre and security centre which are created to help users who require assistant.
Here are some links you can refer to if you want to get more information:
1. http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/4/7/lifeliving/20815944&sec=lifeliving - How eBay started.
2. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/15/nation/19991397&sec=nation - A way to earn a living
3. http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/4/7/lifeliving/20638731&sec=lifeliving - wheeling and dealing online
4. http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2008/10/28/itfeature/2346843&sec=itfeature - By the numbers
5. http://www.naccq.ac.nz/conference05/proceedings_04/lin_auction.pdf - factors of success
By BK
Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks used by retailers or also known as e-retailers. The two biggest reasons for customers leaving an e-retailer are service failures and poor e-retailer response to customer needs. A good e-retailer response creates greater loyalty and business prospect from that customer.
Service failures can be generally classified into a number of broad categories respective of the type of e-retailer these are such as poor information quality, order problems, site design problems, billing problems payment problems, security problems, unsolicited contacts, personal detail release, post sale support and disposal / replacement options.
Example of an Ecommerce Failure
Causes
The boo.com website design was not suitable for its targeted market, it complicated design made it such that user or customers had difficulty browsing their webpage and usually had trouble to get where they wanted to go. The site’s navigation techniques were equally bad as it changed as the customer moved around the site, which frustrated those who simply wanted to buy their apparels .The site relied heavily on JavaScript and Flash technology to display pseudo-3D (two-and-a-half dimension) views and also Miss Boo, a sales-assistant-style avatar.
The first publicly released version of the website was so large; the home page alone was several hundred kilobytes which meant that users had to wait for some time for the site to load.
Furthermore the display of the site was saved and set to a fixed size window that restricted and limited the space available to view product information that was significantly important to customers. Boo.com’s website was designed for 56K modems and above. At that time broadband technologies were still not widely available, so many customer whose connections were incompatible could not excess the website. Analysts (Forbes 2002) say that the one of the main reasons that lead to the failure of Boo.com was that they were unable to administer their finances effectively and efficiently. In just 6 months from the launch of their website the founders had spent approximately 125 million dollars to market and promote the website globally.
In conclusion, the issues around e-retail failures are largely within the control of the
retailer themselves. Careful site, information, process, procedure and customer service planning, implementation and management can avoid many of the issues so prevalent in e-retail today. Consumers are now ever more sophisticated experienced and unforgiving. It is the small stuff that ruins e-retail reputations.
www.tnl.net/blog/2000/05/19/boocom-goes-bust
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble
www.fashionmall.com/INTERNATIONALBUSINESS; Swoops In for the Boo.com Fire Sale - New York Times
http://www.obfairy.com/ - Boo! And the 100 Other Dumbest Moments in e-Business History/op 10 dot-com flops - CNET.com
www.cnet.com/4520-11136_1-6278387-1.html
http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Article.aspx?id=1895. Retrieved on 2007-05-18
By abz
Some of the website I visit on a daily basis are :-
http://www.hotmail.com/ - to view emails
http://www.facebook.com/ – to interact with friends online
http://www.youtube.com/ – to watch videos
http://www.tom365.com/ – to download movies
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ - to download guitar tabs
Life is bored is a sentences always in my mind. I guess there are so many people feeling the same thing with me. Ain't you ?
Hey hey, I’m Li Shi. I am taking Bachelor of Commerce in University Tunku Abdul Rahman, currently in year 3 semester 1. I was born in Seremban and live in Mantin. Mantin is a town near Seremban which is the capital of Negeri Sembilan. It takes 20 minutes drive from Mantin to Seremban. I travel to Seremban very often, as they have more shops, restaurant and I can buy variety of things there compared to Mantin. Seremban is famous for its “Siew Pao”, beef noodle, hakka mee and crab.
I enjoy shopping very much and could walk in a shopping centre for a whole day empty handed. Sadly to say, I find it hard to buy something I like, with the right size and right design. As a result, I always go back home with disappointment. Nonetheless, I still love to shop, just walking in a shopping centre makes me happy and relieve me from all my stress.
I often surf internet when I’m free at home. I use internet to chat with my friends, play games, download songs, look for information and surf for clothes.
The websites that I visit often are:
1. Facebook, I visit this website every day. I can see photos my friends uploaded, their profile, and play games in Facebook.
2. Google, I use it to search information about my studies.
3. Yahoo!Mail, I use it to read my e-mails and forward mails.
4. WBLE@UTAR, this is a UTAR portal to enable us to retrieve notes or files online.
5. Viwawa, it is a site where we can play games with our friends or other players online.
That will be all from me. Hope me and my groups can work together well.
Thank you for reading!
Hello, I'm Ng Boon Keat, currently studying in UTAR Sg. Long campus. I born in Pahang and later moved to Subang Jaya when I was still a little boy. I'm not much of a people's person, mainly because I’m poor in my communication skills. That is why, most people often sees me as a quiet/shy guy. However, I do think I get along well with computers and gadgets. I have lots of interest on them!
My hobby is using computer. Mainly, I use my computer for surfing the internet, gaming, watching anime, movies and what most people use their computer for every day.
Sites that I usually visit are:
1. AnimeSuki, a website where they put together the latest anime shown in Japan, subbed by fansubs.
2. Google, my one stop search engine. This is the basic need of surfing the internet for me. I use it to find links and websites of things I want to find in the internet.
3. Wikipedia, a very helpful link that have taught me many things. Comes in handy when I’m trying to figure out something or curious with something.
4. Dictionary.com, is my main online dictionary. It is a must when I’m trying to come up with words, and learning new words.
5. Lowyat Forum is also a very helpful link. They have lots of discussions from gadgets, computers, to politics and lifestyles in Malaysia. Learnt a thing or two from this site as well.
Most of the time, I use internet for downloading, surfing web, playing online games, reading gadgets review and reading my mails.
That’s all about me. Thank you for reading, hope you didn’t die from boredom after reading this.