How to safeground our personal and financial data?

The Internet is not a safe place because it is a public network that connecting millions of computers throughout the world. Data is sent back and forth through various servers through which personal and information and financial data are housed. When we surf the internet or register to become a member, the procedure we need is to fill in some personal information. The information is including name, date of birth, gender, address, telephone, e-mail address, occupation and interests. Although most of the website has provided the privacy and security to user, hackers still have the ability to intercept and use that information, such as credit card numbers and expiry dates, to falsely do transactions.

Here are some tips for you on how to safeguard our personal and financial data:
1. Create passwords and PINs that would be hard for others to guess. And if possible, use a combination of numbers and letters.

2. Do not reveal any personal information or particularly passwords to anyone. After using any of the Financial Data Center or member services, must remember to log out properly before leaving the Financial Data Center.

3. Install antispyware and antivirus software. Symantec, Norton and Avg antivirus are popular software use by computer users. Its clean computer and protect personal information, financial data and etc.

4. Resist using free wireless connections — particularly in cafes, airports and other public places — to check personal information.

5. Use your own computer, instead of a work or public machine, to access financial and other sensitive personal information.

6. Avoid clicking on pop-up ads or downloading information from unknown sites.

7. Keep credit cards to a minimum. Only keep the ones you actually use and destroy any that you no longer use by shredding them.

8. Log out using dedicated links — rather than simply closing the account window — when conducting transactions or updating information online.


All people should cooperate between each other to prevent reveal our own or consumer personal and financial data.

Review on “More than 1 million computer viruses in circulation now” from My E-commerce Blog

The computer viruses that exist in today show us how safe are our computer and internet security. These viruses are just like the biological viruses instead they just attack on the computer system and they are man-made. With the reference from the blog, we could see that the computer viruses, worms and troj

ans are like blooming after the rain that within a period of 12 months, this malicious malware could hit a million counters.

New malicious are coming into the circulation every year where in 2007 it shows there are almost 2/3 of the malware created and this shows the increase of professional digital underground.

However, from a News in BBC on 10 April 2008, states that most of this malware are aimed on user PC running Microsoft Window. Sadly, there are reports that show that some of this malicious

software is created by competitor as a competing strategy.

The report from the Symantec is more frightening to PC user when others security firms that also report of the significant increase of the computer viruses. Knowing the dramatic increase in number of viruses is a warning sign to computer user to protect on their pc from being trespassed by the malicious malware.

blog review: More than 1 million computer viruses in circulation now

Phishing: Examples and its prevention methods

Phishing is an identity theft whereby it attempts to acquire personal information including usernames, password and account numbers by camouflage as a trustworthy entity through e-mail or instant messaging.

There are different types of phishing techniques:
a) Social engineering

– It is based on specific attributes of human decision-making called cognitive biases, whereby human have a built-in reaction to things that seem important. Normally the phisher will send an e-mail seems to be from legitimate business requesting verification of information. It contains a link to a fraudulent web page appears legitimate with a form requesting personal information.

b) Link manipulation – It includes a link in an e-mail seems like belong to the spoofed organization where the link would goes to the phishers’ site. Some spoofing used links consist of the ‘@’ symbol in the URLs were disabled in Internet Explorer or a warning message would present if using Modzilla Firefox.

c) Filter evasion – Images were used instead of text

d) Website forgery – Phishers use JavaScript commands to alter the address bar, either by placing a picture of a legitimate URL over the address bar or by closing the original address bar and open a new one with the legitimate URL. More problematic if flaws were used in a trusted website’s own scripts against the victim, such as PayPal in 2006.

e) Phone phishing – Users would be told to dial a phone number regarding problems with their bank accounts through messages claimed to be from a bank. Once dialed, users were told to enter their account numbers and PIN. Sometimes the voice phishing uses fake caller-ID data so that the calls appear to be from a trusted organization.

Here are some tips for preventing phishing scams:

a) Use firewall and anti-virus software.

b) Review web sites’ SSL certificates and own bank and credit card statements for an extra measure of safety.

c) When reading e-mails look for:

1- Generic greetings like “Dear Customer”. If bank sends an official correspondence, it should include customer’s full name.
2- Threats to account and requests for immediate action, for instance “Please reply within five business days or we will cancel your account”. Companies are not likely to be so quick to lose business as they want you as a customer.
3- Requests for personal information. Suspicious link. Links which are longer than normal, containing the “@” symbol or misspelled could be signs of phishing. Thus it is safer to retype the business’s URL into the browser rather than just click to the link in the e-mail.
4- Misspellings and poor grammar.

d) Avoid filling forms in e-mail which ask for personal financial information.

e) Install a web browser tool bar to help protect from known fraudulent websites, such as Internet Explorer version 7, FireFox version 2 and EarthLink ScamBlocker which can be downloaded at http://www.earthlink.net/earthlinktoolbar .

f) Check bank, credit and debit card statements regularly to ensure all transactions are legitimate.

g) Report phishing e-mails to Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI at http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

Here is a video on phishing:

The history and evolution of E-commerce

E-commerce consists of buying or selling of goods and services over the internet.

How does e-commerce started then?

It dates far back to the 1960s whereby the companies started to use primitive computer networks called Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). By the late 1960s ARPAnet was developed by the military which followed by researchers developed the Terminal Interface Processor (TIP) for dialing into the ARPAnet from an individual computer terminal in 1971. Eventually ARPAnet was switched to Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) which then powers the modern internet.

In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) created the first web browser named “WorldWideWeb”. Ban on commercial businesses operating over internet was then lifted by the National Science Foundation which paved the way for web-based e-commerce in 1991. Furthermore, Netscape 1.0’s release in 1994 had included an important security protocol which encrypted personal information on both sides of an online transaction as they passed through the internet named Secure Socket Layer (SSL).

The first third-party services for processing online credit card sales began to appear in 1994, whereby the most popular ones include First Virtual and CyberCash. In 1995 two of the most famous e-commerce websites-Amazon.com and eBay.com (the founding fathers of E-commerce) were developed.

Digital Subscriber Line(DSL) which provides fast and always-on Internet service to subscribers across California prompts people to spend more time and money online in 1998 further boost the e-commerce industry.

In 2007, Dell was ranked by Fortune magazine 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.

E-commerce 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. In 2008, US E-commerce and Online Retail sales projected to reach $204 billion, with an increase of 17 percent over 2007.

Get more information on E-commerce and brief history of E-commerce

Identify & compare the revenue model for Google, eBay and amazon

When we talk about search engine, online auction and online shopping; what is the website that will come in mind for the three activities? Of course, it would be Google.com, ebay.com and amazon.com.

While we are enjoying all the services provided from this website, ever wonder what is their revenue model?

This e-commerce company is actually gaining their profit through the product and services they provide.

Google.com is an e-commerce company that provides user with free search engine service to enable easy and convenient information searching. Although the company is providing free services they earn their profit through advertising. Their profit from advertisement is generated through two different models which is “pay-per-click advertisement” and “per-thousand-ads-displayed”. The function of the “pay-per-click advertisement”: whenever a user click on the advertisement that is published on the webpage, Google will charge an amount that is set by the advertiser and the charges will be accumulated throughout the time until it reach a certain sum only Google will charge the advertiser. On the other hand, the “per-thousand-ads-displayed” will charge the advertiser for every thousand advertisement that Google post on the WebPages.

In order for this revenue model to function it is work under two programmes which are the AdWords and AdSense which helps Google to post the link of the advertisement and almost 90% of the Google revenue is generated from AdWords programme.

Read more information on the Google’s revenue model.

eBay.com which is one of the most popular online auction e-commerce company in today. The company had changed the auction activity into a whole new dimension where everyone can participate and any item can be place into auction. eBay.com generate their revenue through fees charged on the seller in accordance to the item and price set. The fees include insertion fees and final value fees. The insertion fees is a listing fees that eBay charged the seller for listing their item on sales. This fee is charged on the seller account at the time of the listing. This is actually the same concept for seller selling their house through a real estate agent where they will charge fees for listing through their agency advertisement. The final value fees are same as the transaction fees. These fees are a commission fees that will be charged on the seller’s account when the item listed successfully bid. In an easier way to explain, the final value fees are just like a normal commission fees that is charged on the seller for successfully sell their item.

Read more information on the eBay revenue model, insertion fees and final value fees.

one of the successful e-commerce companies in the world. Amazon had started from an online book seller and evolved to online shopping where user could find item from books to fashion to new gadgets. It revenue model is almost similar with eBay however revenue model includes:

Transaction fees - $ 0.99 (per-transaction)

Commission - the rate of commission is vary on different types of merchandise

Variable closing fee - the price is vary from different type of merchandise

These fees are charged on the seller account.

Get more information on amazon.com fees charges

Between this three giant e-commerce company, they are using different revenue for the business to generate income. Google has been successful on its revenue model with the helps of its two programme that enable user smooth surfing and attract user. With the vast population, advertising in Google could attract more customer for the company and the fees charges to the advertiser are quite fair and with the pay per click the rate are set by the client itself. Comparing to eBay and amazon, which deal more on transaction, they are highly depended on the commission and other fees that are charge on the seller. Both eBay and amazon has set a standard rate of commission for different type of product. However, eBay does charge the seller for listing their product and the charges are not refundable. On the other hand, amazon charge the seller on the variable closing fees.

Example of eCommerce failure and its cause (WebVan 1999 - 2001)

Webvan is the one of California's biggest internet failures. I will explain the history about Webvan simply. Well, the story of WebVan is a cautionary tale for organizations contemplating entry into the online grocery delivery arena. WebVan was an online credit and delivery grocery business that went bankrupt in 2001. The Founder, a man named Louis Borders decided to create a new company that would offer home delivery of groceries, and customers would order food through its website in 1996. He called this company Webvan.

Reason why WebVan failed:

• Huge initial investments
  
• Lack of experience in the grocery industry
  
• Not knowing their target market

The first factor is huge initial investments that WebVan shelled out. WebVan began building huge distribution centers in market after market with out any proof that their way of doing online grocery was going towork. Furthermore, there was a costly investment decision that the company merged with their major rival, HomeGrocer.com. Customers who were familiar with HomeGrocer.com were mostly on the west coast, and were put off by the unfamiliarity of the new WebVan website and orders then dropped 10 - 30%. The result is very bad and make WebVan put a lot of money again in rebranding their campaign.

Secondly, they were lack of experience in the grocery industry. The creators of the company did not have experience in the very competitive industry of grocery stores. This industry has much competition and very low profit margins. It is very difficult for a new company to enter the industry. In addition, they were unable to master inventory management, warehousing, and efficient distribution of goods. And they are too optimistic in their operation planning. With lack of inventory controls and the unrealistic cost structure, there was no way for WebVan to compete with the economies of scale of the major grocery stores such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Safeway, etc.

Lastly, they did not know their target market well enough. Because they were optimistic, they did not take into consideration that capturing a market for online grocery shopping would not be that easy. Most of the people were not used to the idea of their groceries being delivered at home and not used to shopping for their groceries online at that time. Webvan believed that a very large number of people would prefer to buy groceries online and have them delivered rather than buying them at a physical location. But they were wrong. People tend to prefer the process of going to a store and picking out their groceries, especially their produce, meat, and deli items. With no charging delievery fee, groceries were sold at a higher price because WebVan did not have the low cost structure. They thought that a website giving shoppers more choice would allow them to charge the same or a premium for shopping online.

Example of an eCommerce success and its causes

Amazon is one of the world's largest eCommerce retailers of the most selection of goods, prices, and happy customers. Amazon brought in the world of successful one-to-one marketing, a personal touch from another era. Why Amazon is successful? Let's check it out!

• Amazon has many products such as books, music, video & DVDs, auctions, toys & games, consumer electronics, e-Cards, and zShop. Amazon has become a ‘one stop Internet shopping destination.’ Because of their appeal, they now have over 900,000 associates (their term for affiliate marketing companies). No doubt, you can buy almost anything on Amazon.

In other hands, Amazon's pricing goal is to offer a lower price than its competitors. With lowerprices, it can attract new customers to maximize its market share. So you don't need worry about the prices, you can usually get it at a reasonable price.

Furthermore, Amazon have made the order process became simple and this make customer feel fun and fairly easy to buy their goods. Because they create a personal feel for every user. This is the most critical component of their entire site. Customer product reviews, shipping discounts, their own credit card with bonuses, Amazon Prime membership, 1-Click ordering, product forums, etc. are all great ways to get the customer involved.

If you want to start a business, Amazon.com, most would agree, is the leader in selling online. Every other online retailers can benchmark themselves agains Amazon.com. It always improve their sales. No matter improving their customer service or improving their web site, it just make sales to increase. Amazon sells its own items and also helps businesses sell their own things as well. It's a partnership - if you are successful, Amazon.com is successful. The advantages to selling on Amazon for an online retailer, if the item does sell, they take a small commission (usually a few bucks, depending on how much the item sells for), but if it doesn't sell it's not a problem. No charge a cent at all. For examples, many other large retail companies now use Amazon to power and host their websites (Borders, Virgin Megastores, Target, Sears and many more).

"WHO AM I?"

“WHO AM I?” Well I guess most of us will think of the movie played by Jackie Chan with this title. Anyway here what I’m talking about is not the movie, is just simply introducing myself. My friends call me Irene and I’m from a small town called Seremban, although is a place with no tourist attraction place, however I love it so much because it as not as busy and hectic like kl. Basically I love food very much, and what I love the most is the beef noodles back at home. It taste so delicious and irresistible, thus whenever I go back hometown I would sure have it without failed. Although I’ve tried similar food at other places but none could replace it.

Besides that, I love to watch movie and drama series especially from Hong Kong. Anybody who has the same interest as me could always check out a website http://www.dygod.cn which I found is quite comprehensive and user friendly where I always go visit whenever I would like to download movies. I also like to download songs from http://www.sogou.com which allows me to trial listen the songs before I download to ensure the songs I downloaded is what I required. Everyday I would go online and read daily news at http://thestar.com.my which entitled me to know what is happening everyday without spending a lot of time since when I click at nation, it would have a list of news with its title and a summary of the news, and if I’m interested with the particular news I could read further more by clicking the title itself, it’s so simple and help me save money and help contribute in killing more trees since I do not have to buy physical newspaper. I would also log into online free news channel at http://bernama-tv.com and my favorite programme is ‘1Consumer’ whereby they would focus on the latest consumer problems and educate us on how we could overcome the problems through proper ways or channels that we never knew. In addition, I would log into http://www.youtube.com and watch some latest funny video clips that people around the world shared, thus it would help enlighten my day.

For me, I would say no internet means no life. Just one laptop with internet access, I could obtain whatever information I need by just google it and enjoy myself with unlimited access of different entertainment at anytime and anywhere I like! It’s so simple yet it plays an important role in my daily life. So lets google more!

Mr. Kee

What a boring afternoon, I had been sitting in front of my pc for half an hour doing nothing. Well, let’s blog. My surname is Kee and everyone calling me Akee, call me Ivan if it suits you. I came from a small ‘kampung’ in Johor Bahru which known as Masai. I had been living there since the age of 3, and there is one thing that I won’t ever forget, that’s my favorite snack after having my lunch, the ‘mee rebus’ that were sold in front of my grandfather’s house. The ‘mee rebus’ was so delicious since the first time my grandfather bought it for me.

Well, I like to play basketball, snooker and football, but my only hobby is downloading movies and songs from the internet. I usually will surf http://www.dygod.com/ to download the latest movie, I enjoy downloading these movie because I can save my time and money for me to go out and buy the ticket. I will also surf http://www.sogua.com/ to download the latest album of my favorite artist. I always play the songs when I feel stress when doing my works. During my free time, I will visit http://www.friendster.com/ or http://www.facebook.com/, these website enable me to see my friend’s latest news or what they had done during these few weeks. I also like to visit http://www.yotube.com/ to find out anything interesting movies or clips uploaded by others, I enjoyed watching these funny clips because I felt relaxing when watching them.

Ann's Introduction

This is Ann that a person is really not suitable to study accounting. But I have taking accounting course for a few years. I do not know why that I am still continuing the course. May be I think that I already waste a lot of times and money on this course, but I does not really want to give up. On the confusing way, I still believe that I can make it success. What can I do? How does I going to tell my parents that I want to quit? I do not understand what accounting mean is. The way I studies is memorize the theory on the lecture notes and do the tutorial when the exam is coming. Yes, I admit that I am lazy and cannot blame myself by the sentence ‘I am really stupid’. I am just waste a lot of time on thinking without any practicality action. I lost my passion on this course when results release.

My hobbies are online shopping, downloading songs and movies, eating, and sleeping. The advantage of online shopping for me is safe my energy to walk. Online shopping has suited my conveniences. I usually will buy woman stuffs such as bags, clothes, and accessories. The only website for me to online shopping is http://www.jbtalks.cc/. Furthermore, it is guarantee that no cheat transactions. In others hands, I also like to listen songs. I know that it is illegal to download the songs and movie from internet. No matter song or movie, I recommended a website for u all, http://www.gougou.com/ and http://www.dygod.com/. It is because the information is up to date and easy to download. Otherwise, I will also surf other websites to download the songs such as http://www.sogou.com/ and http://www.sogua.com/. In additions, I am a theatergoer. I will just need to visit http://www.tgv.com.my/ to see what movies are available now.

Is All About Me!!!

I've been sitting in front of the computer for long time just to think what to write about myself. To be as lame, my name is Saw Ed Mond. I am from Ipoh, Perak. I do have a lots of interest so I am not very sure which one is my hobby. Or I could say that trying everything is my hobby. But there are few things that I quite like to do which is sleeping and eating. Yeah, FOOD!!! There is proverb in chinese which says "We don't eat to live, but we live to eat".
Anyway, I do not surf the web a lot but most of the time if I visit any website it will be to search for entertainment. Such as http://www.crunchyroll.com/, http://www.realitylapse.com/, http://www.mininova.org/, http://www.tgv.com.my/ and http://www.gsc.com.my/. If you really go into all this website, you will see that all is on entertainment. Hence like I've mention earlier I surf for entertainment. However, it doesn't mean that I do not use the internet for getting information. Once in awhile I do will drop by at www.thestar.com.my just to get what is happening in Malaysia.
Internet really is for entertainment for me since I came to Sungai Long, the land far far away. Quite isolated from the outside world and all the fun. So internet is where the fun for me. Hence, internet is for me to watch movie, download songs, read comics and lots more. I think this is what I can think of to write.