Review A Local E-Commerce Site

Phelauwer Boutique is an online boutique that specializes in selling a wide assortment of female clothing and accessories which was created by 2 ladies or "crazy shopaholic monsters", as they comically refer themselves, to share their passion in shopping.


The site itself radiates with femininity, reflecting the items sold, from the pink flower that greets you when you first enter, to the soothing pink background used throughout the web site. Among the items offered are dresses, tops, bags, belts, shoes and the list goes on. Pictures of items are provided in abundance as well as models to give customers an idea on how the clothing would look like when worn. The site also provided some useful tools for customers looking to shop such as a size referencing chart to check their sizes before purchasing and a calculator for easy tabulation.


The shipping methods provided in this site are convenient and simple to understand. Payments can be made either through cash transfer or cash on delivery. The navigation in this website is user friendly making it easy for customers to pinpoint items of interest. Links are also provided to other sites that complements the items sold in Phelauwer Boutique. This website has also received many positive reviews from other e-shopping sites and was even awarded a certification of being a trusted online fashion shop by SPSHOP.BIZ.


Phelauwer Boutique is definately worth checking out especially for those looking for trendy, eye-catching array of clothings.

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies

A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads. Currently, all major browsers (including Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer 7) support RSS technology, which enables readers to easily read recent posts without actually visiting the blog, which is very useful for low-volume blogs.

In order to maintain a competitive edge, corporations are increasingly looking for opportunities to make them stand out. Although traditional media serves as a solid medium that disperses company messaging to the world, the trends of information consumption are evolving. After some initial hesitancy, corporations are slowly starting to realize that it is important to jump on the virtual bandwagon of blogging. This medium represents the missing ingredient that traditional media lacks: the ability to directly connect a company to its customers.

As at February 4, 2008, there are currently 136 organisations has their corporate blogs. Among the big names include Accenture, Boeing, General Motors, Google, Dell, Adobe, facebook and a lot more. A complete list can be obtained from The NewPR/Wiki. February 11, 2009.According to the research, 60 (12%) of the Fortune 500 are blogging as of

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

Internal blogs
An internal blog, 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 for collaboration and knowledge management.

External blogs
An external blog is a publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. The purpose is often used to announce new products and services (or the end of old products), to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. External corporate blogs can also offer a more honest and direct view than traditional communication channels and remaining public relations tools.

Related link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog

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

E-auctions (or electronic reverse auctions as they are sometimes called) are on-line auctions where selected bidders submit offers electronically against the purchaser’s specification. All communication following and including the invitation to pre-qualified bidders to submit new prices and/or values must be instantaneous (electronic). Electronic auctions can be used for goods, services and works. Only price and quality elements which can be expressed as a value suitable for incorporation within a formula can be included at the auction Stage. Other quality aspects must be assessed prior to the auction stage.

There are some types of e-auction fraud:
1) Bid Shielding (by the buyers)
- Done by a buyer to keep the price high until the end of an auction to discourage other bidders. The high bid is retracted leaving the buyer’s second account as the new high bidder. Note that a buyer has to have two separate accounts or a partner to accomplish this. With eBay’s new rules on late bid retractions, it is more difficult, but not impossible to ahield low bids.

2) Shilling(by the sellers)
- Sellers arrange to have fake bids placed on their items (either by associates or by using multiple user IDs) to artificially jack up bids. If the legitimate high bid does not meet their expectations as the end of an auction draws near, they might pop in to sell the item themselves.

The below following are the things to take note to prevent e-auction fraud when a consumer participating in an e-auction:
1)Become familiar with the auction website. Look and search into the websites protection policies. Consumer need to do some research about the e-auction process so that would be more familiar. Look into some of the e-auction website for example, eBay and Amazon.

2) Never ever simply give out your personal data, social security number, credit card number, or bank account information. Do not simply open that information until you have thoroughly checked out the seller and the escrow service. For example, if there are some e-mail messages from someone that you don't know who asking about your personal data such as account number, password, and credit card number which cannot just send the information without knowing more about who they asking.

3)Buyer protections such as the PayPal Protection Program shield buyers by covering up to $500 of their purchase at no additional cost. For example, the eBay Standard Purchase Protection Program provides up to $200 coverage (minus a $25 processing cost) for items that are not received or items that are not as described in the listing.

4) If you’re going to pay with a money order or a check, use an escrow service. Otherwise the seller could be gone with your money when you realize the goods are not what you expected. For details on how escrow services work for auctions, see auctions.yahoo.com and ftc.gov.

5)Many sellers don’t have process credit cards. But they might accept payments through such services as PayPal. It accepts common credit cards. The buyer makes the payment through PayPal’s Web site (http://www.paypal.com/), and the seller will immediately paid. The service is free to the buyer, while the seller pays a small free.

6)Consumers should read the requirements and conditions that the website requested. Bear in mind the specific conditions especially the conditions of payments.

7)Review the feedback forum rating for the seller.If the seller has a history of negative feedback, then the participants do not bid with the particular seller.

8)If after the sale you feel the item or payment should have been delivered already, try to work it out with the seller or buyer. Must check the received goods carefully. If there are any damage or unmatched, you must return back to the seller within the duration. Furthermore, if at that point you feel that fraud is involved, immediately contact your state attorney general’s office and the FTC at http://www.ftc.gov/

Related links:

http://www.crimcheck.com/background-check-news/whats-internet-auction-fraud-and-how-do-i-prevent-it

http://www.answers.com/topic/reverse-auctions

A review on a post on Legal from My E-Commerce blog

Review of the post "UK to get tough with illegal downloader"

Nowadays, most of the people like to listening to music or watching some movies online, and there are also many internet users who like to download music or movies from the internet to their computer. However, they do not know that most of the time, they are actually downloading them illegally and may face legal action.


According to the survey, in UK itself, there are 6 million people who download files illegally every year. This will actually cost the music and film companies millions of pounds in lost revenues.

By reading another post on custompc.co.uk, it says that the new UK legislation will force ISPs to ban anyone caught downloading files illegally. The UK government is said to be planning to introduce a 'three strikes and you're out' scheme in order to effectively ban the offenders from the Internet.

'Three strikes and you're out' scheme means that users will receive a warning e-mail for the first offence if they are suspected of wrongly downloading films or music. Then, if they did the same at the second time, they will face a suspension. Lastly, their internet contract will be terminated if they are caught for the third time.

The ISPs are asked to enforce this law and if they fail to comply, they will be prosecuted, with the suspected customer's details made available to the courts. But there are some negative voices made on this demand. The ISPs do not think it is their responsibility to monitor what the people download but the customers themselves should take it. Besides, they also face difficulty to comply because they have the obligation that they cannot disclose their customers' personal data.

Piracy ? Or Privacy ?? Which is more important between these two? This is a debatable question and also a tough problem waiting to be solved.

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

Today, pre-paid cash card with contactless interfaces are becoming increasingly popular for payment and ticketing applications. This card is very convenience and efficient for those people who time is gold and who frequently use public transport. This is because one of the pre-paid cash card benefits is save time, which no need to q up buying the ticket. Pre-paid cash card are also being introduced in personal identification such as citizen cards. For example in Malaysia, the compulsory national ID scheme MyKad includes 8 different applications and one of it applications is for pre-paid cash card (Touch ‘n Go).

1. Touch 'n Go Card

Touch ‘n Go Sdn Bhd incorporated in October 1996 and officially launched its services in March 1997. Touch ‘n Go card is an electronic purse that can be used in all highways in Malaysia, public transport in whole Selangor area, selected parking sites and theme park. Since February 2009, Touch ‘n Go has been extended their services to airport users of KL International Airport (KLIA) and Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). Touch ‘n Go has also provide innovative, reliable and efficient products and service for the user. User can reload the card at toll plazas, train stations, Automated Teller Machines (ATM), Cash Deposit Machines, Petrol kiosks and at authorized third party outlets. These bring a lot of convenience for Touch ‘n Go users.

2. Octopus Card

Octopus Holdings Limited was established in 2005. Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong. Each Octopus card has a built-in microchip containing an electronic purse and other applications which can accurately record the holders' transaction details. Therefore, Octopus card is widely used in Hong Kong for purchases on public transport, in convenience stores, fast food restaurants, supermarkets, cake shops, vending machines, schools and parking. However, Octopus card is also used for office and residential premises access control.

3. EZ-Link Card

EZ-Link Pte Ltd (EZL) was formed on the 8 January 2002. EZ-Link card is a contactless smart card, and it is similar to the Octopus card in Hong Kong. This card is commonly used in Singapore as a smartcard for paying transportation fees in the city state’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), Light Rail Transit (LRT) and public bus services. Furthermore, EZ-Link system has been expanded in Singapore branches of Mcdonald’s for payments uses. However, some schools in Singapore have also started to adopt the EZ_Link card as a way to mark the attendance of students and to pay for food served within the school campus. EZ-Link has also provided Door Access Control which by Internet Ready that allows you to manage your security system wherever you are.

4. Oyster Card

Oyster card is launched in July 2003 with a limited range of features. It is also a contactless smartcard which is similar with EZ-Link card in Singapore and Octopus card in Hong Kong. Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing which used on bus, Tube, trams, DLR, London Overground and National Rail services in London. However, Oyster card can also be used as stored-value cards, which holding electronic funds of money. This system is known as “pay as you go” (PAYG) because instead of holding a season ticket, the user only pays at the point of use.

5. Compass Card

There is another contactless smart card which called Compass card in San Diego Country. This card normally used on Metropolitan Transit System (MTS Buses), MTS Trolley, North Country Transit District (NCTD Buses (Breeze), NCTD Coaster and NCTD Sprinter routes.

Related links:

Touch n Go card:
http://www.touchngo.com.my/

Octopus card:
http://www.octopus.com.hk/company/en/index.jsp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card

EZ-Link card:
http://www.ezlink.com.sg/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZ-Link

Oyster card:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_card

Compass card:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass_Card

A review on a post on e-tailing from My E-Commerce blog

Review of the post “Using Touch n Go card to buy fast food in Malaysia will be a reality"

Touch ‘n Go is a pre-load cash card that is well-known for being a public transportation, toll and parking paying device. It brings the convenience to consumers by enhances the speed of paying for low value but high frequency transactions. Apart from the speed, users also no longer need to prepare for small change or wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction.

Touch ‘n Go expanded their applications and services towards the retail purchase, starting with particularly the fast-food industry. Now, users can buy burger, doughnut or fastfood from 21 outlets involved in a pilot scheme for Touch n Go card. Among the participating outlets are A&W, Burger King, Dunkin' Donut, 7-eleven, Carrefour hypermarkets, Caltex convenience stores and Cineleisure. The company will keep on increasing their outlets and it takes time because they had to supply the card readers and backend solutions for every outlets.

Touch ‘n Go is an electronic purse that supports Bank Negara’s move for a cashless society. Nowadays, it is strongly recommended to everyone for not bringing too many cash in hand. This is due to the increasing crime rate. By bring Touch ‘n Go instead of cash, the chances of our money being stolen or robbed will be greatly reduced.

If your card was lost or stolen, what should you do? Need not worry at all., what you have to do is just call the company to let them know that your card is stolen or lost, and they will block the card immediately for you. Worrying for the remaining value in the card? They will issue a new card to you with the exactly same amount remaining. From this you can see the benefits of holding a card rather than holding a bunch of cash.

Last but not least, the card could also be a good way of controlling children's spending as this could be their one card from taking public transport to buying their lunch or snacks. The transactions can be traced by the parents so that they know where and how much they children have spent.

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

Mobile payment is new and rapidly-adopting alternative payment method. Instead of paying with cash, check or credit cards, a consumer can use a mobile phone to pay the payments. The mobile device is now becoming an essential management tool for users. Furthermore mobile payment also called as M-payment. Mobile Payment is paying for goods, services or makes transaction with a mobile device such as mobile phone, Smartphone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), or other such device.

There are four primary models for mobile payments:
Ø Premium SMS based transactional payments
Ø Direct Mobile Billing
Ø Mobile web payments (WAP)
Ø Contactless NFC (Near Field Communication)

Through the stating of these, mobile payment systems have large potentials in Malaysia. One of the examples of mobile payment is Mobile money. Mobile Money is a PIN- based Mobile Payment Solution designed by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd. It unlocks the power of the mobile phone to make payments, allowing registered users to pay for goods and services at anytime, anywhere when using only a mobile phone with a 6-digit security PIN (Personal Identification Number) via SMS (Short Messaging Service). They give the freedom to the shoppers to buy products online and pay the merchant using his or her mobile phone without being physically present at the store.











Nowadays, the mobile payment strategies become more and more. The mobile payment can be used to purchase any number of digital goods and physical goods. For example digital goods are videos, online games subscription, ringtones, wallpapers and music offers in the newspaper, magazine or website so that can purchase using mobile device. Most of the people purchase those digital goods via mobile payment such as via GPRS or WAP or premium SMS based on the transaction payment. For example to buy the tickets such as booking cinema ticket or air ticket through mobile payment. While purchase digital goods by SMS based transaction payments or mobile web payment (WAP).

This unique method of payment, known as “Mobile Money” is speedy, convenient and cost effective. Using only the mobile phone for approval of transactions and payments, there is no longer a need for the physical plastic card, merchant terminals or Internet terminals. Payment requests are delivered via SMS and therefore, there is no need for card members to be present at the point of sales or at the merchant outlets. For example, Digi, Maxis, Hotlink, Celcom, Visa Wave Payment and Maybank are some of the example which also launch the mobile payment systems. Other example such as using the Hong Leong Mobile Credit Card of each transaction will be rewarded with instant cash rebate and the cash rebates accumulated can be used to make purchases at any “Mobile Money” retail outlet.

The potential of mobile payment system in Malaysia as the below following:
1)When using mobile payment no need to carry out a lot of money when purchase or transaction. Although the mobile payment still new developing in Malaysia.

2)To build up for the consumer to use the mobile payment so that it should be a convenient, speed, simplicity and safety way for the consumers. So that it will continue to grow consumer’s confident through the mobile payment strategies.

3)It also many increased a lot of new mobile device users. Indeed, the large mobile subscriber base and the positive transformational effects of mobile payments offer a unique opportunity to open up the financial system to more customers and communities, in order to achieve financial inclusion for all segments of our society.

For the consumer’s adoption strategies as the following:
1)The adoption of mobile payments for consumers, can educate them about the mobile payments, how to use and functions such as bill payment, mobile purchase, using those GPRS or WAP can directly make payment.

2)Provide more security collaborate solution of mobile payment for the consumers so that mobile users will more confident and satisfaction when using mobile payment.

3)At the same time, “Mobile Money” offers a whole new world of opportunities to merchants because they can also run their own loyalty programmed and offer bonus points , promotion, rewards and various incentives to their customers who are “Mobile Money” members, further enhancing the benefits as well as encourage the adoption of paying via this mobile payment system. For example, Maxis e-billing Service lets you pay or view Maxis bills online safely, securely and conveniently. Thus there are no charges when you sign up online.

Mobile Payment System



Related Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment

Maxis and Maybank testing Mobile payment systems
http://www.mobile88.com.my/News/read.asp?file=/2007/11/9/20071108201348&sec=News

Hong Leong Bank Launches the World's First Mobile Credit Card http://www.hlb.com.my/news/2005/corn148.jsp?flag=102005

DiGi- Mobile Bill Payment Systems and e-billing
http://www.digi.com.my/postpaid/digi_postpaid/why_postpaid/post_mi_hppaybill.do?page=how
http://www.digi.com.my/postpaid/digi_postpaid/why_postpaid/post_mi_ebilling.do

Credit Card Debts : Causes and Prevention

Credit cards aka plastic money, is part of a system of payments that entitles its holder to buy goods and services from a merchant on credit. Credit cards provides convenience to its holders however every so often there are hoders that are burdened by credit card debts. Debts occurs when a client uses the credit card to purchase goods and a large amount of debt would not only cause worry and stress upon the debtor, but also their immediate families. There are several causes of credit card debts:

1. Bad spending habits. This is ultimately the main cause of credit card debts. Many people feel on top of the world by the fact that they are able to buy anything they desire on the spot with a simple swipe of the card and this can more often than not lead to uncontrolled spending. What many fail to see is that they are spending on borrowed money with high interest rates (should they opt for minimum payment) which lead to bad consequences.

2. Ease of getting credit cards. Issuers make it really easy to obtain a credit card or even multiple credit cards (if you have no past debt problems that is..). The ease of getting a credit card may blind them from seeing the darker, more sinister side of it - serious DEBTS. More credit cards = More worries.

3. Peer pressures. People's attitude towards credit card debts can be easily influenced by their peers. Friends or colleagues who talk and brag about their credit cards may cause us to take credit card debts lightly.

4. Culture. The culture that a person is in can also heavily influence their attitudes toward credit card debts. Cultures that have a 'have now, pay later' mind set may take credit card debts less seriously.

There are of course ways to prevent you from drowning in debts:

1. The first is to know that a credit card should only be used as a convenience to pay when you do not have any cash on you and when you do use it, know that you are able to pay the balance before you are charged with interest.

2. Plan all your borrowings. Prepare a statement for your monthly expenses and income. If you have a surplus at the end of the month, only then should you consider using your credit card for the extra purchases you desire.

3. Resist social pressures. Just because your friends/neighbours/colleagues are boasting about the things they bought, does not mean you have to follow suit. Conforming to these pressures may cause a serious strain on your finances.

4. If all else fails, cut up your credit cards so you would not be tempted to use them. You should however, save ONE card for a rainy day.

Related links:

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

http://www.eliminate-credit-card-debt-now.com/EliminateCreditCardDebt.htm

http://www.abcarticledirectory.com/Article/Understanding-The-Causes-For-Credit-Card-Debt-Problems/167565

Phishing : Examples and its Prevention Methods

Phishing is an online identity theft scam that attempts to get hold of sensitive information such as passwords, usernames, social security numbers, and other personal information by posing as a credible/trustworthy entity in electronic communication. The attacker then uses the information gained from phishing in whatever fraudulent manner they please . The masquerades used to lure the unsuspecting usually take form of popular social websites, auction sites, online banks, online payment processors or IT Administrators. Phishing is usually carried out through email or instant messaging and often directs victims to websites that look and feel authentic where they'll be asked to key in their details. Below are several examples of phishing emails.

1. SunTrust


This phishing scam is directed to SunTrust Bank customers. This email warns that the customer's account would be suspended should they fail to comply with the instructions and even uses the company logo to increse the emails credibility.

2. eBay


Similar to SunTrust, this phishing email uses the eBay logo to achieve credibility. This email warns of a billing error and urges users to login and verify their charges.

3. PayPal


Another phishing email directed to PayPal users that users that warns of several unauthorized attempts to enter the user's account and urges them to reconfirm their account detail or risk account closure.

There are several prevention methods to avoid falling victim to this scam:

1. Avoid filling forms in email messages. Reason being, your information's destination cannot be confirmed and may possibly end up in the scammer's hands.

2. Verify legitimacy of the company before acting. Give the company a call to confirm the email's authenticity. Reputable companies do not contact their customers via email to request to update or verify an account.

3. Technological support. There are various anti-phishing measures that have been implemented as features in browsers or as part of a website login procedures. These anti-phishing measures include helping to identify legitimate websites, alerts users to fraudulent websites, augmenting password logins and eliminating phishing mail.

A review on a post on Internet Security from My E-Commerce blog

Review of the post “New Spamming Tactics”

Most of us are using the Internet frequently; some of us even can’t live without accessing to the Internet everyday. However, even though the Internet has provided a lot of convenience to us, it also has some drawbacks that are very irritating. One of the Internet security problem faced by most Internet users is SPAMMING.

I’m sure everyone hates spam. Spamming is unsolicited bulk messages sent through the electronic messaging systems. There are different form of spam which consisted e-mail spam, instant messaging spam, newsgroup spam, search engine spam, spam in blogs, mobile phone messaging spam and Internet forum spam.

For example, some advertising email is considered a spam because the email owner is forced to receive that email that he doesn’t like. Another example is instant messaging spam which is known by many MSN messenger users. Many MSN messenger users have experience that their friends sent a link to them and if they click on the link, virus, malware or spyware will attack their computer. The virus, malware or spyware will be spread to other friends itself automatically without being controlled by the owner.

I find the solution provided in the post is very useful to all Internet users to protect themselves therefore i would like to share with you all here.

1. Before clicking on any links, hovers your mouse cursor over the link.

2. A full Internet address will appear.

3. Study the full Internet address for a moment, even if you do not know exactly how to interpret it.

4. If you see numbers or words does not correspond to the company that send you the email, delete it immediately.

5. If you see an “.exe” or “.com” at the end of the address, delete it immediately too.

6. Flag the spam for your spam filter to improve it catch rate.

On the other hand, you can also install anti-spamming software to filter out and divert spam.

Also remember :

1. If you receive any e-mail from a retailer you’ve never heard or agreed to receive email from, just delete it immediately.

2. If you come across any e-mail message that has a PDF file attached but no text in the message area, just delete it.

3. Delete any e-card received from unknown person.

If you follow all the steps as advised, I believe it will greatly improve your Internet experience. Say NO to SPAM !

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

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

Nowadays a lot of data are received and store in the computer are being detected by the threat and become critical data information. Users are lack of concerns about the threats online. Those of the threats online will cause havoc and may result losing of the data. Users must be aware that their data may be stolen, loss or misused by other people through the threats such a viruses, worms, Trojan horses, phishing (refer as a crimeware technique to steal the identity of a target company to get the identities of its customers), crime ware, security hacking, back doors and etc. The computer security plays an important role in protecting users’ data and files from stolen by outside user. Security software not only just installed but it is always needed to update it to keep our data safe from those threats.

The following are the threat of online security:
Malicious Code: Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses
Malicious code is classified by how it spreads, sometimes referred as malware (a generic term for malicious software). Malware is used to commit new computer crimes. Malicious code includes viruses, worms and Trojan horses.

Viruses
A virus is a piece of software code that inserts itself into a host, including the operating systems, in order to spreads and running its host program activates the virus. A virus divided into two components. First, it has a propagation mechanism by which it spreads. Second, it has a payload that referring to what the virus does once it is executed. As we know some of the viruses simply infect and spread. Others will be do substantial damage such as deleting data files, documents can’t open and corrupting the hard drive.

Worms
A worm can spread itself when use networks to propagate and infect a computer or handheld device such as cell phone and can spread the worms via instant messages being send. It can destroy files and programs as well as disrupt the operation of computer network.

Trojan Horses
A Trojan horse is a program that appears to have a useful function but it will contains a hidden function that presents a security risk. Sometimes files be infected when the unsuspecting user runs the program, the user users unknowing it and installs the Trojan program. Once the Trojan program hidden in the computer, the user will turn on the attacked computer and display messages, files and documents on the affected computer have to delete.

Botnets
Botnet known as a huge number of hijacked Internet computers that have been set up to forward traffic, including spam and viruses to other computers via the Internet. Botnets gives criminals plenty of power on the internet at large. A lot of control over the compromised systems, it may more damaging the activities.

Security Hackers
Hackers often us several software tools readily and freely available over the Internet. Although many of these tools require expertise, hackers easily can use many of the existing tools. For example the hackers infected when the users access the computer and click on the display website, the hackers will involved in the page and show the phrase of “hacked by” when the users open the website. Actually hackers is an illegal hackers thus, frequently entering get access to a computer system to attack the internet and other networks to steal or damage the data, programs and information.

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

Backdoors
A backdoor is a set of instructions in a program that once attacker access to unsecure computers. However a backdoor is typically a password that known only to the attacker. They often install a back door program, it could be modify an existing program or hardware drive and enable to continue to access the computers without the user’s knowledge or go through any online security.

The following are the various ways to safe our data:
1)-->Never open the file attachments, link websites and e-mail from someone you don’t know and even though friends sending the file or e-mail must also be avoid to open it. Unless we ask the sender before the attachment be open it. If not maybe the data consists of the viruses.

2)-->Install or buy the standard antivirus software. Nowadays a lot of viruses spread in the computer. Install the antivirus software not only installs it as well as must be always scan computer with antivirus software and use software updates. Take advantage of free software updates from the original publishers, which often contain “patches” to fix security flaws that have been discovered by the publishers themselves. Example of antivirus software such as BitDefender, Kaspersky, AVG7, VirusBuster and etc. Those antiviruses are important to delete the threats, and eliminate the viruses.

3)-->Always turn on the firewall to prevent hackers. A firewall plays significant to examine all data packets that pass through it and takes appropriate action such as to allow or not to allow. Firewalls can be used to protect against for example viruses which range from harmless messages to erasing all your data. Firewalls will examine those messages first, if do not meet the control or security-related criteria it may block all packets sent from a given Internet address.

4)--> Recognize and avoid e-mail spam. Indicators that an e-mail may be unsolicited spam include senders whose names you do not recognize and odd phrase in the subject line. Delete such messages without opening them, and empty your “trash” folder frequently.

5)--> Less downloading and connectivity through the unknown websites. Although some of the web pages contains viruses and hackers standby to enter to your data information.

In conclusion, a lot of risky threats spreads to the unprotected computer. Therefore, safeguards such as antivirus software can protect and secure the data from online security threats. Users be aware to the threats and more well knowing the ways to safe our data.

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

How do you safeguard your personal and financial data? Do you have proper way to protect your data? Today, computer and internet is very common for everyone and most of the people have rely on computer to save their data and use internet to do online transaction. Therefore, it is important for you to take measure to protect your data from loss, damage and misuse.

Below are some suggestions for you to safeguard your personal and financial data.

1. Install and update antispyware and antivirus programs
To protect your computer against viruses and Trojan Horses, you must install anti-virus software into your computer to identify and block viruses before they infect your computer. Once you install anti-virus software, it is important to keep it up to date.

2. Install a firewall
When anyone or anything can access your computer at any time, your computers is more susceptible to being attack. Firewall provides protection against outside attackers by shielding your computer from unnecessary internet traffic. Firewalls can be configured to block data from certain locations while allowing the relevant and necessary data through. They are especially important for those who use DSL or cable modem.

3. Passwords

Passwords is another way to safeguard your personal and financial data. Therefore, when choosing an access password, it should be a strong or pass-phrase password to protect your data. But, nowadays, most people use passwords based on their personal information which are easy to remember. However, that will not be too obvious for an attacker to guess. For additional safeguard, you can use different password for every account you access online. This way, if someone does find out your password for an account, he or she will not be able to access your other accounts with the same access password.

4. Avoid accessing financial information in public

Prevent logging on to check your bank balance or other private data when using a wireless access that provide by outside coffee shop or public. Although these systems are convenient but you do not know how sturdy their firewalls are.

5. Biometric fingerprint

A good security and powerful tools which are easier and convenient for you. Biometric fingerprint can be used to prevent unauthorized physical and logical access to factory, warehouse, office, laboratory, ATM machines, desktop PCs notebook PCs and any computer network. The benefits of biometric fingerprint are that it can’t be lost even stolen, it also wouldn’t be forgotten and it is with you all the time.

6. Only make purchases on trusted sites

You should make purchase on trusted sites or well-known online retailers. This is to avoid your personal and financial data remain safety and confidential throughout the process of online purchasing. Furthermore, regardless of which website you use, you should always look for the padlock icon on the bottom of your browser to verify that the page is safe.

7. Spam

Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages to your computer. Frequently, its work into your mail box and often from phishers, which contain with Trojan Horses (viruses) that can get into your computer and send your personal information back to their unsavoury creators. So, remember NEVER EVER respond to spam

Futronic - http://www.biometric-fingerprint.com/

Six Ways to Safeguard Your Online Assets - http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103893/Six-Ways-to-Safeguard-Your-Online-Assets

Keep Your Financial Data Safe Online - http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/07/online-safety.asp

Spam (electronic) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(electronic

Revenue model for Google, Amazon.com and eBay

Revenue model is a description of how the organization will earn revenue, produce profits, and produce a superior return on invested capital. There are five basic portal revenue models: 1) Sales revenues, 2) advertising revenues, 3) subscription revenues, 4) transaction fee revenues, and 5) micro-transaction revenues.

I'm going to identify and compare the revenue model for Google, Amazon.com and eBay here.

Revenue model of GOOGLE

• Advertising revenue

1. AdWords - a pay per click advertising program which allows advertisers to present advertisements to people at the instant the people are looking for information related to what the advertiser has to offer. It reaches people when they are actively looking for information about your products and services online, and send targeted visitors directly to what you are offering.

2. AdSense – another pay per click advertising program where advertisers are required to pay every time a user clicks on their advertisement. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and video advertisements on their sites.

3. Google is currently testing a new advertising program that pays site owners based on a Cost-Per-Click or Cost-Per-Action program. This is different from AdSense ads because a site owner only gets paid whenever a visitor clicks on an ad and performs a specific action, such as purchasing a product from the advertiser. On the other hand, an AdSense text ad, generates revenue for the site owner if a user simply clicks on the ad.

Source from organicspam

Revenue models of AMAZON

• Sales revenue

Amazon offer a marketplace that allows sellers to offer their goods to be sold online. They generate revenue from commissions from suppliers when there is a sale of product. For example, they sell books, videos, electronics, and kitchen equipment on domestic and international Web sites.

• Transaction fee revenue

Amazon also charges a transaction fee when a seller successfully sold his goods to buyer through Amazon.

• Advertising revenue

In their main websites, there are few advertisement displays in the page where users browsing through some items.

• Affiliate revenue

A company can earn affiliate revenue when it receives commissions for referring customers to others web sites. AStore is an Amazon.com affiliate product which website owners can create an online store on their site. The store does not allow website owners to sell their own products directly. Website owners pick products from Amazon’s store and Amazon will earn referral fees on the products purchased. The fee structure is similar to other affiliate links and ranges from 4% to 10% of the product price.

Source from milkmom.blogspot.com

Revenue models of EBAY

• Sales revenue

eBay generate revenue by sales revenue model through its subsidiary, Half.com, offers fixed price, person-to-person selling of goods, including books, CDs, videos and games, charging a 15% commission on completed sales.

• Transaction fee revenue

The acquisition of PayPal, an online paying service system for users to buy items online more conveniently allows the exchange of money over the Internet

• Advertising revenue

eBay also earn revenue when providing direct advertising on the site and end to end service providers whose services increase the speed of transactions.


Source from milkmom.blogspot.com

• An example of an E-Commerce success and its causes

Dell.Inc is one of the world’s top providers of computer products and services such as servers, storage, workstations, notebook and notebooks computers, to businesses and consumers. Dell was an early and enthusiastic convert to the Internet, creating its first web site in 1994 and moving many of its business activities to the Internet ahead of its competitors. The company saw that its direct model gave it an advantage in selling online. The company's strategy of selling over the Internet is with no retail outlets and no middleman. Dell’s online sales channel has proven so successful and an Aberdeen Group analyst Kent Allen has asked “Does the consumer need to go to the store to buy a PC anymore?”.

History of Dell.Inc
Dell was founded in 1984 by Michael Dell on a simple concept: by selling computer systems directly to customers, they could best understand customer needs and efficiently provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs. Dell.Inc evolves business strategy by combines their revolution direct customer model with new distribution channels to reach commercial customers and individual consumers around the world.

1. Dell Delivery
Due to its efficient supply chain management, Dell is capable of shipping a PC within 24 hours of receiving an order. This introduction of the internet and e-commerce has helped Dell improve this efficiency and profitability.

2. The front end
A key part of Dell's success is that the site offers consumers "choice and control." Consumers can click through Dell and assemble computer system piece by piece, choosing components like hard drive size and processor speed based on their budgets and needs. This ability allows people to custom design and a lot of people are catch up now. Instant, this direct contact with consumers gives Dell a competitive advantage, which they know what their customers are orders and get feedback on how their site is working.

3. The back end
“Now that many e-tailers have built a customer-friendly front end, their back end supply chain is a greater focus”, says Aberdeen's Allen. The progress on making sure [e-tailers] weren't just capturing the order but was fulfilling the order. That's where Dell is continuing to succeed.

By using a direct-sales model via the internet and the telephone-network, dell has maintains a negative cash conversion cycle (CCC) through use of this model. Dell has no central warehouse facility, so Dell.Inc receives payment for the products before it has to pay for the materials. Dell also practices just-in-time (JIT) inventory-management, profiting from its attendant benefits. Dell's JIT approach utilizes the "pull" system by building computers only after customers place orders and by requesting materials from suppliers as needed.

4. Dell Ventures
Another piece of Dell’s e-commerce strategy has been Dell Ventures, which has invested $700 million in about 50 Internet companies (as of July 2000), in areas including broadband and wireless communications, business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce, ASPs, server and storage infrastructure, Internet content, and e-consulting. These investments give Dell access to new technologies without expanding its own R&D activities, and may pay off financially if the companies go public.

Dell - Purely You

The history and evolution of E-Commerce

The history and evolution of E-Commerce

What is E-Commerce?
E-commerce describes as the Electronic Commerces (EC), which known as the useful buzzword of the online business revolution. It captures the excitement and more focus through the fast emrging market. As well as history of e-commerce is an important component that helps people more understanding about the History and online with different websites via the Internet. Furthermore, E-commerce also means as a online business transaction such as nowadays a lots of people buying and selling of goods, services and information via Internet.

The concept of e-commerce is all about using the Internet to do business better and faster. For customers, e-commerces is about giving customers controlled access to their computer systems and allow people to serve themselves. While e-commerce not only for transaction of buying and selling, it is also a part of electronically communicating, collaborating and discovering information. This is sometimes named as e-business.

History of E-Commerce
EC applications firstly developed in the early 1970s with innovations such as Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), which these funds could be routed electronically from one organization to another. However this application has limited to large corporations, financial institutions, and a few other personal businesses. Firstly, development Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) refers to the computer-based systems used to perform financial transactions electronically. For example of the term of EFT such as electronic bill payment in online banking, which may delivered by EFT or paper check, payment card, direct deposit via a payroll services company and direct debit payments from customer to business.

Next, Electronic Data interchange (EDI) typically as a technology used to electronically transfer routine documents. This technology referred as expanded electronic transfers from financial transactions to other types of transaction processing. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) develop to the structured transmission of data between organisations by electronic. Electronic Data Interchange include such as e-mail, electronic bulletin boards, fax transmissions, and electronic funds transfer.

Thirdly, other systems known as Interorganizational system (IOS) applications which this strategic value has been widely recognized.

Evolution of E-Commerce
*In 1984*
In the 1980s when ATMs and telephone banking started to become popular they were also thought of as electronic commerce. It means something almost entirely different today. But in 1984, one EDI, the ASC X12, became the standard for transferring large amounts of transactions, and was adapted quickly by those institutions who wanted to do business electronically.

*In 1992*
The first records of a company letting people buy things off the computer is present as early as 1992 in the form of Compuserve, which may not have offered a great boost to international trade, import or export or global sourcing but it did provide a humble basis for future development in the arena.

* In 1994*
In 1994, the first point and click web browser was developed, called Mosaic. Then the first downloadable browser, Netscape, was developed based on Mosaic, and this gave people with Internet access the ability to participate in electronic commerce. This was really the first step in the history of e commerce that lead to the widespread e-commerce usage we see today.

*In 1995*
The year of 1995 cannot be forgotten as it marked the beginning of two giants of Amazon.com and eBay.com which do not need any introduction these days have certainly contributed in their own ways to international trade, import or export and global sourcing.

*In 1998*
In 1998, DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, provides fast, always-on Internet service to subscribers across California. This prompts people to spend more time, money and online.

*In 1999*
Infact as early as 1999 the retail sales on the internet had reached as high as twenty billion dollars according to Business.com. Napster was founded in 1999, and even though it started out as a way for users to share music files for free, its development was an important step in the history of e commerce. As it became more and more popular, consumers had a say in what they hoped to get from such a site, and e commerce and the entire industry, in general.

*In 2000*
In 2000, The U.S government extended the moratorium on Internet taxes until at least 2005. AOL and Time Warner merged, combining a completely online company with an old and established traditional company. By then, Yahoo, eBay and Amazon.com were popular sites, their names synonymous with Internet use and e commerce.

Mainly this started the push for secure ordering and more secure browser interfaces. Nowadays a lots of activities are more precisely to the termed of “Web commerce” known as the purchase of goods and services over the World Wide Web via secure servers (HTTPS , as a special server protocol which encrypts confidential ordering data for customer protection) with e-shopping carts and with electronic pay services, like credit card pay authorizations.

During the infamous “dot com” era, Ecommerce was known as “web commerce” and referred to the buying and selling of services and products over the internet via secure connections and they were made using electronic shopping carts that were made with built in electronic payment services, like credit card authorization.

As the conclusion, history and evolution of e-commerce is a history of a new, virtual world which is evolving according to the customer advantage. The most important is E-commerce allows people to buy or sell anything in anytime of the day.

• Related Link(s):
  http://www.ecommerce-journal.com/articles/electronic_commerce_aka_e_commerce_history
  
• http://newmedia.medill.northwestern.edu/courses/nmpspring01/brown/Revstream/history.htm