How safe is our privacy data?(week4)

With the advancement of technology today, we normally save our personal or private data in our hard drive. The main reason we keep this data in our hard drive is for us to easily retrive our data anytime, and whereever we need to However, there are also numerous of online threats attack your computer system, personal data and privacy anytime without your attention while u access the websites.Malicious attacks are cyber attacks that can be further broken down into attacks caused by malicious code. The most common form of malicious code is computer virus. It’s a computer program can replicate itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. The virus can easily spread by a user sending it over a network on the internet or by carrying it on a removable medium such as floppy disk, CD, USB drive. For example, the May 2000”I Love You” virus was a simple and small piece of code attached to e-mail which cause e-mail servers to overload and business to shut down email. It ever caused over $100milllion in US damages and over $1 billion in worldwide losses.

Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the Internet, spyware is programming that is put in someone's computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties.A Trojan horse is a destructive program that can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on your system.

Trojans are also known to create a back door on your computer that gives malicious users access to your system, possibly allowing confidential or personal information to be compromised. Trojans unlike virus or worms, they do not reproduce by infecting other files nor do they self-replicate

Nowadays, identity theft has become general. Identity theft is online fraud that unauthorized collection and use of personal information such as social security numbers, signature, name, address, phone number, credit card information, usually for criminal purposes. Internet provides a new way for people to steal your personal information.

Crackers using internet chat rooms and spreading Trojan horses that drop key loggers on your computer to transit any passwords, usernames and credit card numbers you use on your computer back to the crackers for example paypal password . Internet identity theft has made many people hesitant about making a purchase online or signing up for what others consider everyday occurrences such as creating PayPal account, purchasing from e-commerce sites, using internet banking and checking credit card statements online

Review on local e-commerce website(week6)

The local e-commerce website that is available in Malaysia is Maybank2u.com. Maybank2u.com is one-stop financial portal that promises a new, fast, convenient and safe banking environment. It attends to all customer banking needs, along with providing online services for insurance, stock trading, bill payment and e-procurement. Maybank2u.com is an instant online banking service that our valued customers can access from the desktop or laptop anytime, anywhere at your leisure and convenience.

All Internet users can access Maybank2u.com.The user can use the Online Financial services as long as the user has one of the following items:
a) Maybank ATM Card or Credit Card linked to your account
b) Maybank Credit Card with ATM facility
c) Maybank Account or Credit Card with Internet Banking facility

If the user is not a Maybank account holder, user can register as a Maybank2u.com PayBills user. Business customers can also enjoy the online services by applying for an Internet Banking facility at the main branch.

The website of maybank2u is attractive because the webpage design is colorful and has a lot of images which can fill the pleasure of the user. Apart from that, easy to navigate is one of the strength of maybank2u because the language it used is simple, clear and have multiple languages which can suit the user needs without facing any trouble. If the user does not know how to perform the banking transaction online, the website offers a feature called demo which demonstrate to the user how the process is being performed to ensure that the user is not done it wrongly. If the problem still persists, there is “Contact Us” tabs which guide the user to ask for further assistance from the receptionist of Maybank.

Prevention of e-auction fraud(week6)

E-auction website such as e-bay provides us chance and exciting experience to bid for the things we like onlines.We can do the biding easily and without going through all the hassle. But, in the mean times, its also cause issue such as e-auction fraud. So, we have to have some security knowledge when conducting an e-auction to prevent us from becoming an e-auction fraud victim.

Website like e-bay has provide lots of tips for the user when conducting a bid .There even has a tutorial in teaching the user to be security savvy when biding in an e-auction.
There are tutorial in teaching the user to understand the e-auction security and take notes when bidding online to prevent from becoming an e-auction fraud victim, such as :
Account Protection Tutorial
Reporting Phishing & Spoof
Deterring Identity Theft
Reporting Account Theft

Each of this tutorial provide a comprehensive understanding on the security measurement to be taken when biding online.This tutorial are useful for people that are first time in biding and also enhance the security knowledge on existing online bider.Beside that, some website such as e-bay also providing rules & policies to its user when biding, and also enforce rules and regulation to govern and control the e-auction process, hence provide a safe and sound e-auction to the internet bidder

Mobile Payment(week5)

Mobile payment also calls as mobile web payment or WAP billing. Is the collection of money from a consumer via a mobile device such as their mobile phone, Smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA). Under mobile payment there are two primary models, which is Premium SMS based transaction payments and Mobile web payment (WAP). Premium SMS based transaction payments is where the consumer sends a payment request via SMS text message to a shortcode and a premium charge is applied to their phone bill. The merchant involved is informed of the payment success and can then release the paid for the goods. Whereas, Mobile wed payment is where the consumer uses web pages displayed on their mobile phone to make a payment.

Nokia and visa have teamed up to provide credit card users in Malaysia a chance to buy items using mobile phone. Using visa’s wave reader, a system that deducts a payment from a credit card when an NFC (near- field communication) mobile is pressed against it, the companies will test out the service in Kuala Lumpur where 200 users will try the technology.
The principal behind this is that customer has the cost of their calls or messages added to their mobile phone bill at an agreed tariff. This process is commonly known as Premium Billing or Reverse Billing. Any value-adding service can be offered to customers on a premium rate SMS basis. SMS costs are capped to an agreed cost per SMS MT and revenue is shared between the network operator and advertiser.
Mobile payment services are developing fast in the Europe and recently in Malaysia. Mobile payment service is also an effective means of providing customers with admission or money off vouchers which can be unique coded or designed to allow viral spread.
MobileExec currently provides premium rate SMS messaging across the all major Malaysian carriers - Celcom, DiGi, Maxis and TMtouch. Such services are currently utilised by many mobile content providers to receive requests and send ring tone, logo and picture messages.
MobileExec has successfully completed numerous such projects for Malaysian clients and more happy to share the experience with you.

Apart from convenience, security and savings, Mobile Money has much more benefits to offer to the Mobile Money Members. MM offer you Mobile Money Corporate call plan. With this plan, can make phone calls at a flat low rate to anybody on any network, and also enjoy 45 hours of free talk time within the Mobile Money Corporate Call Plan Community.
With this program, we provide an avenue for merchants to advertise their new products /services and allow our members and our mobile consumers to purchase the vouchers at a discount, and instantly gets a e Voucher.

Electronic currency (week5)

Electronic currency or electronic money refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically. Typically, this involves use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems. Example of e-currency is e-micropayment which is the equivalent of paper currency and coins which enable secure and anonymous purchase of low priced products, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit.

With the use of electronic currency, one can be benefits by it. It provide the individual with lots of convenience, and it also increase the process of transactions to be more efficiency by having a lower transaction fees, No less than that , it also provide more business opportunities with the expansion of economic activities by using Internet.

Although, electronic currency provide lots of benefit, but there are many potential issues with the use of this digital cash. The transfer of digital currencies raises many issues such as how to levy taxes and the possible ease of money laundering. There are also potential macroeconomic effects such as exchange rate instabilities and shortage of money supplies (total amount of digital cash versus total amount of real cash available, basically the possibility that digital cash could exceed the real cash available). To prevent all this issue, proper cyberspace regulations or laws has to be addressable to regulate and monitor the transactions of electronic currency.

Causes and Prevention of Credit Card Debts(week5)

Credit card debts are resulted when a consumer of a credit card company purchases an item or service through the card system without paying off the debts by accumulating the debts. As a result, the penalties for not settling the payment as well as interest go up.

The main cause of credit card debts is people cannot reasonably measure how much he or she has spent. The reason is due to they cannot physically foresee the money is flowing out from their hands. They perceive that they are not paying the money from the moment and they will keep on buying. As a consequence, the money they spent will end up in credit card debts.

People pile up credit card debt by increasing their spending without considering their income for a host of good reasons. With the advancements in every walk of life in today's world, every piece of electronic equipment or a household item or a fashion update has an increase in cost making the average monthly expense go sky high. The salaries don't increase the sameway and people with less income purchase more on their credit account and get hold of credit card debt.
Gambling is America's new entertainment. Everyone likes to gamble with the money they have. How many come back home with a bag full of cash, very few. The guarantee in this game of chance is that you will be definitely paying to the house. Gambling loans are also available which lead to debt

The prevention of credit card debts is simple, just set up a Direct Debit for the minimum amount and pay off as much of the remaining balance as possible to keep the debt low.
Besides, the smart card user only uses the card in place of cash, or to obtain a purchase they can afford, if they can pay off the cost over time. In other words, the smart card holder only spends what they can afford.

The user should never ever hold more than eight cards at any one time, as this will adversely affect credit ratings. Clear any outstanding balances and cancel cards that are no longer used. Police advise shoppers to only carry one card at a time to reduce the risk should their card be stolen.

Develop a monthly spending plan. It is important to know where your money is going. Hundreds of dollars are spent on unnecessary things and when there isa need of purchasing a required commodity you just don't have any cash left and use a credit card frequently ending up in debt. In case of debt, debt management must be adopted.A monthly plan is no more difficult then writing down your income and expenses. You are in control of your money when you make thoughtful decisions about where and when to spend your money.

If debt is growing, there are four things card holders can do immediately:
1.Move debts to the lowest interest rate available. Remember, a card holder with a good credit rating can always ring and ask the credit card company for a lower rate at any time.
2.Prioritize paying off the most expensive debt first, so interest is kept to the minimum.
3.Assess their situation fully, work out their income and expenditure, and total their debts and assets.
4.Take this information to a professional body offering free debt advice.
5.If a card holder is having major difficulties making repayments, say after losing their job, their first port of call should be the credit card company. Companies would far rather help at this stage than when the situation has escalated. Card holders can discuss freezing the card and paying off the debt at an agreed amount each month, for example. Card companies are surprisingly willing to help in cases of genuine difficulty, but this will involve major budgeting and belt-tightening by the card holder. Then they should consult a professional.

There are plenty of debt consolidation firms offering to help, but do bear in mind these companies ultimately make money from a card holder’s debt. There are four main agencies that offer free, impartial advice for those in debt: the Citizen Advice Bureau, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, National Debtline, and Payplan. These are non-profit making organizations that guide those in debt through the options available to them.

When debt has got out of control, the two major options are an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA), and bankruptcy. Never consider these without consulting the free debt agencies and/or a professional insolvency practitioner first. These are serious actions with wide-reaching consequences for future credit applications of any sort.

With the introduction of bankruptcy, the credit card companies are concerned regarding this issue where the consumer purchases as many things as possible without even considering the debts they accumulate by declaring bankruptcy. With the declaration of bankruptcy, the credit card companies are required to forgive all or much of the debt, unless such discharge of debt is successfully challenged by one or more creditors, or blocked by a bankruptcy judge on legal grounds irrespective of creditors' challenges. Due to the forgiveness of debts reduce the likelihood of making profit and continue its business, the credit companies are willing to offer another deal to the consumers which is in the border of bankruptcy. This deal consists of removal of past late fees and penalty charges, and re-aging the accounts so that the credit agencies see them as late accounts to enable clients to offset their debts.

The threat of online security: How safe is our data? (Week 4)

With the evolution of the Internet, e-commerce is very popular in the consumer behaviour. From the Internet, we can learn how to do the e-transaction and purchase from the net. Human tend to depend more on online convenience and along came another revolution of crime and security issue where some unethical users commit acts of crime on the World Wide Web. Every unprotected online computer can be affected with the viruses, malware, adware, hackers’ attacks and Trojans. There are several online security risks that can lead the users to serious monetary loss, information thievery and the attack on their computer.

The best way to overcome those problems is to use one of the many antivirus, antispyware, and firewall programs on the market; beside that also make that no anyone will ask for your password, account number, or other log-in information via e-mail or instant message. Beside this, to protect our data is safe we also can have an antivirus program to scan the entire computer for viruses. Even though most antivirus programs have an auto-protect feature that should, theoretically, prevent the insertion of a virus onto our computer, because it’s still a good idea to scan our computer periodically in the event the automatic protection feature missed something. Moreover, we can scan our computer once per week.

Furthermore, The solution for us how to protects our data for the online security, we need to uses the security issues to help us to protect our data, such as Authentication, Authorization, No repudiation, Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.