Phishing: Examples and its prevention methods

Phishing is a type method criminals use to get to sensitive information (like usernames or passwords). It is a method of social engineering. Social-engineering schemes use 'spoofed' e-mails to lead consumers to counterfeit websites designed to trick recipients into divulging financial data such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and social security numbers. This mail appears to come from some bank or other service provider. It usually says that because of some change in the system, the users need to re-enter their usernames/passwords to confirm them. The users usually have a link to a page that looks almost like that of the real bank.

Through such practices, criminals get access data to bank accounts, or other platforms (like online trade platforms). Very often, it can also be used for identity theft.

Above is an example of a phishing email, disguised as an official email from a (fictional) bank. The sender is attempting to trick the recipient into revealing secure information by "confirming" it at the phisher's website.

While online banking and e-commerce is very safe, as a general rule you should be careful about giving out your personal financial information over the Internet. A list of recommendations below that you can use to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.

• Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information
  - unless the email is digitally signed, you can't be sure it wasn't forged or 'spoofed'
  - phishers typically include upsetting or exciting (but false) statements in their emails to get people to react immediately
  - they typically ask for information such as usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, date of birth, etc.
  - phisher emails are typically NOT personalized, but they can be. Valid messages from your bank or e-commerce company generally are personalized, but always call to check if you are unsure
• Don't use the links in an email, instant message, or chat to get to any web page if you suspect the message might not be authentic or you don't know the sender or user's handle
  - instead, call the company on the telephone, or log onto the website directly by typing in the Web adress in your browser
• Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information
  - you should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone
• Always ensure that you're using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser
• Remember not all scam sites will try to show the "https://" and/or the security lock. Get in the habit of looking at the address line, too. Were you directed to PayPal? Does the address line display something different like "http://www.gotyouscammed.com/paypal/login.htm?" Be aware of where you are going.
• Consider installing a Web browser tool bar to help protect you from known fraudulent websites. These toolbars match where you are going with lists of known phisher Web sites and will alert you.
• Regularly log into your online accounts
  - don't leave it for as long as a month before you check each account
• Regularly check your bank, credit and debit card satements to ensure that all transactions are legitimate
  - if anything is suspicious or you don't recognize the transaction, contact your bank and all card issuers
• Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied

Is mE..^^ wAI cHeE^^

Hello!! Welcome to our 4 In LoVe blog. I am Law Wai Chee or u can call my nickname..Ah May. I come from Taiping, Perak. My hobbies are sleeping, eating, watching tv, and listen music. I also like to reading books/magazines but searching for the one I like. My favorite movies are horror movies and happy ending drama. I like to listen any music, but depending on my mood. Besides that, I also like to traveling and shopping. Because of traveling can make me knowledgeable.

Online is my daily activity, as I can search for everything through the internet. The top 5 websites that I visited the most are www.hotmail.com – to check and send email to my friends, www.friendster.com – to find my friends and upload the photo, www.utar.edu.my – to check for UTAR’s news, www.google.com – to search the information for my assignment and other, www.baidu.com – to download the music. Through the internet we can do a lot of things such as chatting with friends, online shopping, download free software, making payments, buying books/products, booking airline tickets, etc. In today life, internet becomes a very important tool for everyone as it made our life easier.

Funny gal ~

I am Tan Bee Wee. I am 21 years old and come from a small town named Simpang Rengam in Johor. I have 5 siblings and parents. I love my big family. This is the first times I write a blog. Maybe someone will not believe as it is so famous and popular in today. I also seldom read other’s blog as I prefer to use my time to do something which is more meaningful and good for my future. My dream is to give my parents a better life, I hate to see they are so suffer and tough for my family. They are getting older and older and their healthy is also getting poorer and poored.

After I studied in University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), I joined the society (community service society), it makes my life a big change. I am very active to take part and organize in all the activities, such as visit to orphanage and old folk’s home, famine camp, community service camp, charity dinner, community sociology program and so on. Besides that, I also joined other society to organize event like dance night and attend the event others organized. I do not like to spend my time by studying or doing nothing at home. I like to do part time business when I am free.

I like to go shopping, traveling, watching movie, listening music, reading and surfing net. Surfing net is cheap and I can get a lot of useful information easily. Everyday I will log in http://www.hotmail.com/ and http://www.yahoo.com/to check mail and send e-mail to my business partner to tell them what I have done and learnt in a day. I like to search information and picture from http://www.google.com.my/, as it provides huge storage of information to users by free of charge. Youtube http://youtube.com/ is another free website for user; I can download a lot of video clip from there. I am also a member of friendster http://www.friendster.com/, so sometimes will upload photo and contact with my friends.

Nowadays, msn messenger is popular and famous for people to connect other. I also like to log in msn messenger to chat with friends at anywhere and anytime. E-banking is also a easy and fast way for me to pay my tuition fee of UTAR and also can check the balance and transaction of savings account. I can also buying and selling a product or service via internet like http://www.amazon.com/ and http://www.ebay.com/.

An Example of an e-commerce failure and its causes

Good technologies and products usually survive; poor ones usually go extinct. But not all of the technologies and tech products that have swirled down the drain of the tech gene pool deserved their fate. Kozmo.com is an tech that we thought it will be us forever, but that unfortunately it has gone the way of the dodo.

Kozmo.com (1998-2001)
An online store and delivery service, promised fast, friendly delivery of almost anything: a DVD rental, a bag of groceries, or just a single pack of gum. It was incredibly convenient and a heck of a bargain. It was also too good to be true. The cost of the small-time deliveries contributed to the demise of this great idea.The founder of this company are Joseph Park and Yong Kang, they started the business in March 1998 at New York City. Kozmo.com is one of the top 10 tech we miss which hailed by CNET.com.

In February 2000, it entered a five co-marketing agreement with Starbucks in order to promote its services in their coffee shops by paying $150 million. But in the end Kozmo.com ended it services in March 2001 after paying out $15 million.

In July 2000, at the height of its business, the company expanded to seven cities. It was familiar with college student, young professionals, and the urbanites, but soon the company still went out of business. It is because later they found that it was cost too much to deliver a DVD and a pack of gum. Eventually a $10 minimum charge was introduced, but that did not stop it from closing in March 2001. Before the layoffs, Kozmo.com had filed an IPO with the SEC, but it never went public. Consistent with documents filed with the SEC , the company had revenue of $3.5 million in the year 1999, with a resulting net loss of $26.3 million.

As a summary, although Kozmo.com had a great idea to have an online business, but their business still come to failure with the reason of they did not had a proper business plan. Without a proper business plan, Kozmo.com was too late to learn that its primary attraction of free delivery was also its causes of defeat.

http://www.cnet.com/4520-11136_1-6259955-1.html?tag=feat.2

How E-Commerce can reduce cycle time, improve employees' empowerment and facilitate customer support

Cycle time reduction means shortening the time it takes for a business to complete a productive activity from its beginning to end. E-commerce can reduce cycle time by eliminating steps in business processes. The steps may be redundant or can be replaced with more efficient technology solutions. the elimination of the steps speeds the overall process and reduces cycle time.

Alibaba.com (http://www.alibaba.com) is a global e-commerce powerhouse, and the largest e-commerce company in China. The company operates several e-commerce platforms that connect individuals and businesses from China, and around the world. Alibaba.com makes doing business easy, and even fun, enabling an interactive community of millions to meet, chat, search for products and trade online.

Sourcing online through Alibaba.com can cut the normal sourcing cycle by 75 percent, according to a new survey released at MAGIC 2006 by the world's largest online B2B marketplace for global trade. Alibaba.com members say it takes about three weeks to find the right trading partner and negotiate a deal through the website, compared to the average sourcing cycle of 3.3 to 4.2 months according to the Aberdeen Group. Alibaba.com reduces the souring time by bridging geographies and time zones and putting thousands of products and suppliers from around the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in one easy-to-use location. In 2006, the Aberdeen Group on a global basis business could save approximately $1.7 trillion by deploying effective e-sourcing strategies with the emergence of Alibaba.com.

E-commerce allows the decentralization of decision making and authority via empowerment and distributed systems, but simultaneously supports a centralized control. Employee empowerment means giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions regarding all aspects of product development or customer service to engage personnel in an e-business culture. It also provides greater and easier access to information provided by the employer. In e-commerce, your website is your sales office, showroom, supply chain hub, headquarters lobby and corporate image. Employees are empowered to update company's activities and provide guidance about the company and its products and services. They respond to customers' product information requests, answer their questions, and handle the complaints.

E-commerce facilitates customer support by providing a wide range of technological solutions and communication opportunities. Additionally, e-commerce supports self-help customer service so customer can answer their won questions. It also allow customers to see the full range of options available for a given product. Customers are then able to select the options that they desire and these options may be sent directly to the manufacturer or service provider. This provides a more direct link between the customer and the firm that will eventually fill their custom order.

In conclusion, e-commerce benefits consumers by providing them convenience, speed, cost, customization, personalization and communities. It benefits organizations by expanding the marketplace, creating a cost savings, improving business process and promoting interactivity. It also benefits society by improving the standard of living and delivery of public services.

The history and evolution of e-commerce

E-commerce becomes popular because it is a combination of the networking of business communities and the digitalization of business information. It also acts important roles in our lives such as we can shop or meeting anytime even we are wearing pajamas.

Trace back to the previous technology, e-commerce is still on the invention of vary old notion of “sell and buy”, electricity, cables, computers, modems, and the internet. During the 1970’s, the technology allowing this kind of commerce took hold and grew steadily throughout the 1980’s, the credit cards started to become widely use.

In 1984, EDI (electronic data interchange) is widely viewed as the beginning of e-commerce which had guaranteed that companies would be able to complete transactions with one another reliably. Unfortunately, online business stills not a reality for the average person who includes ATM and credit card transactions as well as the ability to do e-billing and e-banking. In 1991’s, thousands of business have taken up residence at web sites when the internet was opened to commercial use.

However, it wasn’t until the development of the Internet that e-commerce started looking like the type of business that we know today. For most people talking about it now, the term refers to transactions, which take place completely through the web. Computer security was strengthened enough to make consumers and businesses feel comfortable with conducting these types of transactions online. Combined with the fact that web design was improving and the speed of the Internet was increasing, e-commerce had a platform for development.

For example, Amazon.com, Inc. is the first and the most famous e-commerce companies which conduct the business to establish an affiliate marketing program and sell products such as electronics, software, MP3s, video games, footwear, health products, etc over the internet. Through this, people are able to sell or buy any items through internet without needing a whole business behind them.

For one thing, many people still didn’t have high speed internet in their homes so online shopping tended to be limited to what could be done in the workplace. Additionally, many small businesses invested too much money in creating a web presence and they weren’t able to sustain that development due to lack of funds. Today, the average person not only has a home computer but also has the high speed internet connection that lets him or her move easily between web pages. This makes it easy to do comparison-shopping online. More importantly, the availability of high speed internet has increased the ability of people to work from home.

However, the technology nowadays is rapidly growing. Both IT as well as business field are improving the skill and knowledge that needed to achieve goal, “make our living easier and convenience”.

An example of an E-Commerce success and its causes

With the changing trends of globalization and the advancement of modern technology, the development of e-commerce has boomed in the past few years. Nonetheless, an e-commerce company in order to succeed, needs to developed a strong and impressive structure and work thorough a effective organizational process with a strong and skillful management program that may help guiding the foresee change or rapid growth in the market among the other e-commerce companies.

Amazon.com was launched in 1999, which is an e-commerce best known as the first online retailer of the Internet world. Amazon is presently ruling the Internet business with its best marketing techniques and expertise in relation to the market trends and demands of its customers. It is booming through out the world of e-business with its wide range of books related to a variety of subjects and topics, committing a major source of income as well as also succeeded in marinating brand names. It is the only website that contains altogether web books, business brands and retails on a single web-based business. Therefore, Amazon does not only leads to sale books but also offer a variety of electronic items as well as video, music, health and fitness, wireless cell phones, automobile, house holds, gifts, software, hardware, kitchen utensils and many more stuff. It therefore contains items related to all ages, all interests and all fields as well as all areas.

Where the electronic business fashion is simple to understand as it provides a lower cost to its consumers due to the fact that they have lower operating costs, thus hold less inventory than the traditional stores in the market where we have to go personally shop to shop for purchasing required stuff. On the other hand Amazon.com has significantly grabbed the electronic business by selling its online books and now electronic items and other stuff. Nonetheless the effective management and consumer identification in the market lead Amazon.com to achieve tremendous success in the filed of e-commerce. It in true sense made business via Internet a wealthy way to improve profits and increase revenues. The strategy to work better and adopting a strong base of selling products marks Amazon different from the rest of the e-commerce organizations. Its prudential approach generated a marginal increase to the revenues as well as expanded its existing commercial activities.

Furthermore, the efficiency in dealing the customers and making them a priority as providing exceptional customer services continuously focus on them, makes Amazon.com on top of all the other e-commerce companies. Nonetheless the determination to achieve its goal to build the most customer-centric company of the universe with the ability to offer a healthy customer service both domestically as well as internationally has marked a great difference among the competitors of e-commerce since the last few years. In order to achieve success in their goals they hire local employees in foreign countries as they did in Germany and U.K. This not only helped them gathering information about the local market and the demand of the people of these countries but also introduced more channels and branches of Amazon.com in these foreign countries to provide them a familiar look to this e-commerce company. For instance, in United Kingdom Amazon.co.uk and for Germany they made Amazon.de. This was a brilliant idea for attracting the locals of foreign countries towards its business in regard to expansion its customers and increase in profits.

Amazon.com has immensely gained economic profit with recognition in e-commerce all over the world due to its strong organizational and effective team management strategies. But the most significant and distinguishing quality of Amazon.com is its customer relation management. Its effective customer relation policies and meeting the demands of its valuable customers are the key element that marks a distinction to its success from the other e-commerce companies.