E learning offered in Malaysian universities: pros and cons from student perspective

Electronic learning (or E-Learning ) is a term for all types of technology-enhanced learning (TEL), where technology is used to support the learning process. Often the medium of instruction is through computer technology, particularly involving digital technologies. In some instances, no face- to- face interaction takes place. E-learning is used interchangeably in a wide variety of contexts. Lately, in most Universities, e-learning is used to define a specific mode to attend a course or programs of study where the students rarely, if ever, attend face-to-face for on-campus access to educational facilities, because they study online.

E-Learning lessons are generally designed to guide students through information or to help students perform in specific tasks. Information based e-Learning content communicates information to the student.
E-Learning can provide for major benefits for the organizations and individuals involved.

E-learning strategies that have been introduced into Malaysian public universities since 1996. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) are the two Malaysian public universities planned to introduce e-learning strategies into their undergraduate programs. This analysis uses some 25 interviews with the teaching and administrative staff at UKM and UTM. A critical view of the problems that these universities face in implementing their vision statements is also presented. However, testing the vision statements against the experience and opinions of teaching staff is a significant task, because ultimately it is the teachers who will drive the e-learning strategies. If teachers are not supportive of these programs, e-learning will struggle to become established.

Pros and Cons of E-Learning
E-learning has shown its great advantages through its accessibility to all students irrespective of their residence. E-classes help students to communicate with their tutors, get clarifications regarding their subjects and study and access teaching materials through e-libraries. Universities and colleges which provide online degrees involve more and more electronic facilities to give their online students fast and qualified assistance. Students’ interactions have become much easier than face-to-face communication!

Another advantage of e-learning is its time flexibility. One can get online resources, communicate with his tutor or class mates, send his query and write term paper at any time he can get access to the Internet.

E-learning or networked learning has been becoming more and more popular among students living in developing and undeveloped countries. They can afford getting higher education degrees at respectable universities and colleges by saving extra expenses for traveling, accommodation, food and high fees for tutors. E-learning can offer such students much easier and affordable way to get a good education and a prestige higher degree.

However, there are still a few disadvantages in e-learning which are enough obvious to be omitted in this article. Lack of face-to-face communication with teachers contributes lack of understanding between a student and a teacher. While a teacher cannot easily feel a student’s demands, interests and motivations, a student can simply be lazy being non-motivated enough and having free time schedule for his e-learning. This may result a low scope of the student’s knowledge and the teacher’s accusation in lack of proficiency. Next, online classes, conferences and discussions are limited in time and totally exclude emotional interactivity. Though some universities and colleges which provide online courses and give online degrees evolve voice communication through networking technologies there is still lack of gestures, vivid dialogue and feeling of your interlocutor’s presence.

E-learning as it looks today leaves so many questions and demands regarding its improvement as it gets benefits. However, its fast growing shows a great future for online degrees. One of the most influential things which stimulate e-learning development is globalization through the Internet. The globalized world of computer technologies accepts people of different cultures irrespective of their origin, boundaries, genders, races, ages and sexes. E-learning has become an integral part of this e-world and welcomes everybody who has willingness to learn and get higher education.

Read more...

E-Government in Malaysia : Its implementation so far & citizen's adoption strategies

The Electronic Government initiative in Malaysia was launched in 1990-an by introduce Malaysian Government Portal (http://www.malaysia.gov.my/) to lead the country into the Information Age. It has improved both how the government operates internally as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. It seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses; simultaneously, it will improve information flows and processes within government to improve the speed and quality of policy development, coordination and enforcement.

The vision of Electronic Government is a vision for government, businesses and citizenry working together for the benefit of Malaysia and all of its citizens. The vision focuses on effectively and efficiently delivering services from the government to the people of Malaysia, enabling the government to become more responsive to the needs of its citizens.

Government to Citizen

Electronic Services (E-Services)

E-Services is one of the pilot projects under the Electronic Government Flagship within the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiative. With E-Services, one can now conduct transactions with Government agencies, such as the Road Transport Department (RTD) and private utility companies such as Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM)
through various convenient channels such as the eServices kiosks and internet. No more
queuing, traffic jams or bureaucratic hassles and one can now conduct transaction at one’s own convenience.

The 7 pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application are as follows:
(1) Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
(2) Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
(3) Generic Office Environment (GOE)
(4) Electronic Procurement (EP)
(5) Electronic Services (E-Services)
(6) Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)
(7) E-Syariah

Example: Inland Revenue Board (IRB) of Malaysia’s provided e-Filling services that allow the submission of Tax Return Forms electronically via internet. It is a totally free service. Until 30 June 2009 record, IRB report that 1518378 malaysian are use e-filling to submit their tax report. Compare to 30 June 2009, only 216527 malaysian report their tax through e-Filling. It shows that increase 31% of malaysian are using e-Filling.

Government to Business

E-procurement

An electronic procurement system, which enables suppliers to sell goods and services to the Government through the Internet. Suppliers “open shop” on the World Wide Web, advertise their goods, present their pricing, process orders and deliveries.
Objectives:
Enables accountability and transparency
• Creates more skilled and knowledgeable workforce
• Equips the workforce with the latest technology at minimum cost

Government to Government
Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
Online system that monitors the entire lifecycle of national programs.Example: project application to approval to implementation, mid-term review and completion.

Example:

Iskandar malaysia ; Iskandar Development Region (IDR)/South Johore Economic Region(SJER)

• establish in southern of johore on 30 July 2006


• The project is administered by Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) and is named after the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Iskandar.


• The development region encompasses an area about twice the size of Singapore, including the city of Johor Bahru and towns of Pontian, Senai, Pasir Gudang and the construction of a new administrative capital in Nusajaya.


• 14 target projects


• until 2 July 2009, launched 14 project (100% launched) & attract 41 billion investment


• website : http://www.irda.com.my

(sources:http://www.chinapress.com.my/,www.malaysia.gov.my,http://www.irda.com.my/)

Read more...

Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies.

Corporate blogging is publishing blogs to reach its organizational goals. "Blog" is another name for post. Blogs in the corporate level has 2 different category. Internal and external blogs. The name speaks for itself, right? Internal blogs are blogs meant for the corporation's internal use only. Internal blogs are like intranet of the corporation. But since intranet is available, why do an organization need an internal blog?

A blog comes easy with commentaries as well as graphical depicts such as photos and videos. When using a blog, employees can view the weblog and allows anyone to post on it. It informally increases employee's participation in giving feedback, voicing complaints and well as giving suggestions to matters they do not dare to comment on when face to face with authority. There's also a sense of community.

An external blog is a blog that is open to public. The term public means that everyone and anyone can view the weblog. The point of "anyone and everyone" actually refers to customers. As blogging is becoming more popular, it can help spread attention very quickly. As long as you have interesting stuff updated to your blog, you can attract traffic faster than the work hour. Besides that, a blog I suppose is rather less messy and easier to read than a website or some flyer.

A blog doesn't need to be sold hard like other promotional efforts do. The point I want to make is that blogging does not need to be sold only as a way to have a conversation with your readers, customers and clients. As if an interaction of the business with it clients, on its newest promotion like a friend telling his friends what are the new fashion or trends available.

The primary purpose of a business is sales. And every marketing tool should support that purpose. I now have proof that blogging does, when done correctly and when our posts serve our reader's wants and needs, the basic foundation of all marketing and branding efforts. Furthermore, it is easy to manage, maintain and update your blog compared to a website.

A successful example of corporate blogging: Tenji Japanese Buffet Restaurant

(Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_blog
http://www.mpdailyfix.com/)

Read more...

Review on a post on Legal from My E-Commerce Blog

Copyright infridgement! Does this word sound familiar to you? The majority of our people here, (can't deny) loves musics and movies to name a few and buying the original copy of it ain't cheap. It cost around RM 50-RM80 in average for a single original piece of DVD. Instead of forking out money to purchase, it can be downloaded from several sources in the internet.

The unlawful downloading of copyrighted material and sharing of recorded music over the Internet in the form of MP3 files is more prominent now than since before the advent of the Internet or the invention of MP3 files. The truth is out there, promotional screener DVDs distributed by movie studios (often for consideration for awards) are a common source of unauthorized copying when movies are still in theatrical release. It is so cliche.

Not to mention, the evolving of technology has create a massive impact towards society. Have u been hearing of fraud commited through the website 15 to 20 years ago? It all increasingly happen since the beginning of the 21st century and it's getting worst.

Issues about legal rights also arises. Take Starbucks for example. In 1990, Starbucks has entered into the Chinese market but encountered a major problem there- an imitator by the name of Shanghai Xing Ba Ke coffee shops (loosely translated as Shanghai Starbucks). Due to the legal lawsuit filed by Starbucks, a Chinese court ordered the imitator to pay Starbucks RMB 500,000 (approximately RM 250,000) for copying Starbucks name and logo.

Now, it is our responsibilities to curb this silent crime and countries such as The Solviet Union, the USA, China and also Eastern Europe has collaborated to fight this activity.

Read more...

Electronic Currency

How convenient would it be if we could click on bank notes. As e-commerce is being practiced more widely, more transactions will be made. From payments of buying clothes from an online boutique to subscription fees to an online news provider. The stores could be made virtual from bricks to clicks. However, conventional payments still require physical substance like gold and banknotes. Of the development of currency, from cowrie shells to cattle, to banknotes and cheques, and now to credit cards.


Because e-commerce is relatively new, consumers choose payment methods of credit card rather than other electronic payments systems made to them. The reason is simply the familiarity of the method. Besides that, credit card provides consumer with advantages such as a credit purchase that exceeds the amount of salary the person makes, provided he pays off his account every month. On the other side of the coin, credit cards are also vulnerable to theft and fraud. Internet sellers especially dislike credit card payments because it is subjected to percentage fees which erodes profit margin.

Soon, Internet sellers who do not like the cost or risk associated with credit cards will demand money from buyers, just as sellers in real space often do. When that happens, the market will need electronic currencies that can circulate from computer to computer, around the world. Electronic money, e-money, electronic cash, electronic currency, digital money, digital cash or digital currency refers to money and scrip which is exchanged only electronically.

Based on the book: A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day by Glyn Davies, beginning of 1995, over 90% of all transactions in United States are made electronically. In the same year, trials of the Mondex smart card which is intended as a replacement for cash was introduced in Swindon in Britain while cryptographer Dr. David Chaum developed anonymous form of digital money. And in 1999, Euro becomes the currency of 11 of the member states of the European Union (Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland). Therefore Europe enters the 3rd millennium with a new currency.

The link between them?

The main idea of electronic currency is to create a single currency only transferable electronically which is not affected by currency exchange rate like real cash do.
Global electronic currencies will benefit Internet commerce in two ways. First, the currencies can serve as universal media of exchange. Once a user acquires a global electronic currency, he can enter into transactions around the world without having to pay exchange fees. Second, the currencies will provide global units of account, enabling buyers and sellers all over the world to understand what goods and services are worth without calculation.


Now how is E-currency made possible?

Public-key cryptography and digital signatures (both blind and non-blind signatures) make e-money possible. The basic gist is that banks and customers would have public-key encryption keys. Public-key encryption keys come in pairs. A private key known only to the owner, and a public key, made available to everyone. Whatever the private key encrypts, the public key can decrypt, and vice verse.

Banks and customers use their keys to encrypt (for security) and sign (for identification) blocks of digital data that represent money orders. A bank "signs" money orders using its private key and customers and merchants verify the signed money orders using the bank's widely published public key. Customers sign deposits and withdraws using their private key and the bank uses the customer's public key to verify the signed withdraws and deposits.

The 2 types of E-currency.

In general, there are two distinct types of e-money: identified e-money and anonymous e-money (also known as digital cash). Identified e-money contains information revealing the identity of the person who originally withdrew the money from the bank. Also, in much the same manner as credit cards, identified e-money enables the bank to track the money as it moves through the economy. Anonymous e-money works just like real paper cash. Once anonymous e-money is withdrawn from an account, it can be spent or given away without leaving a transaction trail. You create anonymous e-money by using blind signatures rather than non-blind signatures.

(Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_money
http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/
http://www.law.berkeley.edu)

Read more...

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers

A prepaid cash card allows consumers to purchase something even when they don’t have the cash to pay for it. It benefits consumers in their everyday life.

Though it works almost the same like a credit card, a prepaid cash card is different because it allows consumers to have a better control over their finance. Prepaid cash cards offer advantages both in terms of limiting spending and fraud. The user of prepaid cash can load the amount of money they want onto their card but will be have spending limit.

For any purchases transaction, the sum will be subtracted from the card balance. You can always pump in more money when the balance runs low by transferring money from your regular checking or savings account.

The advantages of holding a Debit Card for a consumer are as follow:

1. Easy Payment
Debit Card is the simplest and most convenient way of making payment of goods and/or services purchased.

2. Convenience
The major advantage is that you need not require carrying bulky cash, as the small plastic is convenient to place in your wallet.

3. Replacement
In case your card is lost/stolen, you can immediately block the usage by informing the bank and get a replacement one.
4. Emergency Use
It is useful during emergency situations like shortage of cash, late night etc

5. Easy For Travelers
You can benefit from our International card if you are frequent traveler as it prevents hassles of foreign exchange.

Read more...

Mobile payment systems in Malaysia : Its potential & consumers' adoption strategies

Mobile Money is a PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution designed by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd to address the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheques and credit cards. It unlocks the power of the mobile phone to make payments, allowing registered users to pay for goods and services at anytime, anywhere using only a mobile phone coupled with a 6-digit security PIN (Personal Identification Number) via SMS (Short Messaging Service). This gives the freedom to shoppers to buy products online and pay the merchant using his/her mobile phone without being physically present at the store.

The mobile payment have high rate and potential to grow as consumption pattern for Malaysian with a population of 27 million and 25 million mobile phone subscribers(88% of the Malaysian). Bank Negara Malaysia Governor, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said there were immense opportunities to leverage on mobile phones to accelerate the migration to electronic payments, to widen the reach and appeal of electronic payment services, and to deliver innovative mobile payment products that offer speed and convenience at minimal cost for the public. To date, there are only 460,000 subscribers for mobile banking and payment services. This represents only 1.8 percent of the 25 million mobile phone subscribers in the country.

Mobile Phone Can Become Important Electronic Payment Channel, Says BNM. (2008, June). Retrieve June 3, 2008, from: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=337023


Maxis Launches Contactless Mobile Payment Service

Maxis Communications Bhd, in collaboration with Nokia, Visa, Maybank and Touch 'n Go, has launched Maxis FastTap, an integrated mobile payment service that utilises Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

• Use Nokia 6216 Classic phones to purchase goods and services at more than 1,800 Visa payWave merchant locations as well as pay for toll, transit, parking and theme park charges at over 3,000 Touch 'n Go points nationwide
• Nokia 6216 Classic phone that is embedded with an NFC chip to enable secure, contactless payments and transactions, as well as to able to read and download information
• Mobile payments using NFC, a shot-range wireless technology that allows communications between devices at close range.
• 1st global commercial service using Visa payWave and on a Nokia mobile phone
• 1st commercial use in the world that features over-the-air personalisation of credit card information over a mobile service operator's network using the Trusted Service Manager interface

Maxis Launches Contactless Mobile Payment Service.(2009, April). Retrieve April 9, 2009 from

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v5/news_lite.php?id=402896

Read more...

Credit Card Debts: Causes and Prevention

In Malaysia, the current credit card debt stood at RM24.4 billion on March 2009 itself which was relatively low compared with other regions while countries such as England is facing a credit card debt going into trillions of pounds.(Source:Mmail.com)

The question is what are the major causes of credit card debts? How can we prevent it from falling upon us? The answer to it will be explained next.

Top 5 causes of debt

1) Less income/Same expenses

For instants, the main breadwinner of the household loses his job but monthly expenses are not on par with the reduction in income. This obviously leads to a rise in debt. The family is forced to use their credit cards for groceries, utilities.

2) Poor money management

Not having a monthly spending plan and not keeping track of monthly bills makes you unaware of where your money is going. You might be spending hundreds of dollars every month towards items that are useless and yet you do not realize it.

3) Under-employment

If you are underemployed meaning you are not getting enough working hours at your job, you should also cut down on your lifestyle to match your current income. Live within your means.

4) Hoping to win the lottery

Most people hope to win the lottery but the chances of that happening are 0%. Do not spend tomorrow's saved money today just because you expect a promotion in your job or are expecting an inheritance from a deceased grandfather. We all know things can go wrong more easily than going right.

5) Huge medical expenses

The cost of obtaining cures and medicine is increasing every year. Almost all doctors accept credit cards here in Malaysia. While you need treatment now, you do not have the cash. So what do you do? You use your credit card because you do not have enough savings in the bank.(#point 2)


Credit cards are not evil and in many cases having a credit card is very necessary. Some people just need solid credit card debt management advice in order to keep everything under control. Hence, here are the guidelines.


1) Stop accruing more debt

The more you continue to spend, the longer it will take for you to pay it off. Reduce your spending. If you have high interest credit cards, transfer the balance to ones with a lower APR. That way your debt won’t increase while as you’re paying it off.

2) Increase your income

If your current salary isn’t enough to cover the payments on your debt, get a second job. Even a few hours a week can make a huge difference. Look for flexible freelance work that will fit around the rest of your life.

3) Change your spending philosophy

Are you only buying the things you really need? Those impulse purchases may feel good at the moment, but in the long run, they will only get you further into debt. If you’re going to get out of debt, you will need to change your whole attitude to spending.

4) Make a budget and stick to it

It easy to overspend when you don’t have a budget. Calculate how much you have to spend and stick to that limit. Write down all of your expenses so you know where your money is going.


Video: How to create a Do-able budget



5) Set up an emergency fund

When you’re in debt, it’s hard to think about putting something aside for a rainy day. Every day feels like a downpour. But it’s crucial to have even a small emergency fund. Just make sure you don’t tap into it unless it’s truly an emergency.


Video: How to get out from Under Your Credit Card Debt


(Sources:
www.3debtconsolidation.com
www.ezinearticles.com
www.linkroll.com
www.bankrate.com
www.youtube.com)

Read more...

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

Data, considered as a valuable asset is definitely the thing most wants to get hold to. Data of customers or of the company itself, are able to disclose information that are normally very difficult to be attained. Contact number, address, credit card number and bank account number are such information hidden within the data of a person from the strangers. However by knowing all these data of a person, it is possible to perform illegal activities on that person. For example, hacking into his bank account to withdraw his personal savings. The data can also be used to manipulate the person, that is by knowing things he like, special promotional activities can be used to target him.

With the ever growing potential and usage of the internet, it is crucial to maintain a high level of security to ensure our privacy. How exactly should one protect and keep his personal data, especially financial data from being intruded and exploited?

1. Be sure to keep your personal and sensitive data off your computer. What can a virus or spyware program possible do with your personal data if you don’t store it on your computer? It’s simple and very effective. Try your best to keep bank account numbers, passwords, etc off your computer. If you want to keep it in electronic format for easy access, that’s fine, simply buy a secondary storage (pendrive) and store all the sensitive files there. Keep it in a safe place and if you need to refer to the documents, then just plug in your drive. What can someone steal when there's nothing to be stolen?

2. Try to connect only to secured network. If you have a home wireless network, secure it quickly. Connecting to non-secure wireless networks is asking for trouble. Most people’s computers constantly have spyware on their computers because they connect to lots of insecure hotel wireless networks constantly. Try avoiding sharing network especially public network if possible.

3. If you have to do any online transaction, clear your browser’s cache after each transaction. Sometimes your browser will save certain information you typed into forms or blanks when you are online, so it’s always good to clear that after you’re done. Also, if you get that message sometimes from your browser asking you whether you want it to automatically save your passwords, click no. If you do, someone else using your computer will have access to it without having to login because you've SAVED the password!

4. Make sure anti-virus and anti-spyware are installed and up-to-date. You can either buy excellent anti-virus programs like Kaspersky Anti-Virus or free programs like AVG, which is pretty good too. Either way, make sure you have something installed. Make sure you have a strong firewall too, to block unauthorized access as well as to fend off annoying pop-ups. Don't forget to constantly scan your hard drive for viruses too, in case any sneaked in.

5. Make sure the URL has an HTTPS instead of HTTP. The S makes all the difference because it stands for secure. When you buy something from Amazon or another big site, once you being to checkout, the URL always starts with a HTTPS. This means that the communication between your computer and their server is secure and encrypted. If someone tries to read the data as it travels across the Internet, they won’t be able to understand or decipher it. If you’re buying something from a smaller site and they don’t have HTTPS, and its more risky.

6. Try to "lock" your computer when you're not using it. This is another one of those tips that most people don’t think about, especially at your office. If you leave for lunch and your computer is just on without a password-protected screen saver, what will stop a snoopy co-worker to get onto your computer and look through your personal information? It may not seem likely, but it can very well happen and it’s better to press CNTRL-ALT-DELTE and press Lock Computer or put a password on your screen saver or simply use an extra program like Lock My PC.

7. Be careful who you give your computer to when it needs fixing. Sad to have so many unethical people around. People simply trust technical support people too much. If someone is going to fix your computer, have them come over to your house and just watch as they do it. When you’re off in another room while they fix your computer, they can also be copying your entire hard drive for themselves. Its just as easy as 1,2,3 for them to copy your whole hard drive for them to slowly explore after that to dig up your personal data.

8. If you really have to send or save very important data in your computer, use advanced techniques like encryption, anonymous browsing, virtualization software to hide them. You can encrypt your data, browse the Internet anonymously, or run IE or Firefox in a virtual environment. The advantage of the latter is that you can actually catch a virus or spyware program in the virtual environment and it won’t affect your operating system at all.

If your personal information is really that important, or if you simply like to keep your personal information personal, put more effort into precaution. Fend of attacks before you get attacked. Offensive is always better than defensive. It is better to prevent than to cure.

(Sources:
http://www.online-tech-tips.com
http://images.google.com)

Read more...

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

Nowadays, people rely on computers to create, store and manage critical information. Consequently, it is important for users to aware that computer security plays a major role in protecting their data from loss, damage, and misuse. Similarly, online security has been online trader’s main concern in protecting their websites from potential threats.

Since the Internet is a public system in which every transaction can be tracked, logged, monitored and stored in many locations, it is important for businesses to understand possible security threats to their business.

Confidentiality, integrity, and availability are the three main concepts of security. First, confidentiality allows only authorized parties to read protected information. Second is integrity that ensures data remains as is from the sender to the receiver. Lastly is availability which is ensures you have access and are authorized to resources.

Evidence from variety of security surveys provides a mixed picture of cyber attacks and crimes in e-commerce. Some of the trends which had been collected by Computer Security Institute (CSI) and the San Francisco Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Computer Intrusion Squad through surveys include the following:

- Most of the organizations conduct security audits and employ a variety of technologies and procedures like antivirus software and firewalls to defend against cyber attacks. Between 65%-70% use access control lists, intrusion detection, and data encryption.

- Organizations still are reserved to report computer intrusions to legal authorities because they feared negative publicity or were worried that their competitors would use it against them.


There are many threats to e-commerce that may come from sources within an organization or individual. Followings are some of the potential security threats that can be found such as:

1. Sniffing the network - Here, the attacker monitors the data between the shopper’s computer and the server. He collects data about the shopper or steals personal information, such as credit card numbers.

2. Snooping the shopper’s computer - Most users’ knowledge of security vulnerabilities of their systems is vague at best. Additionally, software and hardware vendors, in their quest to ensure that their products are easy to install, will ship products with security features disabled. In most cases, enabling security features requires a non-technical user to read manuals written for the technologist. The confused user does not attempt to enable the security features. This creates a treasure trove for attackers.

3. Using known server bugs - The attacker analyzes the site to find what types of software are used on the site. He then proceeds to find what patches were issued for the software. Additionally, he searches on how to exploit a system without the patch. He proceeds to try each of the exploits. The sophisticated attacker finds a weakness in a similar type of software, and tries to use that to exploit the system. This is a simple, but effective attack.

4. Tricking the shopper - It is one of the easiest and most profitable attacks, also known as social engineering techniques. These attacks involve surveillance of the shopper’s behavior, gathering information to use against the shopper. For example, a mother’s maiden name is a common challenge question used by numerous sites. If one of these sites is tricked into giving away a password once the challenge question is provided, then not only has this site been compromised, but it is also likely that the shopper used the same logon ID and password on other sites.



Our advice is check your computers frequently for possible conficker infection as well as other vulnerabilities and take the appropriate action. Use protective security sofeware (antivirus, firewalls, and antiphishing tools) and keep up to date.

Read more...

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

Certification Authority (CA) is a trusted third-party organization that issues digital certificates used to create digital signatures and public-private key pairs.It contains your name, a serial number, expiration dates, a copy of the certificate holder's public key used for encrypting messages and digital signatures and the digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority so that a recipient can verify that the certificate is real. Digital certificates can be kept in registries so that authenticating users can look up other users' public keys.

The role of the CA in this process is to guarantee that the individual granted the unique certificate is, in fact, who he or she claims to be. CAs are a critical component in data security and e-commerce because they guarantee that the two parties exchanging information are really who they claim to be.
Retrieve from :http://www.neowave.com.my/ecommerce_glossary.asp


The most famous application of 3rd party certification program in Malaysia is provided by

MSC Trustgate.com Sdn. Bhd

MSC Trustgate.com was established in 1999 as a licensed Certification Authority (CA) in Malaysia under the Digital Signature Act 1997. This company provide security solutions and trusted services to help companies build a secure network and application infrastructure for their electronic transactions and communications over the network. It commitment in delivering high quality services has brought us recognitions with the enterprises, government, and many leading e-commerce sites, both locally and internationally.

Among the projects that MSC Trustgate.com Sdn.Bhd. have implemented are:

• E-banking Security Deployment
  




• E-procurement Integration
  




• User Authentication and Customer Clearance Approval System
  




• PKI for Online Transaction Payment System
  




• PKI Development & Integration for Malaysia’sNational Identification Card “MyKad”.
  




• PKI Iinfrastructure for E-government and E-business Transactions
  




• Secure Document Storage System
  




• Project Management and Application System Development




• Security Consultancy & Outsourcing Services

Example of application of third party certification programme in Malaysia:

In Malaysia, MyKad (national identity card) with PKI capability allows the holder as the Malaysian to conduct online transaction with government agencies and private sectors.

Read more...

Phishing: Examples and Its Prevention Method

What is Phishing?

Phishing or brand spoofing is the illegal act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft.

Most people associate phishing with e-mail messages that mimic banks, credit card companies or other business like Amazon and eBay but some scammer also seek out victims through SMS,chat rooms, message boards and fake job search sites. Phishing is one of an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users.

Below are the examples of phishing

via E-mail



via Online Banking



via Ebay Subcription



and also via Government Link



Phone Phishing



In addition, vishing (voice phishing) which is often facilitated by Voice over IP (VoIP) also uses fake caller-ID data to give the appearance that calls come from a trusted organization. According to Phrenzie.com, phone phishing has been on the rise due to difficulties in tracing and monitoring by legal authorities.

How to prevent Phishing Scams?

1) 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.

2) 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.

3) Ensure that your browser is up to date and security patches applied.

4) 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.
(EarthLink ScamBlocker is part of a browser toolbar that is free to all Internet users - download at http://www.earthlink.net/earthlinktoolbar)

5) Use a strong or different password for each of your accounts & change them frequently.

6) Always report "phishing" or “spoofed” e-mails to the following group:
forward the email to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. This can helped to reduce phishing troubles.


"Phishing Facts"

-> 13,776 phishing attacks linked to 5,259 Web sites took place in August of 2005.
-> They targeted 84 different businesses, but three businesses received 80 percent of the attacks.
-> 85 percent of the attacks targeted banks and other financial institutions.
-> Phishers succeed in getting personal information from up to five percent of their intended victims.
-> 57 million U.S. Internet users have received at least one phishing e-mail, and as many as 1.7 million have given personal information to the attacker

(Source: HowStuffWorks,2006)

Read more...

History and Evolution of E-Commerce

The origin of commerce by exchanging goods occurred before recorded history, barter system, as you all know are one of the traditional ways where goods are traded in everyday life. Now, entering into the electronic era, the way individuals and organizations do business and undertake commercial transactions have been changed. This indicates the movement towards electronic commerce. This means there is no paper work and physical interaction is limited, if at all.

E-commerce has grown; it's estimated that 72 million users shopped online on "CyberMonday," on November 26, 2007.


Amazon and eBay are the main pioneers when it comes to selling online. The history of e-commerce owes a great debt to Amazon and eBay. These companies revolutionized the face of the Internet, as well as the way we buy things. Today, the history of ecommerce moves forward. There are a number of payment options and abilities, from PayPal to e-Checks to credit cards as well.

Amazon provided one of the first full-scale e-commerce business models.


Now, lets have a deeper insight on the evolution of e-commerce.

As far back as the 1960s, businesses were using primitive computer networks to conduct electronic transactions. Using something called Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), it helps to extend interbusiness transactions such as order forms, invoices from financial institution to other types of business and also provides transactions and information exchange from suppliers to end customers. This type of exchange became increasingly important as credit cards became a part of the commerce landscape.

Eventually, EDI was replaced by ASC X12 due to limitation to special networks where EDI are costly and complex to administer for small businesses. ASC X12 is a universal protocol developed by the American National Standards Institute in 1979, designed for sharing business documents and information electronically.

Prior to that, in the late 1960s, ARPAnet was being developed by the military for communications purposes. Back then, ARPAnet was the source of the “dial up” mode of accessing a computer system.

The greatest networking evolution came in 1982, when ARPAnet switched over to Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), the same packet-switched technology that powers the modern Internet. Instead of sending signals individually along one route, TCP/IP uses packets, sending information along different routes.

During the 1990s, the internet was open for commercial use; it was also the period that users started to participate in World Wide Web (WWW). Due to rapid expansion of the WWW network, e-commerce software; and the peer business competitions, large number of dot-coms and Internet start-ups appeared.

One of the first examples of e-commerce is Compuserve, providing tools such as e-mail, message boards, chat rooms and an added service call Electronic Mall, where users could purchase items directly from 110 online merchants.

Here is a chart of e-commerce growth from 1999-2006(in billions)


And here's a video about the evolution of e-commerce




(Sources:
www.wikipedia.org
www.howstuffworks.com
www.bestshoppingcartsreview.com
www.youtube.com)

Read more...

E-Commerce Success & Its Causes

Nowadays, the usage of technology have been adapt into human's life. Mostly, computer user will search information through the internet to increase their knowledge and awareness as well as fulfill their personal requirement. Besides that, the "money-creater" such as business man will involve in e-commerce [ the marketing, buying and selling of products and services on the internet.(Awars,2004)] as a short path to expand their business to gain profit and increase its organization reputation. One of the E-Commerce success is "GOOGLE".

Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were students at Stanford University and the company was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. Google Inc. is an American public corporation and involve in internet and computer software industry. It earning revenue from advertising related to its Internet search, e-mail, online mapping, office productivity, social networking, and video sharing services as well as selling advertising-free versions of the same technologies. The Google Inc. gain net income , US$4.227 billion and its total capital is US$31.768 billion in year 2008.
(Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google)

David Drummond, Google's General Counsel pointed to 4 factors as the key to Google's success:

1. 
   
   Technology. Along with its innovative approach to page ranking, Google is a purpose-built hardware company, building all its own servers from components it buys directly for their manufacturers. According to Drummond, Google now operates the world's largest distributed computer system.


2. 
   
   Business Model Innovation. By perfecting the nature of targeted ads, Google not only has created a highly effective revenue generator, it has produced what it hopes to be a better experience for its users. It is Google's goal to make their targeted ads at least as relevant and useful to users as the search results themselves.


3. 
   
   Brand. According to Drummond, a European study recently determined Google to be the number one most recognized worldwide brand. Indeed, Google has become a verb ("I can't wait to get home and Google him") which poses real challenges to a company seeking to protect the strength of its mark.


4. 
   
   Focus On The User Experience. Product decisions at Google are driven by optimizing for the user experience first and for revenue second. The folks at Google firmly believe that the better the user experience, the more easily money will follow.

Retrieved from:http://ventureblog.com/articles/2003/05/4_keys_to_googl.php

Read more...

Revenue model and comparison of Google, Ebay and Amazon

Revenue model outlines how the organizations or e-commerce companies will generate profits. 5 major revenue models nowadays are sales, transaction fees, subscription fees, advertising fees, affiliate fees, and other revenue sources.

Sales revenue model: A company gets the revenue by selling goods, information or services.

Transaction fee revenue model: A company receives a commission for enabling or executing a transaction. It is based on the volume of transactions made.

Subscription revenue model: A company charges a subscription fee for the users that access to the content and services offered.

Advertising revenue model: A company provides a forum for advertisements and receives fees from the companies that advertise their products.

Affiliate revenue model: A company receives commissions for referring customers to others web sites.

Google offers targeted advertising solutions and global Internet search solutions. Its principal products and services include:

Google AdWords: Google AdWords is a pay per click advertising program of Google designed to allow the advertisers to present advertisements to people at the instant the people are looking for information related to what the advertiser has to offer. When a user searches Google's search engine, ads for relevant words are shown as "sponsored link" on the right side of the screen, and sometimes above the main search results.

Pay per Click Advertising: Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is the best way to send immediate, targeted traffic to your website. It is an online advertising payment model in which payment is based onqualifying click-throughs. An advertiser has to pay every time his ad receives a click.

Google AdSense: AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, video advertisements on their sites. Revenue is generated on a per-click or per-thousand-ads-displayed basis and the ads are administered by Google. AdSense program includes AdSense for search and AdSense for content.

Google’s new revenue model:Google is currently testing a new advertising program that pays site owners based on a Cost-Per-Click model. The program, called Cost-Per-Action, was revealed via an invitation e-mail from the Google AdSense team to Web site owners.

EBay is an online auction and shopping website in which people buy and sell goods and services worldwide. Buyers are allowed to browsing and bidding on items which free of charge, but the sellers will be charged. The charges are based on promotional fees, insertion fees and final value fees which are the main revenue of eBay.

Insertion fees : A nonrefundable fee which will be charged when an item listed on eBay. Where promotional fee will be charged for additional listing options that help attract attention for an item, such as bold listings or highlighted. Final value fee is a commission that charged to the seller at the end of the auction.

Promotional fees: Fees that charged for additional listing options that help attract attention for an item, such as highlighted or bold listings.

Final value fees: Commission that charged to the seller at the end of the auction.

Furthermore, 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.

Additionally, a portion of Ebay’s revenue also comes from direct advertising on the site, as well as end to end service providers whose services increase the speed of transactions. The acquisition of PayPal, whose products allow the exchange of money over the Internet, brings additional transaction based fee revenue.

Amazon was one of the first major companies to sell goods by Internet. Amazon generates revenue primarily by selling books, videos, electronics, and kitchen equipment on domestic and international Web sites, such as Amazon Marketplace.

Amazon Marketplace is Amazon.com’s fixed price online marketplace that allows sellers to offer their goods alongside Amazon’s offerings. Buyers can buy new and used items sold directly by a third party through Amazon.com using Amazon Marketplace. This sales strategy and program has been very profitable for Amazon.com.

Amazon charges a commission rate based on the sale price, a transaction fee, and a variable closing fee. Which are sales revenue model and transaction fee revenue model.Moreover, Amazon.com also generates revenue by Affiliate revenue model. Amazon was one of the first online businesses to set up an affiliate marketing program. AStore is an Amazon.com affiliate product which website owners can use to 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 earn referral fees on the products purchased by their readers. The fee structure is currently the same as for the other affiliate links and ranges from 4% to 10% of the product price.

Read more...

An example of E-commerce failure and its causes.

In 1963, MCI was founded as Microwave Communications, Inc. by John Goeken to offer long-distance telephone service for businesses between Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. When it ran into problems competing with AT&T, which at the time had a government-supported monopoly in telephone service, it moved to Washington, D.C. to be close to federal regulators and lawmakers. The joke is that in its early years, MCI had more lawyers than land lines. The antitrust lawsuit that it filed against AT&T eventually led to the company's breakup by regulators, reshaping the nation's telecommunications.

It grew to be the second largest long-distance provider in the U.S. It was purchased by WorldCom in 1998 and became MCI WorldCom, and afterwards being shortened to WorldCom in 2000. WorldCom's financial scandals and bankruptcy led that company to change its name in 2003 to MCI. The MCI name disappeared in January 2006 after the company was bought by Verizon.

While all this was happening, in 1995, MCI introduced one of the first ever serious attempt at an e-commerce music store by launching the 1-800 MUSIC NOW. It operated through automated telephone prompts. The service allowed United States users who dialed the toll-free number 1-800-687-4266 to enter the name of a performing artist by touch-tone, then select one of that artist's albums from the catalog and hear clips from that album before buying by credit card.

Once users made selections on the automated service, they were transferred to a call center where an operator established an account, collected payment and shipping information, assisted in ordering, and completed the order. Subsequent ordering could be accomplished through the automated system without human assistance.

The online service was located at http://www.1800musicnow.mci.com. It was the first to offer free music sampling for most of its catalog—initially in RealAudio 1.0 and eventually in RealAudio 2.0. Despite heavy investment in its USD$ 40 million promotion (including advertisements in MTV and Simpsons Hamerpalooza episode) and administrative system, top-selling CD stands at a poor 400 copies. After a year, the online store shut down in December 1996.

An obvious symptom of the downfall of MCI's 1-800 MUSIC NOW was the poor development of the music industry on that year. It subsequently led to music retailers into deep discounting that year. Besides that, the site wasn't user friendly enough. It is difficult to use, rendering consumers to purchase rather through traditional stores. To add up to that, the most visible and sensitive disadvantage was the prices were relatively higher than traditional stores.

Furthermore, consumers had to go through cumbersome sequences of registering themselves, choosing the right song, giving shipping information and lastly verifying their credit card. A survey noted that many of them did not make purchases, is not because of the extra shipping fees, but because they doesn't have a credit card.

(Sources:
http://wikipedia.org
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com
http://www.thefreelibrary.com
http://images.google.com)

Read more...

Daniel's E-life

Hi there, I'm lee fong hong, 22 yrs old, from Muar, Johor (also call as Bandar Maharani). I live in a small town that structure by sixth street and site nearby Sg. Muar. My hometown is famous by furniture manufacture and "otak-otak".

I'm the pioneer in the Lee's family to continue study in university, currently pursuing Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Entrepreneurship in UTAR (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman). Without my parents encouragement and enforcement, i will not reach UTAR and meet yours, BEN coursemate and Utarian. So that, i will appreciate this opportunity and enjoy my university life until graduate.

My hobby is jogging. Mostly i will jogging at Tanjung Mas, Muar in the early morning. It will keep me fresh and fit to discover my daily life activities. Besides that, I also like to read philosophy book and watching drama. I convience to say that i gain a lot of benefits through this two ways such as increase my knowledge, capability;enrich my life experience & be matured. when i was missing in the darkness jungle, it provide torch and light up my path until i meet the guardian," Star of North".

The top 5 website that i visited are:

1. 
   
   http://www.yahoo.com/ - My daily check mail tools.


2. 
   
   http://www.google.com/ - Just google it to search info that i need


3. 
   
   http://www.chinapress.com.my/ - Keep me in touch with global and update news


4. 
   
   http://www.readnovel.com/ - My life with imagination story (without physical book)


5. 
   
   http://www.thestar.com.my/ - Digital newspaper that to improve my english level

Read more...

ABOUT ME!!! Eric Lim Pei Chin

Hi everyone! Welcome to visit our blog! My name is ERIC Lim Pei Chin, 22 years old from Tangkak, Johor. I am currently pursuing Bachelor of Administration (Hons) Entrepreneurship in UTAR. My hobby is playing badminton and it can make my life become bright spark and meaningful. I like use online to chat and make more friends around me. Besides that,i also like to interact with my friends by the ways of shopping, singing karaoke, watch movie and chit-chat during my free time too. It brings me a lot of fun because I believe that it is a chance for me together with my friends during our college career. Due to the advanced technology nowadays, surfing the net is the most frequent activities to me as I can get a lot of news although I never stride over my doorstep.

The website I have visited the most is http://www.chinapress.com/. It is local newspaper website and it provides a lot of global, society and entertainment news. It is convenient to me to update my knowledge and save my newspaper fees too.

The second website I always visit is http://www.facebook.com. It is the most popular website nowadays. You can communicate with your friends in the global world by looking their recent picture they uploaded or the recent news they posted. It includes a lot of applications and interesting games.

Next website I like to visit is http://www.google.com/. I mostly use it when I am doing my assignment. It is the fastest and biggest search engine and allows to me search whatever information that I need during my assignments. Furthermore, I will check my mail box at http://www.yahoo.com every day. Lastly, I also keep updating myself with my course’s announcement at http://wble.utar.edu.my/. It is an intranet and allows me to check result,gain lecture notes and whether there are any updated posts. Finally, the activities i do through Internetas are chitchatting, watch online movie , learning, earning and of course obtaining knowledge.That is all about me. Have a nice day! =)

Read more...

Greetings from Chang Kar Sing

I'm 21 from Ipoh, Perak, currently a third year undergraduate from University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). My Dad and Mom are blessed with me and my elder sister. Thank God, that's already enough to turn my Dad's hair white.

As a member of the generation-Y cohort, I'm stereotyped with heavy usage and knowledge of the digital world - the Internet. Remembering when I was smaller, perhaps 7 or 8 year-old, that was the time where Internet's era began. I began using the internet at the age of 12, for purposes of chating online and playing games. As I grew older, it seems the Internet is growing 10 times as fast as I am. It's vast development, usage and size has proven its influence on mankind. Soon, the whole world is submerged by the Internet with the introduction of globalisation. To cope with the trend, whether in lifestyle and business, older people are beginning to learn and adopt the Internet into their daily routine.

For me, I'm still hidden in my little island. Bit by bit, inch by inch, I have drawn myself closer to the real world as I grow, from chating to browsing around for song lyrics, then getting tips and hacks for games, google-ing, surfing the internet for news, using virtual dictionary, gathering information, locating articles and journals, and finally to blogging. Today, I realise that the Internet comprises of many inter-related fields. Nevertheless, one most important field is the electronic commerce (e-commerce). By using the power of the Internet, people like managers and executives manipulate consumers to generate revenue for them. Online auctions, online advertisement, online stores, online banking, online gaming, online shopping and even paying bills online. Many things has been virtualized, to ease the consumer and also the company itself. In future, perhaps everything will be virtualized.

Realising the power and opportunity of the Internet, e-commerce is one extremely effective tool in helping a company in promotion, sales and profit generation. Therefore, it comes to the conclusion of this post and the beginning of this blog, about e-commerce.

My top 5 websites are first of all youtube (http://www.youtube.com/). It is my main source of media and entertainment, from music videos to educational videos to gaming videos, all together in 1 site. Best thing is, there's update daily. It is included in my top 5 activities which I would like to call "youtube-ing".

Besides that, with so much things to discover and so much to learn about, I simply google (http://www.google.com/) whatever information I need on anything and results pop out in no time. News, songs, lyrics, pictures, slides, blogs, websites, facts, knowledge, just name it! It's call "google-ing". (sounds sticky =p)

I also often stop by the online dictionary (http://dictionary.reference.com/) to look up for words that I don't understand. Simple movements of finger and BAM!, I get the meaning, the synonyms, the antonyms and other similar words. Can anything be more convenient? You tell me.

To enhance and ease my learning experience, I included a collaboration of a virtual encyclopedia, perhaps one of the best online (http://wikipedia.org/). I use it to read general overviews of peoples, places, incidents, news and many more. For example, I use it to understand more about the profile of an important person, like Bruce Lee.

Last but not least, to keep myself in touch with the world and to know whats happening around the globe, I read news online (http://www.thestar.com.my/). Its the same as buying newspaper, the difference is its free and it doesn't use up space and I can view it anytime I want to.

Read more...