Corporate Blogging: A new marketing communication tool for companies

A corporate weblog is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. Like other marketing initiatives, a company's blog is an investment that should produce a measurable return. It enables a company to enhance the value for both their consumers and their own bottom lines.

One of the companies in Malaysia that owns corporate blog is Air Asia. In September 2008, the CEO of Air Asia, Tony Fernandes joined the blogosphere, become the latest CEO blogger in Malaysia. The reason that he setup this blog is to provide another platform to keep in touch with people despite of his busy schedule. AirAsia's corporate blog provide insights into the company, the people, the culture and the working lives through internet. It helps the organizations to extend the company image in the marketplace. This will enable the customers to know better about the company.

There are some beneficial points of blogging in a company:

• Leaders can communicate directly with customers, suppliers and investors, as well as employees, helping disseminate and explain strategy.

• Blogs give the writer an opportunity to answer critics in a controlled forum.

• Compared with conference or printed memos to all staff, enterprise blogs are highly cost effective.

• Sharing their ideas freely in an honest voice brings the blogging companies new connections and generate trust which will lead to business opportunities galore.

• Blogs have a broad impact on the nature of online media by giving an opportunity to publish words, pictures and ultimately multimedia to the web without specialized geek skills.

However, there are also certain drawbacks:

• Senior managers would worry about libel and employees would give away the company's commercial secrets

• There is a risk that an ill-judged comment could be seized upon by the media or disgruntled investors.

• The best non-corporate blogs are spontaneous and genuine. Poorly written corporate blogs can look fake.

• Blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks for a human being to undertake.

• Blogs make many organizations look like disorganized, with multiple tones and opinions.

Blogging makes a lot of sense in the business world and can act as an effective communication medium and a great revenue earner for your company. It has become one of the most effective marketing communications tool to reach out to people who matter.

Related Links:

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/23681.asp

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

http://blog.airasia.com/index.php/guide

E- learning of Malaysian Universities

E-learning of Malaysian Universities: Pros and Cons from the Students Perspective

E-learning was first called as Internet-Based training is essentially the network-enabled transfer of skills and knowledge via the Internet, network, or computer. E-learning refers to using electronic applications and processes to learn without face-to-face communication between the teachers and students. It includes web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms and digital collaboration. Tutor or lecturer places several course modules on the university intranet, and students have free access to these materials as and when needed, as well as bulletin boards to keep them updated. From students’ perspective, it overcomes timing, attendance and travel difficulties while compared to the traditional method.

Advantages of E-learning:
· Reduces travel time and travel costs for off-campus students. It helps to reduce the travel time and travel costs of students that come from different hometowns, instead of getting higher education.
· Self-paced learning modules allow students to work at their own pace. The students can continue working while accessing to E-learning, and thus it will bring good impact on their studies.
· Time flexibility. Students have the flexibilities to join discussions in the bulletin board threaded discussion areas at any hour, or visit with classmates and instructors in chat rooms. Students' interactions have become much easier than face-to-face communication.

Disadvantages of E-learning:
· Lack of motivation and effort among students. Learners with low motivation or bad study habits may fall behind due to being spoon fed by the educational institutions.
· Lack of understanding in the courses. Students may get lost or confused about course activities and deadlines without the routine structures of a traditional class. Thus, students may feel isolated from the instructor and classmates.
· Cost of utilizing Internet connections has increased. Slow Internet connections or older computers may make accessing course materials frustrating, so high-speed Internet connection is needed which may burden the students.

Related links:

http://www.articlealley.com/article_78603_45.html

http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid26_gci769787,00.html

http://www.elearning-avenue.com/pros-and-cons-pros-and-cons-of-e-learning/

Review of a local e commerce website

"Now Everyone Can Fly"

This slogan you sure know what airlines company that i am talking about.

I think many people like to travel and enjoy their holiday. Of course I won’t be exempted from that also as I love travelling very much especially during the holiday. With a local e-commerce website of Airasia.com which known as http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/home.jsp, I think many people also familiar with this, this website really make more people feel much more convenient when they want to have a holiday in Malaysia or overseas.

Airasia.com, one of the famous Malaysia e commerce website. It provide online services such as booking ticket, information about destination, shopping chat, travel services, corporate services and so on. It allows customers from around the world to gain more information about them and its products. Potential customers can browse online catalogues without having to leave their homes or offices.

Furthermore, customer can book the ticket through this website http://booking.airasia.com/skylights/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi . Customer can fill in the detail such as date, number of guest, the destination and whether you want to one way or return. In the booking categories, it also provide more information about the way of online payment. Through the shopping chat, AirAsia offers a choice of credit cards to fit the needs of your lifestyle in different countries such as AirAsia-Citibank Credit Card and AirAsia-Citibank Gold Card are offer for Malaysia guest.

Moreover, Air Asia also provide latest news about the famous places in the travel services categories and also offers other travel services, for example “GoHoliday, GoCar, Gohostel and GoMedic".Besides, The search engine for ticketing services provided by AirAsia.com is useful and specific. It has the option of “single or return” flight. It then require user to key in the origin and destination that the user are planning to go. Then user keys in the date that of the departure and arrival of their flight, and choose the numbers of tickets they which to book. The search engine will then scope down to the tickets that are available from the information that users provided. It is very convinent to customers because it provide availability of search engine to find the particular information.

On the home page of AirAsia.com, there is an option where consumers can choose for the language that they prefer and destination which they are from. These options reflect the “user-friendliness” of AirAisa.com that enables consumers to be able to access AirAsia.com that are part of AirAsia.com’s success.

When talking about the colour and fonts selections, it using red colour as a main colour and font word design. AirAsia also provide "Help & Info" means that when any cutomers do not understand particular information, they can contact them or Frequent Ask Question (FAQ). Sometime it have advertise promotion appear in the web page, so the customers will know the latest promotion price or packages. The advertisement of the AirAsia is always very attractive and absorbing.

The success of this e-commerce site needs no explanations as it is the leading low cost fare site in South East Asia and it is recently named the “World’s 50 most innovative company” by Fast Company. The success of AirAsia originates from the success of their e-commerce site that enables them to slash cost and then pioneers them to be at the top of the trade.

Related Link:

http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/home.jsp

http://blog.airasia.com/

E-Government in Malaysia

E-Government in Malaysia: Its implementation so far and citizen’s adoption strategies.

Electronic Government (E-Government) also known as digital government or online government which refers to the use of information and communication technology such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing to provide and improve government services, transactions and interactions with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.

There is no definitive date as to when the Malaysian e-Government initiative was launched. A possible date is 1996 following the launching of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). This e-Government initiative was one of the seven (Telehealth, Multi-purpose Card, Smart School, R&D Cluster, Technopreneur Development and E-Business) flagship applications introduced to set off the development of MSC. The e-government initiative launched the country into the Information Age. it seeks to improve the convenience, accessibility, and quality of interactions with citizens and businesses.

Its implementation so far:

Under the e-government flagship, 7 main projects were identified to be the core of the e-government applicants.

Generic Office Environment (GOE)
It consists of modules namely Enterprise-wide Information Management System (EIMS), Enterprise-wide Communication Management System and Enterprise-Wide Collaboration Management System. The EIMS enables users to manage, find, retrieve and compose the information that they need in their daily operations. All three modules work together in an integrated fashion to provide the techical trabsparency for the users.

Electronic Procurement (eP)

The electronic procurement project has taken off with the introduction of ePerolehan and can be accessed at www.eperolehan.com.my. With this, all suppliers can obtain tender documents and submit bids on the Internet. Besides, the suppliers are equipped with smartcards that enable them to transact with the ePerolehan system. Furthermore, suppliers can also present their products on the Internet, revceive, manage and process purchase orders and receive payment from government agencies through the Internet.


Human REsource Management Information System (HRMIS)

It will provide single interface for government employees to perform human resource functions more effective and efficient and standardize all human resource processes for federal, state, statutory body, and local authority services. It also provide transactional functions such as leave application, loan processing, competency management, recruitment, and selection of employee.


Project Monitoring System (PMS)
The PMS is designed to provide a mechanism for monitoring the implementation of government projects throughout various government agencies and statutory bodies.


Electronic Services Delivery (eServices)
Recently, there is an e-filing application launched by Inland Revenue Board (IRB) which is self assessment system, for tax payers and companies to submit the Form "E" of "BE"through Internet to access their own tax liability in www.hasil.org.my. Besides, there are other electronic services which provided by government that allows citizens of Malaysia to engage in transactions with government and utilities payments such as telephone and electricity bill, police summons, Road and Transport Department (RTD) services such as renewal of driving license and vehicle registration in www.rilek.com.my, the public can access geberal information on their outstanding summons, make online payments to the RTD or the Police by credit card, take the driving theory tests at approved Rilek centre and pay their TNB and TM utility bills online.


Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)
The implementation of ELX is to improve the mobilisation of human resources and optimise work force utilisation through systematic matching of job seekers to job vacancies. this would enable the Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR) to be a one-stop centre for labour market information that will be accessible to the public.


E-Syariah

The implementation of E-Syariah is to improve the quality of service in Syariah Courts. This will enhance the Islamic Affairs Department's effectiveness through better monitoring and co-ordination of its agencies and improving he managment of its 102 Syariah courts. this consists of Syariah Court Case Management System, Office Automation System, E-Syariah Portal, Syarie Lawyers Registration System and Library Management System.



Citizen's Adoption Strategies :

The implementat of e-government services will bring benefits to the public, businesses and the government itself. In order to ensure the success of e-government implementation, the governments should market their offers, improve citizen's awareness of the benefits and increase take-up of online services.

Redesigning government processes, systems, structures and developing new skills - Simplifying the navigation of and search for information and online services through the provision of a single entry point.

Designing and developing highly credible websites - ensure that the security of personal information of users are protected and will not be stolen by others for illegal purpose

E-government require Leadership - Leadership is required at the early stage of e-government project, from the political to the administrative so that e-government wil be in priority and acceptable by the public.

Educating and informing the public on the process of using the various services offered by government agencues.

Providing a platform for interactive and/or transactional government online services to be delivered to the public in a convenient and easy-to-use manner.


Related Links

www1.american.edu/initeb/ym6974a/egovernment.htm#E-Government%20Overview

www.mait.com/admin/enews_images/MAIT%20Country%20Intelligence%20eNews96_37.pdf

www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/editorial.htm

www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/oct2008/sharifah-alhabshi.htm

www.intanbk.intan.my/psimr/articles/Article1%20-%20Full.pdf

The Application of Prepaid Cash Cards on Consumers

Prepaid cash cards look like credit and debit cards and they offer the same ability to purchase products and services but with a crucial difference whereby the consumers can only use up the balance in the prepaid cash cards. This means there is no risk of running into debt as it has no credit or overdraft facility.

In Malaysia, there are many types of prepaid cash cards exist. For example Public Bank Debit Card, Maybank Visa Debit Card, Touch n Go Card and others.

Other than this, there is another famous prepaid cash card called “Octopus Card” which has been dominating Hong Kong’s contactless smart card segment since it launch. Presently, the Octopus Card can be used in virtually all of Hong Kong's transportation systems including the MTR (railway lines), public buses, mini-buses, trams and shuttles. In addition, the Octopus Card can also be used in fast food outlets, bakeries, convenience stores, supermarkets, cinemas, etc., and is widely accepted in over 5,000 vending machines and kiosks and over 160 car parks and 18,000 parking meters within the territory.

Prepaid debit cards carry the Visa or MasterCard logo and are accepted worldwide as with normal credit cards. These cards are a good option for those with insufficient credit history or impaired credit because they do not require a credit bureau check to be approved. The traditional un-banked populations in the United States have proven to be a tremendous growth area for these products and should continue to fuel growth over the next decade.

Applications:

• Pay Bills – Consumers can pay the mobile phone bill, electricity & water bill, rent, student bill, insurance, loan and other bills.

• Shopping – Just pay by Visa or Master debit card to bring back your loving goods.

• Transfer or Withdraw Money – Get cash at ATMs, at any place and time.

• Pay for Toll – Using Touch n Go Card for paying highway toll and majority public transportation in Malaysia such as LRT, Putra Line, and Bus

• Booking – Get hotels, air tickets or movie tickets done by prepaid cash cards

Advantages:

• Availability - there are no credit checks, which means you can get a card without worrying about your credit history. All prepaid card providers will carry out an identity check to confirm you are who you say you are.

• Control - prepaid cards are an ideal way to budget for yourself or help to manage your children's spending. Like a credit card you get a full breakdown of spending on the card so you can see what has been purchased, who from and when.

• No debt risk - with a prepaid card there is no chance of spending too much as you are limited to the amount you put on your card.

• The card for travel – prepaid cards are a good option if you are going overseas.

• Convenient - Prepaid credit cards can be used everywhere Visa or MasterCard is accepted

Credit Card Debt: Causes and Prevention

Credit card has become a necessity in one’s life nowadays. Undoubtedly, it has given a lot of conveniences to its users. However, in certain circumstances, it creates irritations. Put aside credit card fraud which is a serious crime, the credit card debt has become a severe issue and it is the major cause of bankruptcies each year.

The causes of credit card debts:

Unemployment
It so happens that the main breadwinner of the household loses his job but monthly expenses are not cut down in line 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, etc.

Poor Money Management
Poor money management is one of the best reasons why so many families accumulate lots of debt. Not having a monthly spending plan and not keeping track of the monthly bills makes one unaware of where the money is going. While the money is going towards purchasing useless items, he might need charging the necessary purchases on credit card.

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

Big medical expenses
The cost of obtaining cures and medicine is increasing every year. Nowadays, almost every hospital and doctor accept credit cards. While one needs treatment but do not have sufficient cash or savings in the bank, credit card will be used. Here, a huge debt may be created.

Financial Ignorance
Important topics such as saving and investing one’s personal finances are not taught in school. People who are lack of such knowledge may easily become the next victim of credit card debt.

Followings are some of the method to prevent credit card debts:

Manage your finances
The first step in managing the finance is determining your monthly income and needed expenses. As part of these monthly expenses, figure in 5-10% of your income to set aside for emergencies, long range savings such as a retirement account, and short term savings.

Shop for the Right Card
It’s important to really shop around and get a credit card personalized for your particular situation. It is ideally suggested that getting one with no or very low fees and low interest. It will take a little time to compare various offers, but with the high saturation of the market you’ll find the perfect fit for your wallet.

Pay on Time
Never make a late payment to anyone including car and house payments. Because of the universal default clause in credit cards’ terms and conditions, credit card companies can raise your interest rate if you are late paying any creditor or even your utility company.

Pay the Balance in Full
This is important in keeping control of your credit cards. Before using a credit card for a purchase, ask yourself, “Do I have the funds to pay for this?” In cases of emergencies where your emergency fund won’t cover the whole amount you need to charge, experts say at least pay more than the required minimum payment.

Early Education
The best method for prevention is teaching your younger generation all about money before they even qualify for a credit card. Statistics show that students are entering college without ever having a personal finance class or knowing how to balance a checkbook. Yet once students arrive on campus credit card issuers are eager to sign them up. College students are racking up the bills.

The main prevention is aware of the causes of credit card debts and starts to spend less in order to stay in well financial situation.

Related links:
http://www.credit-land.com/articles/articles_page_68600_1881780_120.php
http://ezinearticles.com/?Credit-Card-Debt---Prevention-Is-Better-Than-Cure&id=226244

Electronic Currency

What is electronic currency?

Electronic currency refers to money or scrip which is exchanged only electronically or a system of debits and credits, used (but not limited to this) to exchange value, within another system, or itself as a stand alone system, online or offline.Basically, this involves use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems, for instance, the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit. As addition, it is a collective term for financial cryptography and technologies enabling it.

E-currency is use in the E-micropayment systems such as Firstgate’s Click and Buy, PayLoadz,Paystone Technologies, DigiCash and else.Now, let us look at PayLoadz in detail. Payloadz is a service to sell intangible products such as softwares, e-books, digital art, manuals, articles and files. It is an automated delivery service which means these files can be either download via hyperlink or sent via e-mail to consumers once payment is being made. Payloadz also has an easy integration with PayPal’s online payment and Google Check out.

If you want to sale digital PDF files, Payloadz is your best choice. Once your customers download the intangible, and the money flows into your PayPal account. Payloadz services can be used depending upon seller’s sales and product’s life size. The plan include 3 types of account which is Basic Account with 50 MB storage, Premium Account with 100MB-400MB and Corporate Account with 800MB-100000MB.You may go to link http://www.payloadz.com/ to register on payloadz.Furthering network evolution in terms of the use of digital cash, a company named

DigiCash is at the focus of creating an e-cash system that would allow issuers to sell electronic coins at some value. When they are purchased they come under someone’s own name and are stored on his computer or under his online identity. At all times, the e-cash is linked to the e-cash company and all transactions go through it, so the e-cash company secures anything that is purchased. Only the company knows your information and will properly direct purchases to your location.

Related links:

https://www.paypal.com/my/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_home-general&nav=0

http://www.digicash.com/

Mobile Payment Systems in Malaysia

Mobile Payment Systems in Malaysia: Its Potentials and Consumers’ adoption Strategies









Mobile payment is defined as a point of sale payment made through mobile devices such as mobile phone, Smartphone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). It is a rapidly-adopting alternative and latest payment method especially in Europe and Asia.

TeleMoney, our country’s first mobile payment service via multi-channel access for Internet and wireless transactions which was launched on the last quarter of 2001, and it was expected to fully operational in the first quarter of 2002. It is a service free of banks and telco dependence where a customer with a credit card or debit card with a cellular phone can register for this service. They can use their mobile phones to pay for a wide range of services and digital goods such as ringtones, videos, books, magazines, and transportation fare after registered to those particular services instead of paying with cash, cheques or credit cards.

Mobile Money (MM Wallet) is a PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution which allows registered users to pay for goods and services at anytime from anywhere by using only a mobile phone coupled with a 6-digit security PIN (Personal Identification Number) via SMS (Short Message Service). It also allows one to receive money from anyone, from anywhere, at anytime. Shoppers are allowed to purchase the goods online and pay the merchants using their mobile phones without being physically present at the store. At the same time, it allows merchants to take online order without the need for online shopper to disclose their credit card information.


On the other hand, the world’s first contactless mobile payment service which is called as Near Field Communications (NFC) technology drives service has been launched on the first quarter of 2009 in Malaysia. Near Field Communications (NFC) is a short-range wireless technology that allows communications between devices at close range. NFC is a new and open platform technology which offers high levels of interoperability between devices and readers that allows credit card, debit card, ticketing and transportation payments to be integrated into mobile phone.


Potentials of mobile payment systems:
a) It enables the ability to pay for goods and services without having to carry cash or cards during the transactions.
b) A large number of mobile device users can be increased since it offers a unique opportunity to open up the financial system to more customers and communities, in order to achieve financial inclusion for all segments of our society.
c) It assures the safety of data for the customer where the payment is secured by a strong pin fraud protection patent which offers great security and inability of hacking passwords.


Consumers’ adoption strategies:
a) Payments are far easier and less costly to handle than cash itself including other traditional payment methods. Therefore, users can have a complete trail of all payments they make - unlike cash.
b) Collaborate with more banks and companies to widen the ability to pay via mobile at the same time it helps to increased customer’s satisfaction and confidence.
c) Consumers are being educated about the mobile payments and the way to use it such as bill payments by using GPRS and WAP


Related Link:
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/communications/0,39044192,39001884,00.htm
http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_overview.asp
http://www.mis-asia.com/news/articles/worlds-first-contactless-mobile-payment-system-launches-in-malaysia

Threats of Online Security: How Safe is Our Data?

Internet has become a critical infrastructure between one another. As we know, online is a common activity nowadays. It is useful, but do all of us know how safe actually we are using this facility? Today, we need to worry about security for our personal computer in a whole different way. Spyware, adware, viruses and trojans are lurking online, waiting to infect our computer.
Here is a list of some security threats that we should be aware of, for preventing any such attacks to our PC.


Identity Theft
Identity theft is a crime used to refer to fraud that involves someone pretending to be someone else in order to steal money or get other benefits. The term is relatively new and is actually a misnomer, since it is not inherently possible to steal an identity, only to use it. The person whose identity is used can suffer various consequences when he or she is held responsible for the perpetrator's actions. In many countries specific laws make it a crime to use another person's identity for personal gain.


Phishing
In the field of computer security, Phishing is a criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT Administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging,[1] and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one.


Social Engineering
Social engineering is a term that describes a non-technical kind of intrusion that relies heavily on human interaction and the act of obtaining or attempting to obtain otherwise secure data by conning an individual into revealing secure information. For example, a person using social engineering to break into a computer network would try to gain the trust of someone who is authorized to access the network in order to get them to disclose information that compromises the network's security.


Hacker Attack
Hacker is a computer program that tries to break into others’ computer systems and specialized in the discovery of exploits in systems or prevented unauthorized access to systems. Using public shared computers to carry out bank transactions can be easily become a victim of hacker. Past few years, hackers have worked together with organized crime to harvest the valuable data exposed on the Internet.


Spam Mail
E-mail spam, also known as junk e-mail, is a type of spam that involves sending identical or nearly identical messages to thousands (or millions) of recipients. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. E-mail spam has steadily, even exponentially grown since the early 1990s to several billion messages a day. Spam has frustrated, confused, and annoyed e-mail users. Most of the time, E-mail addresses are collected from chatrooms, websites, newsgroups, and viruses which harvest users' address books, and are sold to other spammers. Much of spam is sent to invalid e-mail addresses.

Followings are some of the brief advices that may prevent users from online security threat:

• Don't give away any valuable or sensitive personal information on internet or within messages to other members of the network.

• Use one of the many antivirus, antispyware, and firewall programs on the market.

• Pay attention to the messages from Windows that pop up on your screen, which often contain helpful security information that many users overlook.

• Turn on Windows' automatic-update function to get Microsoft's regular security patches.

Let's keep our mind clear to be alert to those online threat and not to be the next victim!

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

Users won't transact the business at the web sites unless they are certain it is secure. They need to ensure that the business is real and the communications with the company is private. Therefore, we need a 3rd party certification programme to ensure the information and transaction are being secured.

3rd party certification is the verification of the piblic or private key's holder by trusted 3rd party knowns as Certificate Authority to ensure that the websites are genuine by using digital certificate. It authenticates websites, individuals and software companies so that the consumers or people using the website can trust and rely on them.

3rd party certification programme has become increasingly important in the world of internet. The most famous 3rd party certification programme is Verisign.

Another 3rd party certification programme is MSC Trustgate which is an affiliate of Versign incorparated in year 1999, and it is Malaysia's Premier lincensed certification authority.

Verisign

The Internet Infrastuture of Verisign enables confidential information or important data to be delivered across the net safely, so that the users can do their transaction iwith confident. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate encrypts senmsitive information when people doing online transaction. Sometimes, some web sites have encrypted http connection where the user can see the "http" in URL.

A certificate authority verifies the identity of the certificate owner unique, anthenticated information containted in the certifiate. When a user points to a secure domain, SSL handshake will authenticate the web site and the user. The user can see the authenticated organization name when he click on closed padlock in the browser window or certain SSL trust marks, such as the Verisign Secure Seal.

The authenticated organiozation name is even prominently displayed in high security browser and the adddress bar will turn green when an Extended Validation SSL Certificate is detected. If the information does not match or the certificate has expired, an error massage or warning will be displayed.

I think the implementation of 3rd party certification programme can extensively improve the customers trust since the web sites they are dealing with are certified as genuine web sites. This enables them to do transaction and transfer the information without worry and their information would not revealed by outsider. Therefire, it is essential for the implementation of sduch programme in the e- commerce world.

How to Safeguard Our Personal and Financial Data?

The Internet is a global system of computer networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission to get information from any other computer. Nowadays, the Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility accessible to thousands of millions of people worldwide. Most of the people rely on computers to create, to store and to manage their decisive information through Internet. For example, our personal data are being saved into computers before running online financial transactions such as e-banking in order to save time. Therefore, it is important that users to avoid, or to protect their personal data from loss, damage and misuse. So, there are some suggestions for you to safeguard your personal data as below.









First, you shall not reveal any personal information or particularly passwords to anyone. You must log out properly after running any online transactions before closing the web browsers in order to ensure security.


Second, usernames and passwords are being used to ensure the higher degree of security. You are required to select a longer or the combination of numerical and alphabets as your passwords. Once you select a password, do change it frequently. Do not select your date of birth or plate numbers of your vehicle as your passwords. These are the popular numbers and open to everyone who knows you. You will be in trouble if your ATM card is lost.



Third, install original antivirus or antispyware software such as McAfee, AVG or Kaspersky in order to protect yourself against spywares and viruses which may steal or modify your personal data. Update and scan your personal computer regularly may help you to remove any of the infected files and hidden spywares from your computer.

You are encouraged to use biometrics as a form of identity access management and access control. It can be used to identify individuals in groups that are under surveillance. There are few types of biometric devices such as fingerprint, face recognition, hand and palm geometry, iris recognition and etc. These biometric devices can ensure the highest degree of security due to a virtually foolproof method of identification and authentication; this is the reason why they are gaining popularity as a security precaution.

Of course, there are no easy to keep an eye on our personal data on frequently. But if we can behave more careful in our daily life activities, then our personal data will be more safety.

Related Links : http://www4.bmo.com/popup/0,4442,35649_49250,00.html

Phishing: Example and its Prevention Methods

Phising: Examples and its prevention methods

“Phishing” is a term use to describe a criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. PayPal, eBay and online banks are common targets.




CITIBANK – victim of phishing

In year 2004, a Citibank phishing email began making the rounds via email in Malaysia, warning Citibank customers of possible fraud affecting their accounts and urging them to login to check the status.
So how to spot a phishing scam? I will use Citibank as the example to illustrate the steps can be taken to spot a phishing scam.
Phishing e-mails will contain some of these common elements: (view screen capture above from Eudora)

1. The "From Field" appears to be from the legitimate company mentioned in the e-mail. It is important to note, however, that it is very simple to change the "from" information in any e-mail client. While we're not going to tell you how, rest assured it can be done in a matter of seconds!

2. The e-mail will usually contain logos or images that have been taken from the Web site of the company mentioned in the scam e-mail.

3. The e-mail will contain a clickable link with text suggesting you use the inserted link to validate your information. In the image you will see that once the hyperlink is highlighted, the bottom left of the screen shows the real Web site address to which you will go. Note that the hyperlink does NOT point to the legitimate Citibank Web site URL.


Prevention methods:

•Never reply to e-mail message that request your personal information.

•Don’t click links in suspicious e-mail, the link might not be trustworthy.

•Use the strong or different password for each of your accounts & change them frequently.

•Don’t send personal information in regular e-mail messages.

•Do the business only with companies you know & trust.

•Help protect your PC, keep your PC updated & use antivirus software.

•Monitor your transaction, using just one credit card for online purchases makes it easier to track your transactions.

•Use credit cards for transactions on the internet instead of debit cards to avoid the big credit limit from your bank account.



Related Links

www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/phishing.html

www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2005/phishing.asp

Revenue Model of Google, Amazon.com and eBay

Hi, everyone. Today, I’m going to talk about the various revenue growth models for the 3 most famous online sites which are Google, Amazon.com and eBay.

Revenue model is a description of how an organization will earn income, produce financial gain, and produce a better return on invested capital. The major revenue models are:
a) Sales revenue model – a company generates the revenue by selling goods, information or services.
b) Subscription fees revenue model – a company charges a subscription fee by monthly or yearly for the users who access to the content and services offered.
c) Transaction fees revenue model – a company receives commissions which paid on volume of transactions. The higher of the volumes, the higher of the transaction fees. E.g. eBay.
d) Advertising revenue model – a company provides forums for advertisements and receives the payments from advertisers. E.g. Yahoo and Google.
e) Affiliate fees revenue model – a company receives commissions by referring customers to other websites.

Revenue model of Google

First of all, I would like to discuss the revenue model of Google. A major percentage of Google’s yearly income is generated by the advertising revenue model which includes Google AdWords, Google AdSense and Froogle.
Google AdWords is a pay per click advertising program of Google designed to allow the advertisers to present advertisements to people who are looking for information related to what the advertisers have to offer. Google generates most of the revenue from Google AdWords since it enables advertisers easily to sign up and manage an account online.
Google AdSense is an ad serving program run by Google where website owners can enable text, image and video advertisements on their sites in this program. This program includes AdSense for search and AdSense for content. Revenue is generated on a per-click or per-thousand advertisement displayed basis and the advertisements are administered by Google.

Froogle is a price engine website launched by Google Incorporated which is different from other price engines since it neither charges any fees for listings, nor accepts payment for products to show up first.
Besides, Google is currently testing a new advertising program that pays site owners based on a cost-per-click model which is called Cost-Per-Action (CPA). It differs from AdSense whereas a site owner gets paid whenever a visitor clicks on an advertisement and performs a specific action.

Revenue model of Amazon.comAmazon.com was one of the major companies to sell goods by Internet which started business as online bookstore but nowadays they have become multi sellers. Amazon generates revenue primarily by selling books, videos, computer software, toys, industrial tools and etc.
Amazon Marketplace is a fixed price online market place that allows sellers to offer their goods alongside Amazon’s offerings. Buyers can purchase new and used items which sold directly by a third party via Amazon.com by using Amazon Marketplace. Amazon charges a commission rate based on the sale price, a transaction fee and a variable closing fee which is a very profitable sales strategy.
Furthermore, Amazon.com was one of the first online businesses to set up an affiliate marketing program. AStore is an Amazon.com affiliate product which website browsers can use to create an online store on their sites. Website owners are not allowed to sell their own products directly; they have to pick products from the store and earn referral fees on the products purchased by their readers. The fee structure is range from 4% to 10% of the product price.

Revenue model of eBay
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 fee is 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.

For further information, please refer to:

http://www.organicspam.com/google_revenue_model.asp

http://www.amazon.com/

http://www.ebay.com/