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2009-07-15T12:33:00.008+08:00

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

Electronic government, or we called E-Government. It also known as e-gov, digital government, online government or transformational government. It is a diffused neologism used to refer to the use of information and communication technology to provide and improve government services, transactions and interactions with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.

Nowadays, e-government has been widely adopted in most countries in order for achieving effectively governance. The adoption of e-government integrates both the processing and the communication technologies since it integrates people, processes, information, and technology in the service of achieving government objectives. By implementing e-government, it will help to improve the government processes, connect citizens and build interactions with and within the civil society.

Malaysia has implementing e-government started since 1996 which is initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) by the Malaysian government. It is a gateway to growing profits in Asia's booming information and communications technology (ICT) markets. The main purpose of implement this system is to improve the government operates internally as well as how it delivers services to the people of Malaysia. E-government was one of the Seven Flagship Application introduced by MSC in order to lead the Malaysian towards the objectives of Vision 2020. Therefore, there are seven pilot projects of the Electronic Government Flagship Application:

1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
SPP II as one of the e-government projects will create a mechanism to monitor project implementation throughout various government agencies and statutory bodies. SPP II would also provide a platform to exchange ideas and to demonstrate best practices in information management and communication services.

2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
HRMIS provide single interface for government employees to perform human resource functions effectively and efficiently in an integrated environment.

3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
GOE used to introduce a fully integrated, distributed and scalable office environment that leverages use of multimedia information technology. This enables efficient communication, allowing collaboration across all workers, and ensuring right information reaching the right people in a timely manner.

4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
EP is to re-engineer, automate, and transform current procurement system. The use of EP will increase transparency, save time and money.

5. Electronic Services (E-services)
E-services is a pilot project that allows citizens of Malaysia to engage in transactions with government and utilities payments such as telephone and electricity bill, police summons, etc.

6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)
ELX is one stop-centre for labor market information, as supervised by the Ministry of Human Resource (MORH), to enable employers and job seekers to communicate on the same platform.

7. E-syariah
E-syariah eventually enhance the Islamic Affairs Department’s effectiveness through better monitoring and co-ordination of its agencies and improving the management of its 102 Syariah courts.

There are some problems faced in e-government implementation:

1) Language barrier. Most of the government websites are using Bahasa Malaysia so this may have difficulties for some citizens who do not know Bahasa Malaysia.

2) Lack of incentives. The application of E-government makes the process of e-government implementation just a formal procedure that makes no impact on existing work scheme.

3) Malaysians are not adopting to use electronic transaction such as online banking and buying things through Internet. This is still new to some of the citizens.

4) Some of Malaysians are not confidence with the security of e-government websites because there are many frauds issues arise.

Citizen’s adoption strategies
The government should increase the awareness from citizens in the existing of their services provided in e-government. For example, do some advertisement through newspaper, magazine, radio, or billboards in order to increase their awareness. The government can encourage citizens to increase the usage of e-government by giving some allowances.

E-government adoption requires that citizens show higher levels of satisfaction and security with the online service provided by the government. A higher level of customer satisfaction will increase the rate of e-government adoption because the citizens are comfortable of the protected privacy and confidentiality of the user's information. Besides, they will feel more confident with the e-government system.

The service quality of e-government also should be competitive with the other developed country in terms of speed, problem serving approach, and ease of use of the website. This is crucial as it provides and encourages long-term users to use the website frequently and cut-off paper work when the payment process can be made through online.

2009-07-14T22:06:00.016+08:00

Pros and Cons from Student Perspective on E-learning

E-learning is simply the modern process of education where part of the learning experience takes place without face to face communication between teachers and their students. The most common method of e-learning is where the 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. There are certain institutions offer additional support for students by allowing them to discuss with the lecturers via oline forums,discussion boards and even real-time chat in Malaysian.

The development of the e-learning strategies that have been introduced into Malaysian public universities since 1996. Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR) UNITAR is Malaysia's first virtual University, was launched with the unique aim of providing distance education using state of the art technologies. UNITAR selected NIIT to jump start the content creation for the University. NIIT partnered with UNITAR and helped develop over 100 hours of instructional material for the students of Bachelor's Degree program for their first intake at the time of the launch of the University.

E-learning has shown its great advantages thought its accessibility to all students irrespective of their resident.E-classes help students to communicate with their tutors,get clarifications regarding their subjects and study and access teaching material through e-libraries.Universities and colleges which provide online degrees involve more and more electonic facilities to give their online students fast and qualified assistance.Students interactions have become much easier than face to face commmunication.

Besides that, another advantage of e-learning is its time flexibility.They can get online resources,communicate with his tutor or classmates,send his query and write term paper at any time he can access to the internet.

One of the biggest arguement about e-learning is that it makes students lazy and ineffective,due to being spoon fed by the educational institutions.Most educational task is done either by the tutor or some sophisticated software,leaving students with the simple task of just downloading notes and reading them. Although this may make the learning process easier and more effective, it also runs the risk of creating dependent and lazy students. When these students graduate and enter the working class, they tend to expect all the information to be delivered to them too.

Other than that,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.

Before you finally decide to enroll as a student of distance education,remember to consider the positive and negative aspects so that the program proves to be beneficial.

Corporate Blogging: A Marketing Communication Tool for Companies

2009-07-13T01:52:00.004+08:00

Corporate Blogging: A Marketing Communication Tool for Companies

Corporate weblog is a tool that organizations used and published to reach its organizational goals. It has grown from a popular teen pastime to needs for corporations. Most of the blogs can be categorized as internal and external blogs. Internal blogs are generally accessed through the intranet where every employee can view on it whereas external blogs are publicly published for everyone where they can see the employees, teams or spokespersons of the company sharing their views on the blog.

According to Ray Valdes, only less than 5 percent of the Fortune 1000 is using blogs strategically in year 2006, but he believes that the percentage will triple in the next two years. According to Socialtext’s research, 61 (approximately 12.2%) of the Fortune 500 are blogging as of 4th July 2009. Why corporate blogging become so popular nowadays?

Corporate blogging has been introduced as a new approach to marketing because companies can use it to polish up their marketing message indirectly through social interactions. Besides, blogging enables faster feedback rather than other customer communication avenues. It also provides a more strategic understanding of the current market trend. Moreover, blogging is telling the customers indirectly that the company cares about their products and customers.

Many companies not only using it for customer and peer support, they also use it for internal communications from the CEO, HR department, or as a discussion tool among the employees. Most of the leaders feel comfortable or safe to communicate directly to the customers without worrying negative corporate consequences such as being sued. On the other hand, it gives the writer an opportunity to answer critics in a controlled forum, but some of the critics may not seen by the writer because they might have post it somewhere else. It also brings new connections and generates trust within customers, employees, suppliers, investors and others which may lead to business opportunities.

Although there are risks such as revealing issues on financial results, with communication and guide within the organization, we believe that the benefits of corporate weblog will exceed the problems.

2009-07-12T02:25:00.003+08:00

Review a local, transactional e-commerce site

Lelong Malaysia is a website that provides easy malaysian auction and online shopping which includes trading of computers, cars, houses, electronics, sports, antique, software and handphone. The website also offers online payment transaction.

The website is unique because the auctioned items are rare and awesome such as these weird stuff and spy camera detector pen, which allows users to detect any spy devices around on a certain location.The website also auctions popular products from other website including MaxAudio Online, which is a premier Car Audio, Video, Accessories & Performance Online Store.Lelong offers each merchant member a page where they can sell their products such as Shinoz's Online Store which is powered by Lelong.

The Lelong Forum allows members to interact with each other and ask questions. Other members could provide a answers and recommendations about issues related to Lelong and transportation of bought materials which have problems with the courier service.Members at Webmaster Malaysia Forum even featured the lelong's service. The free auction, free membership, free bidding, free banner advertisement and free trading. Sylok.com's Forum also featured Lelong's Bank Auctioning and Photomalaysia Community.

As more and more small and medium business "go online" using e-commerce website such as lelong. People have provided guides such as Lelong Malaysia Auction Online Guide that are listed on lelongmalaysia.com.The popularity of the site caused the growth of other websites such as Malaysia Auction Lelong Property (real estate), Cari Rumah Sewa, Malaysia Auction Online and Iklan Malaysia.

2009-07-08T01:49:00.001+08:00

The Application of Pre-paid Cash Card for Consumers

There are two types of Pre-paid Debit Cards:
(i) ATM Cards- designed for payment transactions requiring the secured entry of a PIN at both the Point of Sale or ATM

(ii) Branded (or Signature or full-function) Pre-paid Debit Cards- can be used for transactions at every respective Point of Sale terminal carrying the Visa or the MasterCard logo (with or without PIN pad)- can be used to pay bills and purchase online

There are several applications of pre-paid cash card for consumers, such as:-

(a) General Spending Debit Card
(i) For funds security
(ii) ATM cash withdrawals
(iii) Purchase at POS(iv) Full-function Visa & MC branded Prepaid Debit card can be used for ‘signature- based’ purchases, bill payments and online purchases

(b) Payroll and commission payout Card
(c) Remittance – Funds Transfer within and across borders
(d) Affinity Group Card
(e) Travel Card
(f) Student Card
(g) Gift Card**These debit cards can be issued to everybody with a valid government issued ID and verifiable address, for instance, “Bankable People” and “Un-bankable People” with:

(i) No bank account needed
(ii) No banking history needed
(iii) No credit check(iv) Just about everybody approved, no declines
(v) No employment verification neededBesides, there are also several benefits by using those pre-paid cash card, such as:-- This payment quickly and securely moves “Checking Account Like” funds without the hassles or risks involved with paper checks- Security features such as personal identification numbers (PINs) protect consumers against theft and fraud- Consumers prefer Prepaid Cash Cards because they act virtually the same as cash, only with much more security- Consumers who make debit card purchases are free of interest charges associated with credit cards- Funds Transfer – Consumers can conveniently and inexpensively transfer funds to friends and relatives everywhere- Bill Payment and On-line Purchases – Un-banked consumers can pay bills and purchase products and services on-line or through phone calls.

2009-07-07T02:59:00.002+08:00

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

Mobile Payments (M-Payments) Introduction

According to Wikipedia, Mobile Payment is collection of money from consumer via a mobile device. It is new and rapidly-adopting alternative payment method instead of paying with cash, check or credit cards, a consumer can use a mobile phone to pay for wide range of services and digital or hard goods such as purchasing music, videos, ringtones, online game subscription or items, wallpapers and transportation fare.

November 21, 2001 the first mobile payment system has applied in Malaysia, people can enjoy the secure and convenient way to conduct mobile commerce using a GSM cellular phone. TeleMoney, the country's first mobile payment service and it is expected to fully operational in the first quarter of 2002.

Besides that, Mobile Money International Sdn.Bhd. is a Mobile Payment System which allows customers to send a payment request through an SMS text message by personal identification number for authorization to make payment.

Potentials:

The mobile payment industry will experience steady growth, as the number of mobile payment users worldwide will total 73.4 million in 2009, up to 70.4 percent from 2008 when there were 43.1 million users.

It allows people to use financial services in a more-efficient way at more-affordable costs. This helps especially when consumers are in need of cash but does not have any in hand, therefore with mobile payments they do not need to even search for an ATM machine to withdraw money for payment.

Beside that, it can greatly improve standards of living since this system is very convenient as users do not need to carry any cards or even cash but just mobile phone. It also reduced time to be wasted in spending time for queuing up for bill payments.

There is high potential for Mobile Payment System in Malaysia because the market is very large due to the number of mobile phone users is high. The system covers all mobile operators in Malaysia and is available to prepaid and postpaid service billings. Therefore, the mobile phone users’ confidence on mobile payment will greatly increase.

Consumers’ adoption strategies:

1. Educate public about mobile payments, how to use and introduce its functions (e.g. bill payment, mobile purchase)

2. Enchance security and confidence to mobile users
Mobile Money allows merchants to take online order without the need for online shoppers to disclose their credit card information.

3. 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

Currently Mobile Money has teamed up with Hong Leong Bank Bhd. and Bumiputra-Commerce Bank to allow consumers to make payments via their bank accounts linked to their mobile phones. It is targeting 1 million Malaysian mobile phone subscribers with the belief that sending cash via SMS will eventually become part of the daily life of the Malaysian community.

4. Maintain customer’s loyalty
Company can reward customers by giving gift at certain level of purchasing or giving extra credit when they used mobile payment. Indirectly, it encourages the use of mobile payment.

References:
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/37722.php
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=995812

2009-07-07T02:15:00.002+08:00

Electronic Currency

What Does Electronic Currency Trading Mean?It is a method of trading currencies through an online brokerage account.

Electronic currency trading involves converting base currency to a foreign currency at the market exchange rates through an online brokerage account. And Electronic currency traders use analysis based on technical and fundamental indicators to help them forecast the movement of the currency pair being traded. Because currency trading by this method is wholly electronic, execution speeds are extremely fast, allowing the trader to quickly buy and sell currencies to cut losses and take profits at a moment's notice.

Technically electronic or digital money is a representation, 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. Also sometimes the term electronic money is used to refer to the provider itself. A private currency may use gold to provide extra security, such as digital gold currency. An e-currency system may be fully backed by gold (like e-gold and c-gold), non-gold backed, or both gold and non-gold backed (like e-Bullion and Liberty Reserve). Also, some private organizations, such as the US military use private currencies such as Eagle Cash .Many systems will sell their electronic currency directly to the end user, such as Paypal and WebMoney, but other systems, such as e-gold, sell only through third party digital currency exchangers.

In the use of off-line electronic money, the merchant does not need to interact with the bank before accepting a coin from the user.

Instead he can collect multiple coins Spent by users and Deposit them later with the bank. In principle this could be done off-line, i.e. the merchant could go to the bank with his storage media to exchange e-cash for cash. Nevertheless the merchant is guaranteed that the user's e-coin will either be accepted by the bank, or the bank will be able to identify and punish the cheating user. In this way a user is prevented from spending the same coin twice (double-spending). Off-line e-cash schemes also need to protect against cheating merchants, i.e. merchants that want to deposit a coin twice (and then blame the user).

The main focuses of digital cash development are 1) being able to use it through a wider range of hardware such as secured credit cards; and 2) linked bank accounts that would generally be used over an internet means, for exchange with a secure micropayment system such as in large corporations (PayPal).

Theoretical developments in the area of decentralized money are underway that may rival traditional, centralized money. Systems of accounting such as Altruistic Economics are emerging that are entirely electronic, and can be more efficient and more realistic because they do not assume a zero-sum transaction model.

2009-07-06T00:06:00.003+08:00

Credit card debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit cards are convenient and a great budgeting tools when you used properly. If abused,though,credit cards can be start of a years long nightmare and unbelievable stress.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 your 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 have no value in your life.

Besides that, less income and more expenses also one of the point caused credit card debt. It is happens when the main breadwinner of the household loses his job but monthly expenses are not cut down in line with the reduction in income. This can leads to a rise in debt.

Moreover, missed payments may result in the card being refused at retailers until payment is made.Worse still,this will affect the user's credit rating.

There are some ways to control and prevent to credit card debts. First,view your credit as the same with cash.Keeping an equal perspective regarding credit and cash helps you well enough to be more aware and more keen on spending too much. If you treat your credit card as if it’s also cash, the less unaware you become of your spending.

Then, simplest way to avoid unwanted debt is to prepare for unexpected expenditures by saving three to six months of living expenses. With a savings cushion in place, a job layoff, illness or divorce will not cause immediate financial strain and increase debt. You always hear, "Pay yourself first." Do it and it will grow and be there when you need it. No one has ever regretted having a savings cushion.

A monthly spending plan is essential. Without one you have no idea where your money is going. You may be spending hundreds of dollars unnecessarily each month and end up having to charge purchases on which you should have spent that money. Planning is no more difficult than writing down your expenses and income and reconciling the two. You will be surprised at how powerful you'll feel when you are making thoughtful decisions about where and when to spend your money.A well-planned financial management scheme can help you become a more prepared and more organized consumer. With a great management plan, you won’t even choose to pull out your credit card from your wallet.

2009-06-25T16:09:00.001+08:00

Phishing: examples and its prevention methods

Phishing, it is a brand of spoofing or carding, which variation under the word - ‘fishing’. The idea was generated which that the bait is thrown out with hopes, so that some will be tempted into biting.

In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent 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 and it often directs users to enter details at a fake website whose look and feel are almost identical to the legitimate one. Even when using server authentication may require tremendous skill to detect that the website is fake.

Beside that, it is also an example of social engineering techniques used to fool users, and exploits the poor usability of current web security technologies. Attempts to deal with the growing number of reported phishing incidents include legislation, user training, public awareness, and technical security measures.

Example of phishing

Since phishing scams are now a part of everyday life. It is very important for us to know how to spot one and avoid becoming a victim.

It is easy to uncover a crude phishing scam. For example, if you get an email from a bank that you are never opened an account at, then do not follow the link and enter your personal information.

However, if you actually have an account at the institution it gets more interesting. You’ll want to look at the message carefully to see if it is a phishing scam. Are words misspelled? Sometimes scammers operate in a second language and they give themselves away by using poor grammar.

You should also examine the link provided. Does it really go where it appears to go? For example, I could tell you that I’m giving you access to the government’s Top Secret Database at https://www.TopSecretDatabase.gov but if you click the link you’ll find that you’ve been directed to a different site. The best way to prevent this is to copy and paste the link (don’t click it) to your address bar. However, you can still get tricked by URL’s that look legitimate but have one or two letters switched.

The best way to avoid becoming a phishing scam victim is to use your best judgment. No financial institution with any sense will email you and ask you to input all of your sensitive information. In fact, most institutions are informing customers that “We will never ask you for your personal information via phone or email”.

The 8 tips to avoid phishing:

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

2) Don’t click links in suspicious e-mail; the link might not be trustworthy.

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

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

5) Do the business only with companies you know & trust.

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

7) Monitor your transaction; using just one credit card for online purchases makes it easier to track your transactions.

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

2009-06-25T15:28:00.002+08:00

Safeguard and financial data

Today's world of technological advances and virtual everything - banking, bill paying, etc. - it's more important than ever to make sure we protect our personal data. In recent years, the Internet has become an appealing place for criminals to obtain identifying data, such as passwords or even banking information. In their haste to explore the exciting features of the Internet, many people respond to "spam" - unsolicited e-mail - that promises them some benefit but requests identifying data, without realizing that in many cases, the requester has no intention of keeping his promise. In some cases, criminals reportedly have used computer technology to obtain large amounts of personal data.

With enough identifying information about an individual, a criminal can take over that individual's identity to conduct a wide range of crimes: For example, false applications for loans and credit cards, fraudulent withdrawals from bank accounts, fraudulent use of telephone calling cards, or obtaining other goods or privileges which the criminal might be denied if he were to use his real name. If the criminal takes steps to ensure that bills for the falsely obtained credit cards, or bank statements showing the unauthorized withdrawals, are sent to an address other than the victim's, the victim may not become aware of what is happening until the criminal has already inflicted substantial damage on the victim's assets, credit, and reputation.

To reduce or minimize the risk of becoming a victim of identity theft or fraud, there are some basic steps you can take. For starters, remember the word SCAM:S: Be Stingy about giving out your personal information to others unless you have a reason to trust them, regardless of where you are.C: Check your financial information regularly, and look for what should and shouldn't be there.A: Ask periodically for a copy of your credit report.M: Maintain careful records of your banking and financial accounts

This below is the 10 ways to safeguard our personal and financial data
1. Take Stock. Know what personal information you have in your files and on yourcomputers. Never leave sensitive papers in a common area unattended.
2. Scale Down. Keep only what you need for your business. If you don't have alegitimate business need for information, don't collect it.

3. Lock It. Protect the information that you keep. Limit access to employees with alegitimate business need. Control who has a key, the number of keys and knowwhen information is being accessed.
4. Pitch it. Properly dispose of what you no longer need. If you collect applicationswith personal financial information, make sure the paperwork is unreadablebefore you dispose of it. Crosscutshredding is an effective way to preventidentity thieves from stealing it from your trash.
5. Email Restrictions. Regular email is not a secure method for sending sensitivedata. Never send personal financial information via Email.

6. Protect It. Use antivirusand antispywaresoftware, as well as a firewall, andupdate them all regularly. Also, use a passwordactivatedscreen saver to lockyour screen whenever you are not in front of it.

7. Use "Strong" Passwords. The longer the password, the better. Use passwordswith a mix of letters, numbers & characters and frequently change yourpassword. Do not use the same password for all of the various accounts youaccess with a password.

8. Limit Team Roles. Only allow certain employees to access sensitive personalfinancial information wherever it is. Manage the user permission of youremployees carefully on places like the Member Solutions or banking websites.
9. Make Sure Your Vendors are PCI Compliant. Any financial institution,software provider, merchant processor, or other company that you do businesswith should be taking steps to be PCI compliant. Any company or softwareapplication that contains cardholder data must comply.
10. Treat it Like it Was Your Own. Safeguard all personal financial information ofyour customers, employees or anyone else like is was your own personalinformation.

Even though financial institutions are required to maintain copies of your checks, debit transactions, and similar transactions for five years, you should retain your monthly statements and checks for at least one year, if not more. If you need to dispute a particular check or transaction, especially if they purport to bear your signatures, your original records will be more immediately accessible and useful to the institutions that you have contacted.

2009-06-23T22:20:00.029+08:00

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

How many times have we heard of a financial institution's website getting hacked and confidential and sensitive customer data getting into the hands of cyber criminals? Customer data theft from ecommerce platforms, which can lead to ID theft and online fraud has jumped to the top of concern for ecommerce businesses, according to a new report. Therefore, it is always a need to update security software to keep our data safe from threats.

There are some of the threats to online security like botnets. Botnet is a huge number of hijacked Internet computers that have been set up to forward traffic, including spam and viruses, to other computers on the Internet. The computer is compromised via a Trojan that often works by opening an Internet Relay Chat channel that waits for commands from the person in control of the botnet. The combined power of bot, computer robots can scan for and compromise other computers and perpetrate DOS attacks.

Virus is a pieces of software code that inserts itself into a host, including the operating systems; running its host program activates the virus. It spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a users sent it over a network or removable medium.

A virus might corrupt or delete data on your computer, use your e-mail program to spread itself to other computers or even erase every things on your hard disk.

Next, we talk about the threat of web server and web page hijacking. It can control or redirect unsuspecting users to scam or phishing sites. Criminal organisations, crime networks, and terrorist groups have used Web server hijacking and exploited the global information, financial and transportation networks.

In conclusion, the needs for a complete data protection solution that secures data is necessary. By leveraging a strong and efficient blend of full disk encryption,access control,removable media encryption and port management is a solutions to deliver comprehensive data security.

the application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

2009-06-23T01:44:00.001+08:00

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

Third Party Certification(TPC) is one of the methods to provide confident and satisfaction to customers to surf the website. Through the implementation of TPC programme, people will ensure that their information traveled over Internet reaches the intended recipients and is safe from intruders because of the increased phishing and spoofing attacks on the internet. The most famous application of third party certification programme in Malaysia is provided by the MSC Trustgate.com Sdn.Bhd.

MCS Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd was established in 1999 as a licensed Certificate Authority ( CA ) which issues digital certificate to provide verification that the website does indeed represent its company. It is operating within the Multimedia Super Corridor. The objective of MSC Trustgate .com is to secure the open network communications from both locally and across the ASEAN region. It offers complete security solutions and leading trust services that needed by all the categories. As a CA, Trustgate’s core business is to provide digital certification services, including digital certificates, and cryptographic products, Managed PKI, Personal ID, My Trust, MyKad ID, Managed Security Services, VeriSign Certified Training and Application Development.

Trustgate provide Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to assist all the companies in conducting their business over the Internet. PKI Technologies help the organizations to enhance the security of the data and manage identification credentials from users and organization. It helps to secure by based on the exchange of digital certificates between authenticated users and trusted resources. The E-Commerce users can design their own PKI to meet the preferable security and technical requirements of their organization such as confidentiality where PKI users will use it to encrypt data that is stored or transmitted.

MyKey is the MSC Trustgate.com Sdn. Bhd.'s Digital Certificate which is MyKad PKI solution that works with your physically MyKad. It is governed by Malaysia’s Digital Signature Act 1997 and is accepted by the Malaysia government. It is class 2 certificate and has 1024-bit key length. When a document digitally signed with MyKey is treated as a legal binding document as it is with a handwritten signature. It provide highest protection for your data and transaction online with reliance limit for fraud protection.

VeriSign is the leading Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Authority enabling secure e-commerce, communications, and interactions for Web sites, intranets, and extranets. VeriSign gives confidence to consumers because they can conveniently and securely log-in to their accounts to use online services.

VeriSign will review the credentials and check through all the background of organization to ensure that the claim of organization before issuing any server certificate. The browser will verify its business purpose through ID automatically when browser connects to a legitimate site with VeriSign SSL Certificates. After that, information received by Web visitor is identical to encryption between browser and server and no modification is taken place.
Moreover, it is a two-factor authentication, self-learning fraud detection, and a powerful validation infrastructure helps provide a secure end-to-end solution at a reasonable cost from the most recognized trust brand on the Internet. VIP Authentication Services support second-factor authentication for a range of OATH-compliant credential form factors. Choose from credit-card sized credentials, tokens, even mobile phone credentials to provide the most convenient, cost-effective option for consumers.

2009-06-18T21:44:00.003+08:00

The History and Evolution of e-commerce

Electronic Commerce, commonly known as (eletronic marketing) e-commerce consists of the buying and selling of products and services over electronic systems such as internet and other computer network. Therefore, the amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarity with widespread internet usage.

History of e-commerce dates back to the invention of the very old notion of "sell and buy". Ecommerce became possible in 1991 when the internet was opened to commercial use. Since that date thousands of businesses have taken up residence at web sites.

In 1969, the internet began life as an experiment by the U.S government, and its initial users were a largely technical audience of government agencies and academic researchers and scientists. Besides that, the term ecommerce meant the process of execution of commercial transactions electronically with the help of the leading technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) which gave an opportunity for users to exchange business information and do electronic transactions. The ability to use these technologies appeared in the late 1970s and allowed business companies and organizations to send commercial documentation electronically.

In 1994, internet began to advance in popularity among the general public. However, it look four years to develop the security protocols (for example, HTTP) and DSL which allowed rapid access and a persistent connection to the internet.

In 2000, a great number of business companies in the United Stated and Western Europe represented their services in the World Wide Web. At this time the meaning of the word ecommerce was changed. Moreover, social network started to receive quite a bit of attention. as did wireless application in 2005.

Genealogical Publishing Company was an early adopter of e-commerce sales and marketing in the early history of the internet. Their ecommerce site had been re-written several times on different platforms including Cold Fusion and Microsoft ASP. The site had been custom written with little documentation and was primarily supported by only one developer. The company recognized the need to add functionality and more sophisticated search engine optimization tools (SEO) to increase internet sales.

"Web 2.0" refers to what is perceived as a second generation of web development and web design. It is characterized as facilitating communication, information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 websites allow users to do more than just retrieve information. Users can own the data on a Web2.0 site and exercise control over that data.The popularity of the term Web2.0 along with the increasing use of blogs, wikis and social network technologies. Many of these 2.0s refer to Web 2.0 technologies as the source of the new version in their respective disciplines and areas.

In conclusion, ecommerce has expanded from B2B to B2C, C2B and C2C in recently years. Nowadays, more and more organization are started to conduct their business through internet such as McDonald, Public Bank, and Ambank which provides on-line payment. It can save our time and transportation cost to make order or payment. However, security issues may always happen in an internet world. Therefore, more attention needs to be emphasized in that aspect to light up the future of ecommerce.

An example of an E-commerce failure and its causes

2009-06-18T11:02:00.002+08:00

E-commerce failure and its causes

Story of Webvan
Webvan was an online credit and delivery grocery business. It was headquartered in Foster City, California, USA, near Silicon Valley. It delivered products to customers’ homes within a 30-minute window of their choosing. At its peak, it offered service in ten U.S. markets which included San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas, San Diego, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Sacramento and Orange Country. The company had originally hoped to expand to 26 cities. However, this hope was spoiled when this company went into bankruptcy in year 2001. Approximately 2000 employees had been let go as a result of the shut down.

What causes this matter to be happened?

Too focus on customer service and neglect the profit in long term

Customer service is important. Any business could provide infinitely good customer service but have to balance the need to serve customers with profits. In this case, Webvan was popular with its good customer service but this company was too focus on this short term profit and had neglected that this service would not bring any profit for them in the long term. Not all people could afford its high delivery fees and as a result, it had not attracted enough customers to sustain its business and thus it need to shut down the company.

Too much of capital expenditure

While Webvan was building up its empire of tech warehouses and fleets of delivery trucks, it eventually ran out of money because the money spent on infrastructure far exceeded sales growth of the company. The $1 billion spent on the infrastructure had affected the company’s financial liquidity. Webvan was unable to cover all these expenses and in the end, it had no choice to wind up the company.

Conclusion

The demise of Webvan indicates an unhappy tale for other companies which having online grocery business. It is not easy to conduct E-commerce. Good knowledge and experience in IT and management is important to conduct a business online. Therefore, I hope that Webvan’s failure may help you a lot.

2009-06-17T14:47:00.002+08:00

eBay - success story

eBay,the reason you will pick it probably because it's the most people are think about the eBay when they considering selling something online. Another reason is eBay is one of the most popular shopping areas on the internet with millions of registered users all over the world. In 2004, eBay had revenues of around $3.2 billion dollars. Between $7 - $8 Billion is run through eBay's platform every quarter. What was founded in 1995 as a hobby website has grown to a multi-billion dollar website. Talk about your niche markets! Every hour eBay registers 3,000 - 4,000 new users. More than 724,000 people report that eBay is their primary or secondary source of income and another 1.5 million say eBay is a supplemental source of income.

When you are doing business on eBay, you are tapping into not only the most popular marketplace on the planet, but one that demands, and has the attention of millions of shoppers. There is no better location anywhere to sell your goods and services. When you add in the convenience of PayPal, BidPay, the search tools, and the flexibility of how you can put together your auctions and business, there really is no comparable alternative that makes good business sense.

The stock performance may be all out of proportion, but the fact is, eBay has stumbled onto the next great E-commerce category: collectibles. It was founded in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar, a 31-year-old software developer who wanted to help his fiancee trade Pez dispensers online. He created a small auction site, charging just a tiny fee and commission for each listing. The risks were minimal since eBay acts only as an intermediary; the parties arrange delivery on their own. The model far exceeded Omidyar's expectations, and within a year he quit his day job. This year he hired as CEO Meg Whitman, who previously oversaw brands like Mr. Potato head and Teletubbies for Hasbro.

eBay's success is testimony to the Internet's ability to transform one person's junk--taxidermy animals or Fisher-Price toys--into another's treasure by matching sellers with a huge audience of buyers. Domenica Brockman, a Brooklyn antiques dealer, got hooked after she was able to sell an obscure Depression-era green-glass pitcher--that she paid $3 for--to a collector for $150. "I never would have gotten that price for it in my store," she says.

This enthusiasm has made eBay the leader in the online collectibles market. It was the fifth-most-visited Website in August, according to Media Metrix, an Internet-tracking company. "More time is spent in eBay's community than on either AOL.com's or Walt Disney's Website," says Mary Meeker, an analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. This growth has been driven by word of mouth, since until recently the company has avoided advertising. "Every auction and every buyer begets another auction and another buyer," says analyst Mitch Bartlett of Dain Rauscher Wessels.

When you really think about it, it all comes down to flexibility, cost, and potential business success. No other internet location offers the opportunities for success that eBay does. No other internet marketplace will provide you with the continuous exposure and stream of customers that eBay does each and every day and night of the year. "I've shopped for antique clocks listed by German sellers at 2:00 AM. I've visited eBay auctions in Holland, England, Italy. Where else can you go to see, buy and sell with such a worldwide focus"?

eBay's success is not in what they sell, but in what you and I buy and sell. It's a marketplace with over $30 Billion dollars worth of goods changing hands every year. The big numbers should not be viewed as competition, but rather, your opportunity for success.

Google is changing everthing

2009-06-17T01:12:00.010+08:00

A real-world case: Google is changing everything

If you are asking me to spell a single magic word which may requires to cover a new form of culture,

new generation, new world, and new model of communication in order to reflect the twenty-second century. G.O.O.G.L.E., Google, I will say it out, without any hesitations. The simply word which almost known by every human on the earth. With the emerging of Google, it is now changing everything.

Taken as a whole, Google’s serving as a browser-based application and a place where functioning as an 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. Those functions may revolutionize the way people connect, communicate, collaborate and share information with other people online.

Further more, those functions were also serving as a basic where the evolution of the software landscape is going. We can envision that eventually software vendors will compete to provide the tools in our virtual environments, content providers will compete to sell us content such as music, carriers will compete to sell us the service enriched network access and hardware vendors will sell us the devices we use as interfaces to the environment.

According to Wikipedia, Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. As the one who benefited from Google, I could conclude that, its mission was achieved. With the powerfully evidence – I was finished this case review for my first work of e-commerce. It was also proved that Google is now changing everything, including the modes of student doing their school assignments.

2009-06-14T23:00:00.000+08:00

Less I More We

Ming a.k.a Hon Ming

2009-06-11T13:31:00.007+08:00

Named Lee Hon Ming, from KL, currently I’m studying in UTAR for a degree programme. UTAR is a place where let me know a lot of friends, best friends, and also I got a brother gang that always sticking together in during lunch, class, and after class activities.. they are cute, innocent, noisy, crazy, silly (refer to Leong) and most importantly they are happy, this make my degree journey much more stressless because I had found a very good mentally support, when under a stress, find them, make some trashy chit chats and laugh out loud, I’ll feel better.

I like to exercise, all kind of sports, during my free time, I always call my friends to go for some easy sports such as badminton, swimming, balling and I found that gaming also considered exercise because we move our finger rapidly and think immediate to make a fast and good decision to the respond of the opponent. Besides, I also like jungle games, such as trekking, rivering (seeking for river), and flying fox. My next planning for the extreme jungle games is to sitting or standing at the back of a car – 4WD and ride wildly across the river and the stone road and also hiding in jungle silently at night to wait for the animal come out for drinking water, eating…this scene makes me feel so natural and amazing..wow cool! Anyone who interested can find me..haha

When I at home, I used to online to surf some internet to obtain some information, the top 5 website I used to surf are:

http://www.wikipedia.org/ – search for anything.
http://www.livescore.com/ – to read the football live result.
http://www.hotmail.com/ – haha, no need to say.
http://www.formula1.com/ – to update the latest news from F1 racing.
http://www.thestar.com/ – to read the latest short news from all places.

My little open secret, previously I was so resistance to the change of lifestyle, everyday remain unchanged and going on so flat, I feel it is so difficult and so impossible to change, other words, I afraid to change actually. But someday someway during my degree studying, I started the first step, I change whenever it was required, no longer react in the same old grandy way. After that, I found I had adapted to this kind of lifestyle that changing all the time and also it can improve one’s adaptation ability too, I believed I had met a lot and learned a lot, at the same time, also grow up a lot. It is challenging, it is fun!

Yen a.k.a Meng Yen

2009-06-10T12:04:00.017+08:00

Hey, I am Siow Meng Yen, 21 years old. I was born in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan which are a small and nice town. It is a town where popular with “siew pow” and Port Dickson also a best place for traveling. However, I am currently staying in Sungai Long, Selangor for pursuing my degree of Bachelor Business Administration (HONS) Entrepreneurship in University Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Normally I like to online when I am free at home. Besides that, shopping and listen music also my favorite. I like to sing and I always date my friends go to sing-k. It can reduce my stress when mid-term and assignment come together to me.

My top 5 visited websites :

1. www.facebook.com - makes new friends and keeps in touch with old friends.
2. www.yahoo.com –I can read the latest news and search information for my assignment.
3. www.gsmarena.com –is a website that I always enter to update my information about hand phone. It has provided a lot of information such as new model is coming soon, what is the old and new price of it, and the function of every hand phone. Therefore, I can compare different brand of the hand phones.
4. www.pps.com – I can watch the movie anytime without taking long time for downloading.
5. www.ebay.com –I can online shopping anywhere, anytime. It can update my knowledge and always buy cheaper things.

I like to try new things, so I hope I can try all the jobs in the world. I know it is an impossible goal for me, but I will try my best to do it. I am quite enjoyed to work as kinder garden teacher for three months during the semester break. It is an experience for me to learn how to communicate and teach student in a different ways. Beside that, I also had worked as clerk and promoter before. As a clerk, I noticed that the office work is not easy as promoter. You must follow and do well + fast when you are giving work from your boss. On the other hand, as a promoter, you need concentrate to what the customer’s wants in the shop. You also need to introduce the product function and detail information to them. I had learned how to communicate with different age of customers.

I like the painful of failure. Although it is pain enough, but for me, it is a best opportunity to gain experience for my life.

Erwin a.k.a WinWin

2009-06-10T11:59:00.005+08:00

Yoyo, it is me, Chong Chan Wai, and often called Erwin. I was born in Kuantan Pahang; raised in Johor Bahru and stayed in Kuala Lumpur. Currently studying and chasing degree programme in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

The theme of our blog is - “it is a kind of fun for doing the impossible”. For sure, you may feel query regarding our real wills that – is it really fun for doing something impossible? Yoyo! By here, I am going to telling you that the answer from an Entrepreneurship student will be –YES!

As for a good example, I believe that an “impossible thing” in my study life will be carrying out in this semester - that is we are requested for creating a blog for our subject – E-commerce. Why it is impossible? First, I think that there will be some kind of annoyance (because it never happened before) and second, it may generate the feeling of tragedy (because I was lazy for doing so).

However, since UTAR is a high quality University which filling with high qualities University students, as a part of conducting the word “high qualities students”, I will try my best in achieving the expectation of our dear lecturer . Furthermore, I believe that this semester will be the important key of self improving and also giving me a damn different experience for future indications.

The 10 shortly question and quickly answer to let u know me better:
1. What activity has played or plays an important part in your life?
-Yamcha with friends.
2. What is your main personal goal?
- Enjoying quality friendship in all of my life time.
3. What do you like very much?
- Having soya bean in early morning class ^-^
4. What do you hate or dislike?
-Not having soya bean in early morning class -.-
5. Do you have developed a very special skill?
- “I’m thinking… and I’m thinking... and… I’ll tell u once I figured it out*.*”
6. What is your lifestyle?
- What can you imagine a student lifestyle and that will be my one~
7. Can you come up with a turning point or milestone in you life?
- Deciding to study in University.
8. What is your hobby or interest in you spare time?
- Reading and thinking, but do not ask me to move.
9. Is there an object or prop that means a lot to you?
- People around me - my parent, my friends, my classmates.
10. What distinguishes you from other individuals?
- I passionate attraction in exotic pet – scorpion and tarantula.

Top 5 website I visit the most:

http://www.cari.com.my/ - an officially Chinese website which allowing online users to share their information, knowledge, and experiences among each another.
http://www.friendster.com/ - a websites which allowing users to contact with their long lost friends.
http://www.google.com.my/ - wow, the greatest online searching engine~ pretty useful during our hard war - assignment.
http://www.chinapress.com.my/ - a local newspaper website and it is - F.O.C! (I love this word~)
http://www.youtube.com/ - A website which allowing users for sharing their favorite video with people around the world.

Top 5 internet activities:

1) Chatting and discussing using Windows Live Messenger
2) Receive and forward interesting e-mails to share with others
3) Surfing from site to site on the Internet without any particular purpose
4) Entertainments – DOTA, Maple Story
5) Illegally download songs and dramas

Evone a.k.a Pei Ling

2009-06-10T11:54:00.006+08:00

Hi, the one who is reading my blog post now, I’m Pei Ling, you also can call me as Evone, or ah poh (this is how my secondary schoolmate call me, because I extremely is a ‘big prawn head’). I come from Cameron Highlands, needless to say, I’m sure that many of you know what’s the place is. But from my view, that is a place which is boring, no entertainment at all, full of people when peak season, and belief me, don’t try travel to Cameron when public holiday, you will found that your rarity holiday only will spend in your lovely car. Yes, that is Cameron!

I’m currently study in University Tunku Abdul Rahman, a business student majoring in entrepreneurship. I’m a typical teen that enjoy doing the same things that the next person would. Like hanging out, eating together, shopping, reading magazines, surfing the net, etc

With our theme of this fantastic blog “do the impossible things is a kind of fun”, do you agree that? YES, I do. Still remember the first day when I was in UTAR, i have to promise myself must enlarge my social cycle from me alone to every UTARian. Wow, that is impossible right, but I believe myself can do it and must achieved it. Today, I still struggle to do that. Even my dream hasn’t achieved yet, but I have enjoying the process. I sure you know how was the fun when your life accompany by a lot of friends in spite of happy or hard time. Yeah, that's my life now with my quote: “never try never know”. Never ever judge yourself before trying it, nothing is impossible.

Below are the top 5 website I visit the most:
1) http://www.facebook.com – it allows you to connect and share with the people in your life, with just a click of your mouse. Besides, there have a lot of mini games and quiz; it’s no surprise that one can spend hours on Facebook alone.
2) http://www.yahoo.com – this is my search engine to pinpoint the relevant information on the World Wide Web.
3) http://www.friendster.com – Same as like Facebook, connect to my friends.
4) http://www.chinese.cari.com – a Chinese forum with rich of variety information, and latest new.
5) http://www.hotmail.com – is where I check my mails.

Next up, my top 5 internet activities is:
1) Chatting with buddies using Windows Live Messenger
2) Checking my e-mails
3) Doing research
4) Entertainments
5) Search songs and dramas