Legal

The legal ramification of internet usage become more strictly from years to years. Due to the efforts by the Internet law enforcer, more and more of the Internet spammers and hackers has been arrested. The most obvious example is the arrest of “Spam King”, Robert Soloway. There are also other new laws for cyber café. In the point of view of the users, the new rule has because more inconvenience to the customers and also limited the potential growth of cyber café. In other countries such as China and US, they are more concentrate working on new law to minimize the illegal downloads of video, music, and also computer software.

Malaysia’s government has launched a lot of large operation to seize those illegal companies that provided the sources of downloadable software. As the government tried to eliminating the sources for piracy, there are many people that still ignoring their efforts especially the public. The new rule for cyber café has restricted a lot of activities including gaming activities. The main reasons of people went to cyber café is because of the lagging of internet service at home and also gaming with the other people. Since government try to protect the internet usage, this has cause more problem to users than benefit the others. The legal action that enforced to the home-based internet usage such as cutting of the internet connection is not a wise move to more internet secure situation. Even some of the hackers can hack into the others personal computer to perform illegal actions such as illegal downloads and stealing identities. Common users do not have knowledge to prevent being hacked. The government should point their fingers on those hackers but not innocent users. They should concentrate on how to track and punish the hackers.

Although there are a lot of critiques pointed to the government internet enforcers, but they are still doing the right action to arrest and jailed those spammers before they cause more damages. The illegal internet investment schemes also have been cracked down.

Review a local e-commerce site

PbeBank.com
http://www.pbebank.com/

On-line banking is a service provided by many banks, thrifts, and credit unions that allows you to conduct banking transactions over the Internet using a personal computer, mobile telephone, or handheld computer (such as a "personal digital assistant").

Nowaday E-banking is one of the convienice website for their customers. On-line banking can help you manage savings and checking accounts, apply for loans, or pay bills quickly and easily. To enjoy the full benefits of on-line banking, you should understand all that on-line banking can offer, consider some questions to ask before signing up, and know how to get help if you need it.

Register for PBeBank.com Internet Banking can enjoy the following benefits for today:
~Realtime Account Inquiry (Balance Inquiry , Transaction History, Statement Request)
~Payment History
~Funds Transfers and Payments
~Online Share Trading (Buy/Sell shares, Share Portfolio and Account Balances)
~Other Services (Cheque Book Request, Cheque Status Inquiry)

Comment on pbebank website:
The design of the website is tidy and the colour is very comfortable. I prefer this(pbe) website because all the icon and linking is well organize and is esay for users to understand and used.

Talking about the security, pbe is more secure compare to others becuase the duration to enable the webside relog is shorter then others. Sometime people will say this will cause a problem, but for my oppinion this is more secure. In the other hand, the secure system will always remind customers to update the web password from time to time to protect their privacy.

Prevention of E-auction fraud

According to Internet Fraud Watch, of all e-commerce activities conducted over the Internet, fraud is most serious in e-auctions. E-auction fraud accounted for 70 percent of the e-commerce fraud that occurred in 2001 (down from 87 percent in 1999). The average auction loss is $518 per complaint, and roughly $6.1 million was lost due to fraudulent activity in 2001.The largest Internet auctioneer, eBay, has introduced several measures in an effort to reduce fraud. Some are free, some are not. The company has succeeded in its goal: less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the transactions at eBay were fraudulent in 2001 (Konrad 2002). The following are some of eBay’s antifraud measures:

>>User identity verification
eBay uses the services of Equifax to verify user identities for a $5 fee. Verified eBay User, a voluntary program, encourages users to supply eBay with information for online verification. By offering their Social Security number, driver’s license number, and date of birth, users can qualify for the highest level of verification on eBay.

>> Authentication service
Product authentication is a way of determining whether an item is genuine and described appropriately.Authentication is very difficult to perform because it relies on the expertise of the authenticators. Because of their training and experience, experts can (for a fee) often detect counterfeits based on subtle details. However, two expert authenticators may have different opinions about the authenticity of the same item.

>> Grading services
Grading is a way of determining the physical condition of an item, such as “poor quality” or “mint condition.” The actual grading system depends on the type of item being graded. Different items have different grading systems—for example, trading cards are graded from A1 to F1, whereas coins are graded from poor to perfect uncirculated.

>> Feedback Forum
The eBay Feedback Forum allows registered buyers and sellers to build up their online trading reputations. It provides users with the ability to comment on their experiences with other individuals.

>> Insurance policy
eBay offers insurance underwritten by Lloyd’s of London. Users are covered up to $200, with a $25 deductible. The program is provided at no cost to eBay users.

>> Escrow services
For items valued at more than $200 or when either a buyer or seller feels the need for additional security, eBay recommends escrow services (for a fee). With an easy-to-access link to a third-party escrow service, both partners in a deal are protected. The buyer mails the payment to the escrow service, which verifies the payment and alerts the seller when everything checks out. At that point, the seller ships the goods to the buyer. After an agreed-upon inspection period, the buyer notifies the service, which then sends a check to the seller. (An example of a provider of online escrow services is tradenable.com.)

>>Nonpayment punishment
eBay implemented a policy against those who do not honor their winning bids.To help protect sellers, a first-time nonpayment results in a friendly warning.A sterner warning is issued for a second-time offense, a 30-day suspension for a third offense, and indefinite suspension for a fourth offense.

>>Appraisal services
Appraisers use a variety of methods to appraise items, including expert assessment of authenticity and condition and reviewing what comparable items have sold for in the marketplace in recent months. An appraised value is usually accurate at the time of appraisal but may change over time as an item becomes more or less popular in the marketplace.

>>Verification
One way of confirming the identity and evaluating the condition of an item is through verification.With verification, neutral third parties will evaluate and identify an item through a variety of means. For example, some collectors have their item “DNA tagged” for identification purposes. This provides a way of tracking an item if it changes ownership in the future.

electronic currency

Electronic currency is the money or scrip that only exchangeable electronically. It also known as e-money, electronic cash and digital cash. It involves the use of Internet and computer network. The examples of electronic currency are the Electronic Funds Transfer and the direct deposit. The Octopus’s card which was applied in Hong Kong was a successful transit payment system that has growth into widely used electronic cash system.

Electronic or digital money is a representation, or a system of debits and credits, used 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, non-gold backed, or both gold and non-gold backed. 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.

Although digital cash can provide many benefits such as convenience and privacy, increased efficiency of transactions, lower transaction fees, and new business opportunities with the expansion of economic activities on the Internet, there are many potential issues with the use of digital cash. The transfer of digital currencies raises local issues such as how to levy taxes or the possible ease of money laundering. There are also potential macroeconomic effects such as exchange rate instabilities and shortage of money supplies (total amount of digital cash versus total amount of real cash available, basically the possibility that digital cash could exceed the real cash available). These issues may only be addressable by some type of cyberspace regulations or laws that regulate the transactions and watch for signs of trouble

Corporate Blogging

Corporate blogs are giving established companies and obscure brands alike the ability to connect with their audiences on a more personal level, build trust, collect valuable feedback and foster strengthened business relationships. More importantly, these companies are enjoying tangible returns in their blogging investment in the form of increased sales, partnerships, business opportunities, press coverage and lead generation.Besides, corporate blogs can also promoting the company's products towards the mass market. this can be considered as one of the most effective marketing tools for any business whether big or small.

Companies that employ a well thought out blogging strategy encourage the strongest community goodwill, and that goodwill, in turn, promotes significant marketing and sales gains. It is said that success breeds success. This holds very true for successful blogs. There is chain reaction that begins with a real desire on the part of the blogger to provide value and connect with their audience. The blogger shares useful and engaging content —the latest information, help, discussion topics and ideas. The way the audience responds to that content is key. When customers start commenting, posting or tracking back to a blogging community, it can have a viral effect —spreading out across the blogosphere. In addition, companies that harness their customers’ knowledge and ideas find better ways to satisfy their needs and wants, thus facilitating goodwill in the community. For example, it is a common practice in blogging to provide a link back to a thought originator, which is valuable because backlinks are a way that search engines distinguish the order of the editorial rankings. Higher search engine rankings translate into significantly higher web site traffic and more sales leads. Thus, successful blogging breeds success in other marketing and sales initiatives.

Greater word-of-mouth buzz on- and offline, higher search engine rankings, increased press coverage and superior lead generation are just some of the potential benefits of blogging in a corporate setting. In the next chapters, we will examine the blogging strategies of a number of companies, and learn how they are already reaping the rewards of their investment in corporate blogging.

Some business reasons for blogs:

1) Establish expertise. Many consultants effectively use blogs to raise their visibility with their target market.

2) Create alternative media. A number of publishers have built viable media outlets with loyal followings, as have companies that produce sponsored blogs, such as Gawker Media.

3) Extend corporate communications. Blogs enable companies to present a human face and voice to the public. The most notably example is Microsoft's Robert Scoble.

4) Build community. Use blogs to grow groups around a technology, cause, political issue, or hobby related to your product.

Examples of the companies involved in Blogging (hyperlink):
1. Flash and Macomedia ( Adobe)
2. IBM
3. Boeing
4. Kodak
5. Facebook
6. DELL
7. Google
8. Yahoo, and etc

Types of Corporate Blogs

1. Internal Blogs

An internal blog, generally accessed through the corporation's Intranet, is a weblog that any employee can view. Many blogs are also communal, allowing anyone to post to them. The informal nature of blogs may encourage:

-> employee participation

-> free discussion of issues

-> collective intelligence

-> direct communication between various layers of an organization

-> a sense of community

Internal blogs may be used in lieu of meetings and e-mail discussions, and can be especially useful when the people involved are in different locations, or have conflicting schedules. Blogs may also allow individuals who otherwise would not have been aware of or invited to participate in a discussion to contribute their expertise.

2. External Blogs

An external blog is a publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services (or the end of old products), to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. It also allows a window to the company culture and is often treated more informally than traditional press releases, though a corporate blog often tries to accomplish similar goals as press releases do. In some corporate blogs, all posts go through a review before they're posted. Some corporate blogs, but not all, allow comments to be made to the posts.

External corporate blogs, by their very nature,

are biased, though they can also offer a more honest and direct view than traditional communication channels. Nevertheless, they remain public relations tools.

Marketers might expect to have product evange

lists or influencers among the audience of an external blog. Once they find them, they may treat them like VIPs, asking them for feedback on exclusive previews, product testing, marketing plans, customer services audits, etc.

The business blog can provide additional value by adding a level of credibility that is often unobtainable from a standard corporate site. The informality and increased timeliness of information posted to blogs assists with increasing transparency and accessibility in the corporate image. Business blogs can interact with a target market on a more personal level while building link credibility that can ultimately be tied back to the corporate site.

Mc Donald's corporate blogs for quality and taste review.

Comapany that assists others business to involve in corporate blogging.

Infosys blogs for its stakeholders to share opinions.

Lenovo engaged blogging method for marketing purposes.

The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers ( updated version)

Pre-paid cash card (stored value card)

A pre-paid cash card or better known as stored value card (SVC) is a credit card-sized plastic card with an integrated circuit embedded in it. This embedded circuit allows the card to store information and perform certain transactions when inserted into special devices designed to read and process the cards. There are two main categories: closed-loop cards, such as merchant gift cards, transit system fare cards, and prepaid telephone cards; and open-loop cards, which can be used at many retail merchants and for banking purposes, such as receiving direct deposits or withdrawing cash from automated teller machines. Open-loop cards can be reloaded with additional value. Banks have been offering stored value cards as a gateway to servicing the needs of consumers who have income from wages or benefits but lack access to conventional checking or savings accounts. Transaction security can range from low to high, depending on the pre-determined application of the card. Although stored value cards can be used to support a variety of applications and perform a variety of functions, the ones supported by the U.S. Department of the Treasury are used primarily to perform financial transactions.

examples of pre-paid cash card (stored value cards)

Application of pre-paid cash card( stored value card)

The business case for stored value cards (i.e. gift cards, coffee cards, phone cards, gas cards, etc.) has been proven time and time again. Stored value cards not only enable quick point-of-sale processing times, but they can be given away as gifts thereby attracting new customers to your business. Grow your customer base by implementing a stored value card program today. Federal Agencies currently using SVC applications include the Army, Air Force, Marines, and Navy. SVC systems are installed on Army and Air Force bases in the U.S. wherever a basic training operation exists, overseas at several bases with deployed troops, as well as on ships at sea. SVC cards can be used as payment in post exchanges and post offices, ships stores, vending machines, and used for MW.

Sample or applications:

• Payroll Cards
• Benefits Cards
• Gift Cards
• Employee Purchases
• Sales Commissions
• Employee Incentive
• Travel Expense Card
• Parent-to-Student Money Transfer
• General Money Transfer
• Shopping Mall Card
• Long Distance Telephone Card

Stored Value Cards and Pre-Paid ATM cards available for "closed loop" and "open loop" applications. These cards can also be specified as re-loadable or non-reloadable cards.

SVC in fast food industry

served for transportation purposes

SVC can act as "gift card"

Benefits:

The Financial Management Services has developed a number of SVC applications designed to improve financial controls and cash-management applications, streamline administrative processes, and improve the quality of life of cardholders. Stored value cards are low-cost, easy to issue, and easy to use. They have been used to:

• Simplify administrative processes for issuing financial instruments to individuals
• Convert cash and paper transactions to electronic
• Eliminate the cost of securing, transporting, and accounting for cash
• Speed transaction time at point-of-sale
• Eliminate manually intensive back-end processes associated with scrip, vouchers, meal tickets, money orders, traveler's checks, and other payment mechanisms
• Eliminate financial "float-loss"
• Reduce exposure to risk of theft/loss
• Improve quality of life for cardholders
• SVC resulted convenient towards consumers
  

Mobile payment system in M'sia: Its potentials and consumers' adoption strategies

What Mobile Can Do For You?

Mobile payment is actually a walking ATM Machine. It is a virtual wallet residing in your mobile phone. People can have all kind of convenient ans easy steps for paying bills, buying prepaid or ring tone, reloading phone amount, even transferring money to any hand phone, any bank accounts at anytime from anywhere around the world. This not only can bring forward the technology, and also bring convenient to life!

Mobile Money is a PIN-based mobile payment solution designed to address the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheque and credit cards. It also gives the freedom to shoppers to buy products online and pay the merchant using his/her mobile phone without being physically present at the store.

When it comes to online selling, selecting a payment gateway is one of the major obstacles faced by the merchants in Malaysia. There are too few choices available, worse, none of these limited choices are cost effectively. This problem has been addressed by Mobile Money, since it allows merchants to take online order without the need for online shopper to disclose their credit card information.

There are many advantages for a person to have mobile commerce:
*start a low cost franchise

*earn loyalty income

*as mobile credit card

*buy direct from suppliers to save or to do trading

Nowadays, mobile money has work together with government department such as TNB and Syabas Sdn Bhd to create easy payment for consumers. This way not only can give consumer a easy way to settle their bills payment, it also can bring the work growth into efficient. What is the trend today? Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd targets to achieve one million users for its new service Mobile Money Wallet (MM Wallet), which had been launch 2 months ago.

What are the causes of credit card debts and its prevention?

Credit card offers come in on a daily basis in the mailbox and it has been made way too easy for people to get credit. Nowadays, a lot of people use credit cards as a "crutch." If they can't afford something they really want, they will use it. Then when it comes time to paying the bill, they pay the minimum amount due only. So it accumulates an awful amount of interest and the next month when you get your bill, the balance is about the same. Due of that, credit cards should be used for emergencies only, unless you plan on paying the entire balance off immediately. There are some causes of credit card debt:

>>Missing Payments
The fastest way to get into credit difficulties is by not repaying the minimum payment required. 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. The solution is simple; set up a Direct Debit for the minimum amount and pay off as much of the remaining balance as possible to keep the debt low.

>>Spend, spend, spend
In fact, don’t, don’t, don’t. Spending on a credit card is borrowing money. It is a debt and must be repaid at some point. The smart card user only uses the card in place of cash, or to obtain a purchase they can afford, if they can pay off the cost over time. In other words, the smart card holder only spends what they can afford.

>>The end of the honeymoon
Every special offer must come to an end, from 0% balance transfers to low introductory interest rates. When the special rate ends, the interest rates shoot up, and a small debt can grow rapidly, particularly if only the minimum repayments are being made. There is no point in being loyal to a card that has outlived its special rate; pay off the outstanding balance, or transfer it to a 0% balance rate, and get a new card with a lower rate for purchases.

>>A Fistful of Cards?
Never hold more than eight cards at any one time, as this will adversely affect credit ratings. Clear any outstanding balances and cancel (in writing) cards that are no longer used.

Credit cards can prove a temptation too far, and soon they find themselves in debt. Simple precautions will keep the savvy card holder from such dangers. If debt is growing, there are some things card holders can prevent it immediately.
There are 7 steps that to help you Get Debt Under Control:

Step 1: Make a list of what you owe.

List your debts in order, starting with the largest balance. Next to the amount list the minimum monthly payment and the interest rate you are paying.

Step 2: Prioritize your repayments.

If you have one or two small balances, you might want to apply extra money to pay them off, while continuing the mimimums on the cards with the larger balances. Or you may want to pay off the card with the largest interest rate first.

Step 3: Eliminate credit cards and don't roll over balances.

When you pay off a card, notify the company that you want to close the account. Don't just stick the card back in your wallet where you will be tempted to use it.Don't roll over balances from card to card. Switching from card to card has drawbacks. Every time you get a new card you're generating an outstanding open line of credit that will appear on your credit report. Other lenders may be unwilling to let you keep rolling balances. And when those tempting introductory rates expire, you could be stuck with huge balances on high rate cards.

Step 4: Get a copy of your credit report.

Your credit report is your bill-paying history. Check for errors and contact merchants if you have questions. You are entitled to a free credit report if you have been turned down for a loan or a credit card.

Step 5: Make a spending plan.

Now is the time to change how you spend money. Track the money that is coming in and going out. Personal finance software such as Quicken or Microsoft Money let you track all your check writing by category and make monthly comparisons of your actual spending to the amount you budgeted. Use a debit card instead of a credit card. You can only use the card if you have the money in the account to cover it.

Step 6: Be careful about the equity in your home.
In the past few years, Americans have withdrawn billions of dollars worth of equity in their homes. But there are dangers in home equity loans. Frequently the money is used to pay down credit cards, which are then charged up again. Home values to rise but there is no guarantee that it will continue in the area where you live.



Step 7: Get help.
If you feel that your credit has gotten out of your control contact a professional for help. Be careful to avoid companies that want a fee for their services or money up front. Seek out non-profit credit counseling services such as Consumer Credit Counseling Services.

Threat of online security: How safe is our data?

Nowadays Internet has given a tremendous boost to e-commerce. It did take a few years for the trust between online sellers and online buyers to develop. But, the threat to online security today comes from a third group, neither the seller nor the buyer is party to these online frauds.

There are some threats & attacks faces when you are online:
1) Denial-of-services(DoS)

2) Distributed denial-of-service(DDoS)

3) Virus

4) Worm

5) Macro virus or macro worm

6) Trojan horse

Besides those threats stated above, there are some skills for the fraudsters to attract the victims. For example:

(a) Phishing is one of the most damaging online security threats in recent times. Basically it involves an attempt by a fraudster, to extract confidential information from the innocent victim. In most cases the fraudster constructs a clone site that looks very similar to the web page of a bank or other financial institution. The victim is urged to click a link on an email and access the victim's financial account. The web link is actually a clone web page that captures the confidential login information of the victim. Once this happens, the fraudster uses the information to log into the actual financial account of the victim. The funds in the account are then syphoned out by the fraudster. You should never click a link to access your bank account, credit card account or any other financial account. Open up a fresh browser window and type the entire name of the website, this is the safest way.

(b) You could receive a fraudulent email telling you that you have won a million dollar (possibly more) lottery prize! Do not fall for this gimmick, the fraudster will tell you how close you are to become a millionaire. In most cases, you will be requested to pay a few thousand dollars for various fees and legal expenses. The truth is that there is actually no lottery and no prize money. Once you part with a few thousand dollars, the fraudster disappears and preys on his next victim.

(c)Emails are often received form fraudsters claiming to have free access to millions of dollars. The message goes on to say that all that is required for you to get a hefty share of the money, is to act as an agent in moving the funds. All you need to do is to pay a few ten thousand dollars, your returns could be in the range of five million to 20 million dollars! This is another fraud that you should keep away from, you will never see a single dollar come your way. The fraudsters are based in countries where the legal system operates like a fish market, so no legal recourse will be available to you.

How to keep data safe?
1) Authentication- the process by which one entity verifies that another entity is who they claim to be secret, object, biometric

2) Authorization-process that ensures that a person has the right to access certain resource

3) Auditing-process of collecting information about attempts to access particular resources, use particular privileges, or perform other security actions.

4) Confidentiality-keeping private or sensitive information from being disclosed to unauthorized individuals, entities or process

5) Integrity-as applied to data, the ability to protest data from being altered or destroyed in an unauthorized or accidental manner

6) Availability-a person or program can gain access to the pages data or services provided by the site when they are needed

7) Non repudiation-the ability to limit parties from refuting that a legitimate transaction took place, usually by means of a signature

Review post on Internet Security

Higher technology nowadays in country lead to more criminal on internet especially the viruses and spam. The Spam can be introducing as an electronic junk mail that will corrupted the email system in our email account. There are a lot of Spam that have been identified such as the common msn spam and also the spam from search engine such as Yahoo, Google, and others.

There are ways to prevent or cure the Spam’s effect unlike the viruses. Some strong computer viruses that spread through the internet might lead to serious damages in our computer either the software corruption or hardware broke down. There are also viruses that spread through the MSN in common day. This can be done by simply automatically spreading through the friend list of the victim. The others will get infected by simply open the viruses that spread in website’s link form. There are also others famous viruses such as the Trojan. Other than that, the internet security also strike by the hackers around the world. People that downloaded illegal or unauthorized documents, web pages, videos or music will be hacked by hacker. The government have already spend more money in building up or upgrading the security level so that the treat could be reduce to minimum numbers.

How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

Nowadays, access to information is very important. Protecting ourself from predators on the Internet is very important for our teenager or child as well as ourself. Many people will try to get our personal information so they can have access to everything about us. If they can get our personal information, they can access our financial accounts, our credit records, and other valuable assets so we can be on guard and protect ourself from these thieves. Now we live in an increasingly online world so we can trade stocks, buy groceries,air-ticket, pay bills and other activities through online. There almost any financial transaction we need to make can be done in the comfort of our own home, at our computer. With identity theft posing a real threat, though, keeping financial data private requires that consumers be proactive in the way that they approach online security. According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, 9.3 million Americans fell victim to identity theft in 2005; and while this number has been decreasing slowly since then, identity theft still poses a serious threat.

In response to this problem, scores of companies have come up with services designed to protect against ID theft. Even though paying a company to safeguard our ID can be effective, following some guidelines to keep our private financial information safe online is both free and easy.

10 Tips to Keep Your Information SecureHere are 10 tips that you can use when you're online to keep your identity safe.

1. Only Make Purchases On Trusted Sites
When deals seem too good to be true, they just may be - you might be paying as a victim of identity theft when you make purchases on websites that aren't secure. There are lots of small online retailers that don't have adequately secure payment systems. The best way to make sure that your information doesn't get intercepted is by simply sticking with trusted, well-known online retailers, or smaller sites that use reputable payment processors like PayPal or Google Checkout. Regardless of which site you use, you should always make sure to look for the padlock icon on the bottom of your browser to verify that the page is safe.

2. Order Your Credit Report
Your credit report is your window into your ID security. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, passed by the Federal government in 2003, mandates that each of the major credit bureaus supply consumers with a free copy of their credit report each year. You can get yours at AnnualCreditReport.com (American users only), a website run by the credit reporting agencies to comply with this legislation. Your credit report allows you to see whether someone has opened new accounts under your name.

3. Know How to Spot Phishing
Phishing is a technique used by identity thieves to get your sensitive information by pretending to be a site you trust. Phishing schemes are successful because you believe that you're just signing into your bank or credit card account, when it's really a ploy to get your important information. When logging into these accounts, make sure that you're not being asked for any information that you usually wouldn't be required to provide to log in. Social security numbers and addresses are often red flags. Also, check the url of the site. If you're accessing a Bank of America account at a web address that isn't at bankofamerica.com, it could be a phishing site.

4. Secure Your Network
If you have a wireless network at home or work, make sure that you secure it. A hacker can gain access to anything you do over an unsecured network in a matter of seconds. If you look at the documentation for your wireless router, you'll be able to find out how to lock your router and encrypt your information. It won't affect the way you use your wireless network, but it will keep intruders from getting a hold of your info.

5. Can the Spam
Be very leery of "spam" (or junk email) that works its way into your email inbox. Not only are these messages often from phishers, but they can also contain Trojan horses (viruses) that can get into your computer and send your information back to their unsavory creators. If you have the option, install spam-filtering software (or ask your email provider whether it can add spam-filtering to your account). Not only will this cut back on going through your daily pile of junk email, it can also keep your data safe.

6. Don't Store Sensitive Information on Non-Secure Websites
As more and more useful web applications start springing up (like Backpack, Facebook and Google Calendars), it's important to make sure that you're not storing sensitive data on non-secure websites. While online calendars, to-do lists and organizers are really useful, make sure that your account numbers and passwords don't make their ways onto these sites, which often aren't protected the same way a banking or brokerage website would be.

7. Set Banking Alerts
Many financial institutions are beginning to offer email and SMS alerts when your accounts reach certain conditions (being near overdraft, or having transactions over $1,000, for example). Setting alerts for your accounts can ensure that you find out about unauthorized access as soon as possible.

8. Don't Reuse Passwords
As tempting as it may be to reuse passwords, it's a really good practice to use a different password for every account you access online. This way, if someone does find out what your password is for one credit card, they won't also be able to access your checking, brokerage and email accounts. It may take a little more organization to use different passwords for each site, but it can help marginalize the effects of unauthorized access to your accounts.

9. Use Optional Security Questions
Like with using different passwords for each account, it's a good idea to set up optional security questions to log into your accounts. Many financial institutions ask security questions that a third party wouldn't know, but you can often set up multiple optional questions that can increase the security of your account. Remember to use questions that don't have answers available by public record. For example, choose questions such as "What was the color of your first car?" over "What city were you born in?"

10.Don't Put Private Information on Public Computers
If you're away from home, make sure not to save private information onto a computer used by the public. If you're accessing a private account at the library or cyber café, make sure to log out completely from your accounts, and never choose to save login information (like your username or password) on these computers.

Phishing: Examples & It's prevention methods

Phishing Facts

• 13,776 phishing attacks linked to 5,259 Web sites took place in August of 2005.
• They targeted 84 different businesses, but three businesses received 80 percent of the attacks.
• 85 percent of the attacks targeted banks and other financial institutions.

Introductions:

Phishing is the practice of sending out fake emails, written to appear as if they have been sent by banks or other reputable organisations, with the intent of luring the recipient into revealing sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, account IDs, ATM PINs or credit card details. Typically, phishing attacks will direct the recipient to a web page designed to imitate a target organisation's own visual identity and to harvest the user's personal information, often leaving the victim unaware of the attack. Obtaining this type of personal data is attractive to attacker as it allows an attacker to impersonate their victims and make fraudulent financial transactions. Victims often suffer significant financial losses or have their entire identity stolen, usually for criminal purposes. A phishing technique was described in detail as early as 1987, while the first recorded use of the term "phishing" was made in 1996. The term is a variant of fishing, and alludes to the use of increasingly sophisticated baits used in the hope of a "catch" of financial information and passwords.

Moreover, there are a numbers of cases of phishing that occurred throughout the well known website. As instances, in the case of Paypal, spelling mistakes in the e-mail and the presence of an IP address in the link (visible in the tooltip under the yellow box) are both clues that this is a phishing attempt. Another giveaway is the lack of a personal greeting, although the presence of personal details would not be a guarantee of legitimacy. Other signs that the message is a fraud are misspellings of simple words and the threat of consequences such as account suspension if the recipient fails to comply with the message's requests. Moreover, phone phishing are quite common in our environment nowadays at where messages that claimed to be from a bank told users to dial a phone number regarding problems with their bank accounts. Once the phone number (owned by the phisher, and provided by a Voice over IP service) was dialed, prompts told users to enter their account numbers and PIN. Vishing (voice phishing) sometimes uses fake caller-ID data to give the appearance that calls come from a trusted organization. On the other hand, Link manipulation are also one of the most popular method in phishing activity. As examples, the phishers use some form of technical deception designed to make a link in an e-mail (and the spoofed website it leads to) appear to belong to the spoofed organization. Misspelled URLs or the use of subdomains are common tricks used by phishers. URLs were disabled in Internet Explorer, while Mozilla and Opera present a warning message and give the option of continuing to the site or cancelling. A further problem with URLs has been found in the handling of Internationalized domain names (IDN) in web browsers, that might allow visually identical web addresses to lead to different, possibly malicious, websites. Despite the publicity surrounding the flaw, known as IDN spoofing or a homograph attack, no known phishing attacks have yet taken advantage of it. Phishers have taken advantage of a similar risk, using open URL redirectors on the websites of trusted organizations to disguise malicious URLs with a trusted domain.

How to prevent phishing:

Phishing is not a security problem; it is user education that is the issue. Why do the majority of phishing attacks fail? Simple. Because users are clever enough to realise it is not the site that is sending the email.

So if the majority of phishing attacks fail, why do some users fall for the scams? They don’t know the difference between the scam site and the real site, what we need to do is solve that problem so that the user knows they are receiving an email from their trusted site.

Enter VP - Visual Passphrase

My idea to solve this problem is to create a visual passphrase for each user that logs onto a site as a form of identification for that particular site. So when a user creates an account with the trusted site, they create a passphrase that can be anything they like and that will appear on every email from that site. This would enable the user to instantly recognise the site because of the familiar passphrase.

How it works…

The user signs up to the web site and provides their VP for example “My dog is called Rover” the user can then instantly identify the email/site and know if they can trust it and enter their credentials. Now an added benefit of knowing that an a trusted site contains a certain phrase is that all other sites can be automatically filtered and deleted by their email client.

Recommendations for VP

1. A VP should contain at least 5 words.
2. Only alphanumeric characters should be allowed strictly, all other characters should be removed.
3. The VP should be enclosed by brackets in emails for example: - [My dog is called Rover], which would enable automatic email filters to be configured.
4. The VP should only be present on the login screen or emails.
5. An explanation of VP should be included next to the input box or link provided.

Examples: (adapted from the websites)

example of the anti-phishing softwares: