Electronic currency also known as e-money, electronic cash, digital money, digital cash or digital currency which refers to money or scrip that is exchanged only electronically. Typically, this involves use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems. The examples of electronic money are Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit. EFT refers to the computer-based systems used to perform financial transactions electronically while direct deposit is a banking term used to refer to certain systems used to transfer money.
Electronic currency allows its holder to buy the goods and services that the greatness of the internet offers. A private currency may use gold to provide extra security, such as digital gold currency. An e-currency system may be full 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). Other than that, some private organizations, such as 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.
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.
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)
The 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. Other than that, there are many potential issues with the use of digital cash. The transfer of digital currencies raised 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.
Electronic currency trading can let you to do business and earn only few dollars of investment. In fact, some of the experts will suggest the beginners to start with only a few dollars so that they can first learn the ropes of electronic currency. Besides, electronic currency trading has a low transaction cost. Unlike other businesses that will eat up your profit with a huge amount of fees and give you more profit and money. There are few websites examples that can let people to do e-currency trading such as MG E-currency, IT GOLD.com
Related links:
1. http://www.selfseo.com/story-6264.php
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_currency
3. http://www.romow.com/business-blog/benefits-of-e-currency-trading/
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Credit Cards Debt: causes and prevention
Credit cards do provide convenient for most of us in our daily life. However, great responsibility comes with having a credit card. The number of people who now have credit card debts is at an all time high; credit cards have become easier to obtain and more tempting to use concurrently, which is a lethal combination.With the debts rising, it is not surprising that individuals have started to realize the financial problem they have created by the constant and indiscriminate spending they have carried out.
What caused credit cards debt? Poor purchasing decisions, lack of information on credit card fees, and disregard for upcoming credit payments are among the reasons why many credit-card users are often hard-pressed in paying their debts.
Furthermore, poor money management also causes credit cards debt. Most people are unable to manage their expenses well and always spend over their income. People, who are experiencing under-employment, where they were over-qualified to their current position, may fail to balance out their expenses with their current income. These people tend to be irresponsibility as they do not concern about their future, by spending their future money.
So how can we prevent these problems?Be credit smart. Applying for a credit card application means you are ready to assume the responsibility for paying your credit.
Use your credit cards wisely and sparingly. Remember: Paying goods and services using credit cards are more expensive than using cash or checks. Credit payments include interest and other fees. Use credit cards as sparingly as possible. If you really need to use credit cards, carry only the cards that you will actually use.
Avoid impulse shopping on your credit card.
Savings. Save living expenses for the period of three to six months. This can help you when you facing an urgent need to use money.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The application of pre-paid cash card for consumers
Prepaid cash cards are plastic cards, which fall under the pay first category of plastic payments. Prepaid cash cards can be used to make payment for goods and services and even to withdraw money. Before use, the user needs to load the card with a sum of money. This means there is no risk of running into debt as it has no credit or overdraft facility. Prepaid cash cards are designed to be used as a safer alternative as compare to cash.
The prepaid cash card is of use in several ways. For example, we can use it for paying bill, such as rent, utilities, insurance, car payment, and cell phone bills. Besides, we can shop at anywhere as long as the card using is accepted at different retailers, buys fuel at the pump, pay by phone, and shop on the Internet. We also can use it for transferring money - for some prepaid cash card they provide the convenient such as send or receive money via bank wire transfers, between two cards.
The following ar
e some examples of the prepaid cash card:
Touch ‘n Go (TnG) smart card is used by Malaysian for electronic payment system to toll expressway and highway. It is expanding its business to retail purchase by starting with fast food industry that enables consumers to buy dough nut, burger or fast-food from 21 outlets such as Burger King, 7-Eleven, Dunkin’ Donut. It is imitating the success of Hong Kong’s Octopus Card by setting 5 to 10% of the card holders for retail purchase as current target of the company.
Octopus Card was launched in Hong Kong on year 1997, September. It is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card to transfer electronic payments in online in offline system. It is widely used in payment system for transportation, supermarkets, fast food restaurant, car parks and other pint of sale application such as service station s and vending machines that have achieved good outcomes.
The prepaid cash card is of use in several ways. For example, we can use it for paying bill, such as rent, utilities, insurance, car payment, and cell phone bills. Besides, we can shop at anywhere as long as the card using is accepted at different retailers, buys fuel at the pump, pay by phone, and shop on the Internet. We also can use it for transferring money - for some prepaid cash card they provide the convenient such as send or receive money via bank wire transfers, between two cards.
The following ar
e some examples of the prepaid cash card:Touch ‘n Go (TnG) smart card is used by Malaysian for electronic payment system to toll expressway and highway. It is expanding its business to retail purchase by starting with fast food industry that enables consumers to buy dough nut, burger or fast-food from 21 outlets such as Burger King, 7-Eleven, Dunkin’ Donut. It is imitating the success of Hong Kong’s Octopus Card by setting 5 to 10% of the card holders for retail purchase as current target of the company.
Octopus Card was launched in Hong Kong on year 1997, September. It is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card to transfer electronic payments in online in offline system. It is widely used in payment system for transportation, supermarkets, fast food restaurant, car parks and other pint of sale application such as service station s and vending machines that have achieved good outcomes.
Monday, February 9, 2009
The threat of online security: How safe is our data?
The threat of online security: How safe is our data?
The threat of online security can be distinguish between nontechnical and technical.
Nontechnical attacks are those in which a perpetrator uses some form of deception or persuasion to trick people into revealing information or performing actions that can compromise the security of a network. Examples are pretexting and social engineering.
Technical attack is an attack perpetrated using software and system knowledge or expertise. An example of technical attack is a computer worm.
Types of attacks
Zero-day incidents are attacks through previously unknown weaknesses in their computer network.
Denial of service is an attack in which so many requests for service or access bombard a system that it crashes or cannot respond. Zombied PCs can be used to launch DOS attacks or spread adware.
Phishing is a crimeware technique to steal the identity of a target company to get the identities of customers.
Web servers and web pages can be hijacked and configured to control or redirect unsuspecting users to scam or phishing sites.
A botnet is a huge number of hijacked Internet computers that have been set up to forward spam and viruses to other computers on the Internet.
A virus is a piece of software code that inserts itself into a host, including the operating systems, running its host program activates the virus.
A worm is a software program that runs independently, consuming the resources of its host in order to maintain itself, that is capable of propagating a complete working version of itself into another machine.
A macro virus is a virus or worm that executes when the application object that contains the macro is opened or a particular procedure is executed.
Trojan horse is a program that appears to have a useful function but that contains a hidden function that presents a security risk.
Trojan-Phisher-Rebery is a new variant of a Trojan program that stole tens of thousands of stolen identities from 125 countries that the victims believed were collected by legitimate company.
Banking Trojan is a Trojan that comes to life when computer owners visit one of a number of online banking or e-commerce sites.
Rootkit is a special Trojan Horse program that modifies existing operating system software so that an intruder can hide the presence of Trojan program.
The threat of online security can be distinguish between nontechnical and technical.
Nontechnical attacks are those in which a perpetrator uses some form of deception or persuasion to trick people into revealing information or performing actions that can compromise the security of a network. Examples are pretexting and social engineering.
Technical attack is an attack perpetrated using software and system knowledge or expertise. An example of technical attack is a computer worm.
Types of attacks
Zero-day incidents are attacks through previously unknown weaknesses in their computer network.
Denial of service is an attack in which so many requests for service or access bombard a system that it crashes or cannot respond. Zombied PCs can be used to launch DOS attacks or spread adware.
Phishing is a crimeware technique to steal the identity of a target company to get the identities of customers.
Web servers and web pages can be hijacked and configured to control or redirect unsuspecting users to scam or phishing sites.
A botnet is a huge number of hijacked Internet computers that have been set up to forward spam and viruses to other computers on the Internet.
A virus is a piece of software code that inserts itself into a host, including the operating systems, running its host program activates the virus.
A worm is a software program that runs independently, consuming the resources of its host in order to maintain itself, that is capable of propagating a complete working version of itself into another machine.
A macro virus is a virus or worm that executes when the application object that contains the macro is opened or a particular procedure is executed.
Trojan horse is a program that appears to have a useful function but that contains a hidden function that presents a security risk.
Trojan-Phisher-Rebery is a new variant of a Trojan program that stole tens of thousands of stolen identities from 125 countries that the victims believed were collected by legitimate company.
Banking Trojan is a Trojan that comes to life when computer owners visit one of a number of online banking or e-commerce sites.
Rootkit is a special Trojan Horse program that modifies existing operating system software so that an intruder can hide the presence of Trojan program.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Phishing - examples and its prevention methods
Phishing is an e-mail fraud method in which the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking email in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from recipients. Typically, the messages appear to come from well known and trustworthy Web sites such as PayPal, eBay and Yahoo. A phishing expedition, like the fishing expedition it's named for, is a speculative venture: the phisher puts the lure hoping to fool at least a few of the prey that encounter the bait.
Examples of phishing:
(1) PayPal
(2) eBay
(3) Yahoo!
How to prevent phishing?
Don’t click on links within emails that ask for your personal information.
Fraudsters use these links to lure people to phony Web sites that looks just like the real sites of the company, organization, or agency they’re impersonating. If you follow the instructions and enter your personal information on the Web site, you’ll deliver it directly into the hands of identity thieves. To check whether the message is really from the company or agency, call it directly or go to its Web site (use a search engine to find it).
Never enter your personal information in a pop-up screen.
Sometimes a phisher will direct you to a real company’s, organization’s, or agency’s Web site, but then an unauthorized pop-up screen created by the scammer will appear, with blanks in which to provide your personal information. If you fill it in, your information will go to the phisher. Legitimate companies, agencies and organizations don’t ask for personal information via pop-up screens. Install pop-up blocking software to help prevent this type of phishing attack.
Protect your computer with spam filters, anti-virus and anti-spyware software, and a firewall, and keep them up to date.
A spam filter can help reduce the number of phishing emails you get. Anti-virus software, which scans incoming messages for troublesome files, and anti-spyware software, which looks for programs that have been installed on your computer and track your online activities without your knowledge, can protect you against pharming and other techniques that phishers use. Firewalls prevent hackers and unauthorized communications from entering your computer – which is especially important if you have a broadband connection because your computer is open to the Internet whenever it’s turned on. Look for programs that offer automatic updates and take advantage of free patches that manufacturers offer to fix newly discovered problems.
Only open email attachments if you’re expecting them and know what they contain.
Even if the messages look like they came from people you know, they could be from scammers and contain programs that will steal your personal information.
Be suspicious if someone contacts you unexpectedly and asks for your personal information.
It’s hard to tell whether something is legitimate by looking at an email or a Web site, or talking to someone on the phone. But if you’re contacted out of the blue and asked for your personal information, it’s a warning sign that something is “phishy.” Legitimate companies and agencies don’t operate that way.
Act immediately if you’ve been hooked by a phisher.
If you provided account numbers, PINS, or passwords to a phisher, notify the companies with whom you have the accounts right away.
Report phishing, whether you’re a victim or not.
Tell the company or agency that the phisher was impersonating. You can also report the problem to law enforcement agencies. The information you provide helps to stop identity theft.
Friday, February 6, 2009
the way to safeguard our personal and financial data
Nowadays, the computer and internet is very common to everyone. Most of the people will rely on computer to save their own data and using online financial service to do their financial transaction such as online e-banking. However, the information transmitted over the Internet is more vulnerable and has a higher degree of security risk than internal networks because they are open to anyone. For-example, the other people will easily know your bank account number if the hacker was incursion to the bank system. Therefore, safeguard of computer is important for the users to protect their data.
Here are some suggestions for the computer users to safeguard their data:
1. Password protection
The users may create some longer password because it is more security compare to the shorter password. Other than that, users may change the password frequently and do not disclose to other people, including friends and family.
2. Install and update antispyware and antivirus programs
Install an antivirus program such as Symantec and Norton antivirus, AVG antivirus or other more in order to protect theirself against viruses and Trojan horses that may steal or modify the data on their computer. The antivirus must be always up to date in order to keep the well protection.
3. Avoid accessing financial information in public
The users do not encourage to log in to the bank system to check the balance from the coffee shop that provide wireless access. This is because we don’t know how powerful their firewalls are.
4. Biometric device
It’s grant access to programs, computers or rooms using computer analysis of some biometric identifier. The examples of biometric devices and systems include fingerprint scanners, hand geometry systems, face recognition systems and others. The biometric devices are gaining popularity as a security precaution because they are a virtually foolproof method of identification and authentication.
5. Encryption
The individuals may use a variety of encryption techniques to keep data secure and private. Encryption is a process of converting readable data into unreadable characters to prevent unauthorized.
Related links:
1.http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-008.html
2.http://www.msisac.org/awareness/news/2007-03.cfm
3.http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103893/Six-Ways-to-Safeguard-Your-Online-Assets
Here are some suggestions for the computer users to safeguard their data:
1. Password protection
The users may create some longer password because it is more security compare to the shorter password. Other than that, users may change the password frequently and do not disclose to other people, including friends and family.
2. Install and update antispyware and antivirus programs
Install an antivirus program such as Symantec and Norton antivirus, AVG antivirus or other more in order to protect theirself against viruses and Trojan horses that may steal or modify the data on their computer. The antivirus must be always up to date in order to keep the well protection.
3. Avoid accessing financial information in public
The users do not encourage to log in to the bank system to check the balance from the coffee shop that provide wireless access. This is because we don’t know how powerful their firewalls are.
4. Biometric device
It’s grant access to programs, computers or rooms using computer analysis of some biometric identifier. The examples of biometric devices and systems include fingerprint scanners, hand geometry systems, face recognition systems and others. The biometric devices are gaining popularity as a security precaution because they are a virtually foolproof method of identification and authentication.
5. Encryption
The individuals may use a variety of encryption techniques to keep data secure and private. Encryption is a process of converting readable data into unreadable characters to prevent unauthorized.
Related links:
1.http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-008.html
2.http://www.msisac.org/awareness/news/2007-03.cfm
3.http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103893/Six-Ways-to-Safeguard-Your-Online-Assets
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The application of third party certification programme in Malaysia
The most famous application of third party certification programme in Malaysia is provided by the MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd. MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd is a licensed Certification Authority (CA) operating within the Multimedia Super Corridor. MSC Trustgate was incorporated in 1999 to meet the growing need for secure open network communications and become the catalyst for the growth of e-commerce, both locally and across the ASEAN region. They offer complete security solutions and leading trust services that are needed by individuals, enterprises, government, and e-commerce service providers using digital certificates, digital signatures, encryption and decryption. Their vision is to enable organizations to conduct their business securely over the Internet, as much as what they have been enjoying in the physical world.
The products and services of Trustgate are SSL Certificate, Managed PKI, Personal ID, MyTRUST, MyKAD ID, SSL VPN, Managed Security Services, VeriSign Certified Training and Application Development. Digital certificate usually attach to an e-mail or an embedded program in a web page which verifies that user or website is who they claim to be. The common functions of a digital certificate are user authentication, encryption and digital signatures. User authentication provides other security than using username and password. Its session management is stronger. Encryption can make the data transmission secured by using the information encrypted. The intended recipient of the data is only person to receive the message. Digital signatures are like the hand signature in the digital world. It can ensure the integrity of the data. By using the digital certificate, the users will be able to make transaction on the internet without fear of having the personal data being stolen, information contaminated by third parties, and the transacting party denying any commercial commitment with the users. Furthermore, the digital certificates can assist the development of greater internet based activities.
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