A Discussion on E-Learning Offered in Malaysia Universities: Pros and Cons from Students Perspective

E-learning is a process of learning through a computerized medium. In this advanced

modern world, a lot can be done with a single click of the mouse or a few presses of the button, and studying or learning is not an exception. However, although it might seem magical, there are several things that could tarnish this amazing learning experience, and we are here to discuss the pros and cons of e-learning.

Pros

E-learning is very important as it could be used by anyone from anywhere around the world as long as computer systems exists. It could increase access to learning possibilities and of course increase the flexibility of the students. E-learning has also enables us to learn and study without actual face-to-face interactions. Besides that, it allows people to avoid traveling to and fro from respective universities and could be accessed on-the-go as long as wireless internet is available. This method could also enable the students to create a network of fellow students to share and exchange notes or other learning mediums.

Cons

There are also several glitches in this method. For example, the lack of face-to-face communication between teachers and students could lead to lack of understanding between them. The teacher would not be able to feel the students motivation, demands and interests. Apart from that, it could also cause the lack of the teachers gesture and presence and certain student could not be efficient in their work due to this. E-learning could also cause the deficiency of face-to-face communication with other people as the student would virtually be glued to their computers and could not come into contact with other people.

Opinion

E-learning proves to be a major leap in development for mankind as it allows users to communicate and make progress in their studies very easily. We also believe that e-learning has a lot of potential to bring a lot of benefits in the near future as its merely at its infant stage now. Despite all the disadvantages, e-learning could be used especially at rural areas where good and qualified lecturers are not available.

Relevant Links :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-learning

http://elearn2.utm.my/09101/file.php/1/response/video/02respon_benefit/respon%20benefit.swf

http://elearn2.utm.my/09101/file.php/1/response/index.htm

Corporate Blogging: A New Marketing Communication Tool for Companies

Nowadays, there are many corporations started to create a blog site with the purpose to maintain a competitive edge. The corporation blogging is a new marketing communication tools for all companies and users create their blogs through internal, external and CEO Blogs, and the users may use web browsers likes Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer 7 which support RSS technology. Basically, RSS technology provides more convenient way for readers to read recent posts without actually visiting the blog.

Corporate Blogging has been labeled into 3 types:

Internal Blog, External Blog and CEO Blog. Internal blog only can be accessed through the corporation’s internet and it allows employee for view only. Typically, internet blogs has been replacing company meetings and e-mail discussions, it is useful for employees who stay in different locations, or maybe they have conflicting schedules. In addition, blogs encourage employees to participate in a discussion to contribute their expertise.

An external blog is defined as a publicly available web log. It allows company employees, teams, or spokespersons to share their opinion. It is also a place where the company is using it to announce new products and services or may be to declare the end of old products. Moreover, external blogs able to explain the company policies and act as a medium that allows a window to the company culture. By creating external corporate blog, it provides additional value by adding a level of credibility that is often unobtainable from a standard corporate site. As time passed by, CEO Blogs becoming popular and there are still debates on whether CEO s should blog or not.

A corporate blog is important because it allows current and potential customers to associate the brand with a face and a personality. It tries to reduce gap that already existed between the “inaccessible” company and the “average” consumer. According to Brito, he said that “It is a way for us to appear less corporate and put a human face when we interact online. They believe people will be more friendly and confident to buy products from you this way rather than just displaying a logo or corporate brand.”

Furthermore, a corporate blog can be a representation of the company’s values, beliefs, philosophy and direction. It acts as a medium that encourages a two-way conversation where customers are able to interact and provide valuable feedbacks to the company in direct way. Other than that, corporate blogging has given the authority or power towards employee position as though-leaders in their industry, where the employees are responsible in reputation management during crisis, building brand awareness and loyalty for the company together with increasing brand visibility, traffic and links.

Dell is an example of corporate blog, the company posts with a great conversational voice, often breaks news on their blog (which keep people coming back), and listens the responds from customers. Besides that, Dell has frequently upgraded their company news and encourages repeated visits. Second example is Adobe, it offers their employee to write blog at the same time assisting their company to promote company’s product for example posting tutorials, advice and reviews

However, there is an existing risk when creating a corporate blogs and the likelihood to be occurred such as negative comments from customers, failed to control over the message and hard to measure success. As we know that, corporate blogs allow bloggers to comment freely on the company and most of the time, companies are very sensitive to criticisms especially those criticisms that will influence the company’s image. So, the company may set a moderation policy and clear comment which can be offset negative comment. And then, the corporate blog failed to control over the message as the blog is a bit of maverick and mangers treat this as a risk. Of course, people may talking out there in the either and some companies would gain advantage from the story.

In terms of measurement of performance of corporate blog, it is rather difficult to measure its success because marketers measure campaign success by drops at the end of the funnel through visits and registrations. The problem with blog is that social software success could take the form of comments, track backs and qualitative intangibles, but all this result could not represent whether the corporate blog is success or not.

Before the blog come to the end, we would like to provide you some tips on creating an effective corporate blog. When creating a corporate blog, the user must be aware that your blog is all about representing your brand and let readers know our company well. Then, keep each of your blogs focused to a single topic to ensure the readers get a clear message on your blog. Lastly, the blogger should focus on serving your readers more readily than pleasing your employee because customer satisfaction has more influential impact on our business.

Relevant Links:

http://vizedu.com/2009/03/corporate-blogs-challenges-and-success-factors/

http://www.buildify.com/5-more-tips-for-corporate-blogging/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_bloghttp://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2007/02/top-10-risks-for-corporate-blogs.html

E-Government in Malaysia:Its Implementation So Far and Citizen's Adoption Strategy

What is E-Government? Electronic government in short is also known as "E-Government:; "e-gov"; "digital government" or "transformational government". It refers to the information and communication technology. It designed to lead the country into information and to improve goverment services, transactions, businesses, conveniences, accessibility and as well as information flows and the processes within the government.

The government had been implementing E-government ever since the initiation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). Most of the e-government projects implementation are still in progress. So far, the implementation of e-government in Malaysia includes:

Generic Office Environment(GOE)

The purpose of this project is to establish a fully integrated, distributed and scalable office environment that uses multimedia information technology. This can increase the efficiency of communication, allow collaboration within the workers and make sure the right information reaches to the right person at the appropriate time.

Electronic Procurement(eP) project

The purpose of this project is to re engineer, automate and transform current procurement system. The advantages of this project is can increase transparency, saves time and money. Besides, it also encourages suppliers to go electronic and join the K-Economy. eP project includes central contract, tender and direct purchase.

Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)

The Human Resource Management Information System main objective is to provide a single interface for government employees so that they can carry out human resource functions effectively and efficiently. Besides, HRMIS also provides transactional functions that include loan processing, recruitment, selection of employee, leave application and competency management. The advantages of HRMIS are to aid human resource processes for federal state, statutory body and local authority services. Project Monitoring System (PMS) Project Monitoring System is use to examine or monitor implementation of projects from different government agencies and statutory bodies. It monitors from high level management down to activity levels. One of the usefulness of PMS is the ability to provide ideas and to express best practices of information management and communication services.

Electronic Services Directory (eServices)

Electronic Services Directory is a pilot project which allows citizens of Malaysia to engage in transactions with government and utilities payments. This includes telephone and electricity bill, police summons, Road and Transport Department (RTD) services and so on. This project is accessed through a lot of different channel service deliver.

Electronic Labor Exchange (ELX)

By using the systematic matching of job seekers to job vacancies, it can improve the mobilization of human resources and maximize the work force utilization. It also allows the Ministry of Human Resources to put up the information to the public. E-Syariah The purpose of this project is to help to improve the quality of services offered by Syariah courts. This will automatically improve the Islamic Affairs Department’s effectiveness because of the good monitoring and coordination of agencies.

Citizen’s adoption strategies

Citizen’s adoption strategies include customer satisfaction, service quality, website design and user characteristic. E-government has this online service that allows identify citizen to express their opinions regarding the content of the website, speed, etc. As for the web design, the main three features must be included; which are personalization websites, product customization and self care. For user characteristic, it includes perceived risk, perceived control and internet experience. The adoptions of these strategies have gained confidence among citizens towards the implementation of E-Government.

There are several advantages of using E-government. First of all, it provides efficient and fast delivery time of goods and services to citizens; besides it also provides convenience and is able to provide cost effectiveness to citizens and businesses. However, there is one common issue that we often concern about. It is the security of the citizen’s personal information when using E- government. This is the main factor that often stops people from involving in such activities even though the benefits of using it over weigh the setbacks. Therefore, the first step to encourage citizen to participate in E-government; Government should create tighter and more efficient security system.

Relevant Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Government

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

Review a Local, Transactional E-Commerce Site

In this e-century, e commerce has becoming a common tool for business transaction. We can buy and sell goods and services via computer networks. Although the number of internet user has been increasing rapidly, but Malaysian are still a little conservative over the concept of e- commerce. One of the most famous local transactional e-commerce sites that we are going to discuss below is Lelong.com.my. This auction site is first one ever to be existed in the auction e-marketplace in Malaysia.

History
Lelong.com.my has been existed for over 10 years and had since founded in the year end of 1998 by the Interbase Resource Sdn.Bhd, a young company that has come long way from its humble beginning. With a mission statement of “serving the community and bringing a high standard of quality into homes and business by providing avenue for on-line trading at low cost”, the staff behind Malaysia’s premier auction site continually strive to improve the quality of the product and services and also develop its functionality without levying high cost.

Lelong.com.my is using a method known as “internal comparison" whereby the style and function is similar to the style and function available in the international auction site such as eBay.com. Previously, Lelong.com.my business started off with Consumer to consumer (C2C) transaction. But now has change to Business to Consumer (B2C) relationship.

All sorts of stuff are available in Lelong.com.my to the public. It provides a lot of varieties and is categorized into a few categories such as books, office equipment, sports, mobile phones, movies, music and many more. Products available usually come together with pictures and prices.


Search engine is provided in lelong.com.my as a feature for consumers to search for what they want conveniently. It is simple to use as all you need to do is to just type out the key words

.

Lelong.com.my has provide a double secure of verification system. This security system requires them to verify their member’s status and telephone numbers. Under the bidding and selling activities, there are two types of verification provided; which are Hand phone verification or e-mail verification. The purpose of such verifications is to prevent the occurrence of cybercrimes such as fraud or phishing.

How does the selling process?

In conclusion, e-commerce has become a common trend nowadays as the numbers of online buyers have been growing enormously each day. Thus, we felt that entrepreneurs should invest here as we can see that there are business potentials. In order to stay competitive, we suggest that entrepreneurs should be creative in designing their web sites to attract customers. This applies to leong.com.my as well. In order to attract more customers from the local market, lelong.com.my should impose tighter security system and assures their customers that their security systems are reliable.

Relevant Links:

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

http://www.lelong.com.my/Auc/help/details.asp?productid=121

http://www.lelong.com.my/

The Application of Pre-Paid Cash card for Consumers

Currently, technology has come out with another new piece of plastic card to replace cash known as “prepaid cash card”. It acts as an alternative payment to cash when making purchases. I know, I know. You would probably have wondered “Right, another plastic card that replaces cash. Does it have any difference between a credit card and a debit card??”

Well, it is simple. Let’s start off with credit cards.

Whenever you are using a credit card, it actually means that the bank or the financial institutions would first pay the debt to the vendor for you. In other words, you are actually borrowing money from them. Therefore, by signing up for a credit card, it actually acts like an agreement that you are willing to pay back the money that you have borrowed. This includes interest drawn on the amount you borrowed.

As for debit cards, it basically acts the same way as checks but in a much faster way by taking funds directly from the money that you have in your bank account. It provides instant access to your money and is widely accepted.

Prepaid cash card requires you to first top up or reload an amount of money into the account. Then you can spend up to only the amount you have deposited. This is suitable to those who prefer to themselves from overspending.

Basically, it is very simple to use a prepaid cash card. When you are ready to make payments, just simply hand over the card and then you will be asked to enter your PIN number on an electronic keypad or to sign on a payment slip which will be verified with your signature on the back of the card. The total amount will be taken from your card immediately and thus the transaction is complete.

Below are illustrations on a few applications of the pre-paid cash card for consumers:
1) Purchase tickets online – Examples of tickets available through online would be flight tickets, public transport tickets such as bus or KTM, movie tickets, concert tickets and more.
2) Pay Bills - As for we students, the obvious one would be student bills. Others would be mobile phone bills, electric bills, water bills, and so on.
3) Shopping - Include online shopping on products such as clothes, books, Accessories, mobile phones and etc.
4) Hotel booking - Provides convenience for tourists who wished to book
their accommodation.

In conclusion, on top of the many applications that can be made by consumers; we find that the invention of prepaid cash cards is indeed very useful. Of course, first of all; it is much safer to carry a card around than cash. Secondly, it helps us to control our spending and therefore we do not have to worry about paying our credit card bills or going into debt. We also felt that it is suitable for students especially when using it to pay their university or college fees as they can easily reload the amount of money online, over the phone or at any ATM worldwide; rather than having to bring a huge amount of cash.

Relevant Links :
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7082416.html

http://www.economywatch.com/debit-card/security.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debit_card#Prepaid_Debit_Card

http://www.youngmoney.com/credit_debt/credit_basics/credit_debit_prepaid

Credit Card Debts: Causes and Prevention

Credit cards, a small plastic card that can make payments for our purchases in a very convenient way. The growing use of credit card in this globalized world has indeed caused the surge of a new problem for many of its users who have very poor financial planning. This problem was made even worse with the downfall of the economy.

Causes
What are the causes of credit card debts? There are many factors that can lead to credit card users to owe their respective credit card companies. This problem mainly arises from poor financial planning, where people would spend much more than they could earn. These people would then use their credit cards to purchase stuff that they might not have been able to purchase, and yes, credit cards are supposed to make our life easier but it can really backfire if used in a wrong way.

Another factor is the tendency of some of these users to have multiple credit cards. They would use a particular credit card to make payments, but when they couldn’t settle the bill, they would transfer the balance to another credit card to hold the debt. This method would cause the debt to rise, although not by much but the rise would still be a significant amount if this trend is continued, especially over a long period of time.

Prevention
How do we prevent this from happening? Well, this is one case that our government have been highlighted and many prevention methods have been thought up to counter this problem. First of all, we have to understand the terms and conditions set by these credit cards.

Apart from that, we must also scout for the best deal around to avoid paying excessively for something that we shouldn't.

We must also ensure that credit cards are used to make cash advances as the last resort to avoid overspending.

To avoid owing the credit company a large sum of money is by making payments before the due date and make payments in full.

Limiting the number of credit cards is also another prevention method, and those with multiple credit cards, pay off fully the one with the highest charge.

Opinion
Credit card is in fact very useful in our every day lives, but we must always strike a balance in everything we do and do not use credit card excessively that it could lead us into trouble like having debts. Therefore, we must always be aware of the dangers and be prepared to prevent it from happening.

Relevant Links:

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/13/business/3938437&sec=business

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/13/business/3938437&sec=business

Electronic Currency

Previously we have been using credit card, debit card and ATM card to make payments via the internet and today people have come out with a new brilliant idea to make payments; which is electronic currency. Electronic currency namely “e-money”, “electronic cash”, “digital money”, “digital cash” or “digital currency”, simply means as a unit of exchange that facilitates the transfer of goods and services through the internet.

Electronic currency composed by computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems, for instances; electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and direct deposits are examples of electronic currency. “EFT” is a computer-based system that is use to perform financial transactions electronically and the “direct deposit” is a banking term that uses a certain systems to transfer money.

Electronic currency can be used to send or receive money instantly to or from family, friends and

business associate worldwide. Furthermore, it allows you to make online payments with 24 hours a day from anywhere and collect real-time online payment from sale of goods and services, online games, auction and etc. Despite of that, it provides an easier way to exchange dollars for gold and vice versa.

As times goes by, there are several countries that has been starting to implement electronic currency system such as Hong Kong’s Octopus card system which was started out with a transit payment system and now has grown into a widely used electronic currency system; Singapore also has an electronic currency implementation for its public transportation system (commuter trains, bus, and etc) and Netherlands has been introducing the use of a “Chipknip” which is designed to make payments at parking machines, shop and etc through the payment collection terminal without requiring a network access.

So, how to use an electronic cash? The first step is that consumer must open an account with an electronic cash issuer which refer to the bank that issues electronic cash or from a private vendor of electronic cash (PayPal) and then presents proof of identity.

Secondly, the consumer can withdraw electronic cash by logging the issuer’s website and presents proof of identity, like digital certificate issued by a certification authority, or a combination of a credit card number and a verifiable bank account number.

After the issuer verifies the consumer’s identity, they will deduct some amount from the consumer’s account which includes the charges of a small processing fee.

Next, the consumer can store the electronic cash into an electronic wallet (stored-value card). Finally, the consumer can authorize with third party (currency operator) to double check whether the payment is correct.

The advantages of electronic currency is that electronic cash transactions provide an efficient way to users than other online payment methods, in terms of cost it will be less expensive and that efficient electronic cash transactions able to foster more business, in other words the electronic cash system offers lower prices for consumers. Previously, the conventional money exchange system requires banks, bank branches, clerks, automated teller machines differs from the new system that are able to manage, transfer and dispense cash. In addition, operating the conventional money exchange system is much more expensive.

The disadvantages of electronic currency is an electronic currency system does not provide an audit trail, as we know that electronic currency is similar to real cash which is not easily traceable. Thus, there is a high likelihood of money laundering to occur. Money laundering is a technique used by criminals to convert illegal funds where the criminal used to hide its true nature or source and then become legal money.

Therefore, money laundering happens by purchasing goods or services with ill-gotten electronic cash. The goods are then sold for physical cash at the public market. Besides, there are also some potential macroeconomic effects such as exchange rate instabilities and shortages of money supplies (total amount of digital cash versus total amount of real cash available), these issues may only be addressable by cyberspace regulations or laws that monitor the transactions and watch for signal of trouble.

In conclusion, electronic currency can be defined as one form of online payment and today Malaysia has been implementing e-currency system which is Paystone Technologies Corporation. Paystone Technologies Corporation is a private online payment that provides secure, easy and real time internet transactions. It allows an email money transfer option and Paystone account holder can now send funds to the email address of anyone around the world. However, in our opinion it would be better to use e-currency system if it involves only a small amount of cost of processing payment cards.

Relevant links:

http://www.paystone.com/

http://www.shopinvancouver.com/PAYSTONE-Technologies-Corp/325076.htm

http://www.nowpublic.com/what_is_digital_currency_digital_money_real_cash

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

Mobile Payment Systems in Malaysia: Its Potential and Consumers' Adoption Strategies

Mobile payment (M – payment) is a point of sale payment made through mobile devices, such as cellular telephone, Smartphone or other devices, either to direct purchase or to authorize payment for good and services. For example, we can pay our restaurant bill using our cellular phone without having to queue up.

Furthermore, we can use m-payment to purchase digital goods like ring tones, games, wallpaper for mobile and even booking cinema tickets. The payment can be made through SMS based transaction payments or mobile web payment (WAP).Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is an open international standard that enable the application layer network to communicate in a wireless communication environment. It allows the cellular phone or PDA to access to the Mobile Web.

So, how does it work?

“Your mobile phone is your credit card”.

We can make our payments with just a simple click on our cell phone that acts as a Mobile Wallet that function as a payment service provider to enable us to make payment wireless for purchases of goods and services. Mobile Wallet users are required to reload their wallet account.

Just imagine, if one day we forgot to bring our wallet and yet we can still pay for our bus ride or buy a drink from a merchant that accept mobile payment. Mobile money, on the other hand, is a PIN-based mobile payment solution. It allows the registered users to pay for goods and services using only a mobile phone coupled with a 6 digit security PIN (Personal Identification Number) via SMS.

By having mobile money, it will encourage more consumers to shop online. It will also encourage more merchants to adopt online selling as an extra sales channel to help them sell more of their goods and services. This will definitely boom up the e-commerce industry in Malaysia.

Potentials
The mobile payment industry will continue to experience steady growth and is expected to increase in the future. The innovation of Mobile payment has indeed brings a lot of benefits to users.

1. Convenience. The user can easily pay up their bills, top up phone credit via the mobile phone. Although users do not have cash in hand, the can still pay up their bills by having their mobile wallet without having to search for nearest ATM machine.

2. Time saving. Users are more comfortable towards the use of Mobile payment because it can save the users’ time. For instance, in a restaurant, users no longer need to waste time queuing up to pay their bills as they can settle it though mobile payment.

3. Data security. Mobile payment system assures the safety of data for users. The payment is secured by a strong pin fraud protection patent which provides security and blocking the activities of hacking the password of the user

Consumers' Adoption Strategy

There is no doubt that mobile payment has brought financial freedom to users as they do not have to carry money on hand. In order to encourage more people to start using mobile payment, the company should:

1. Educate consumers on how to use mobile payment and learn the benefits of using it. This can be done by introducing mobile payment trough advertisements or posters.

2. Enhance security and confidence to mobile users. Security is the users’ main concern. The company should design an efficient security system to ensure the safety of the users’ personal information such as their password.

3. Maintain customer loyalty by rewarding the user if they reach a certain level of purchasing. For example, Hotlink company is adopting this strategy by giving extra credit to the user when their accumulate points.

4. Collaborate with more companies and bank to widen the ability to pay via mobile. This is done in order to improve the convenience of the consumers.

In conclusion, despite the positive projections, the security concern and undefined areas in banking regulations remain as challenges for mobile payment. The company and the users of mobile payment have the responsibility to face the challenge and overcome the problem of mobile payment system. If the system can be managed in more effective-way, it will greatly improve our standard of living.

Relevant Links:

http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci772807,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Application_Protocol http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_overview.asp

http://egnge.blogspot.com/2008/06/mobile-payment-system-in-malaysia-its.html

A review on a Post on Internet Security from My E-Commerce blog

Hi-Tech Thieves Target Olympics
The main focal point of this article is on the rising of cybercrimes prior to the opening ceremony of the Olympics. According to the spokesman for Symantec, Mr. Mallom; hackers and spammers have taken this opportunity to create booby-trapps for victims. The spokesman also urge the public not be tempted to open e-mails or click on links from unknown sources eventhough it offers many gold medals or awards.

Another expert, Rik Ferguson of Trend Micro said that usually attackers would target on sites related to games as these are the places where victims can be easily attacked because visitors would catch up with the sporting event.
Security firm Marshal claims that most of these malicious and junk messages emerging from Rustock botnet ( a collection of home computers that have been hijacked by a gang of hi-tech criminals who then put it to avariety of ends) were mainly about games.

This is the part of the article that we find it to be interesting. It is the part where the article highlighted the results found by Phil Hay, the lead analyst of Marshal on how these cybercriminals behind Rustock have been so successful in their attempt to fool recipients into infecting themselves. The results came out to be the rapid improvements of their appearance and the ability in creating more and more sophisticated messages. A real life issue on how advanced and sophisticated they have been given, whereby one of the current batch had appeared as the headline stories on CNN, with the attempt to lure people to click on the headlines and were asked to install a codec in order to be able to watch the CNN video report.

From what we have read from the article, the Security company MessageLabs had found out that the cybercriminals are not only targeting on the members of the public but also to those who are part of national sporting organisations or help train athletes because these e-mails would be crafted to look like they had been written by the International Olympic Commitee. It usually attaches with fake messages which requires users to install a booby-trapped Adobe PDF in order to be able to steal their data.

The article concludes itself by giving a few precaution steps to users of Windows PCs because attackers tend to target on these users . According to the senior security consultant at Sophos; Ms Carole Thierault advised users to make sure that their anti-virus software up to date. It is also advisable to use a fiewall and install updates to Windows as soon as they becomes available. “ Of course hackers will do their best to capitalised on this event, therefore the most effective way to avoid the pitfalls os to make your device an unattractive target.” said Ms Thierault.

All in all, we find this article useful and interesting as it provides an overview on how these cybercrimes came about, how it works, who do they targeted on, and what are the steps to be taken. It basically provides us the basic or fundamental information that we should have at least get to know. We felt that the article is fairly understandable, therefore we would recommend you to read on further if you are interested.

Relevant Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7548870.stm

How to Safeguard Our Personal and Financial Data?

Allowing strangers to abuse your financial and personal data without your knowledge can definitely put you in fear and it is a very serious matter to look into, thus it certainly does require second thoughts on how to safeguard it. However, most people do not give it the due consideration or probably they just do not know how to. Therefore, we will educate you on how to safeguard your personal and financial data.

Create your password wisely
When creating a password, do not take it for granted by setting a weak one where it can be easily hacked with just a single guess. Try creating a secure, memorable password which is easy for you to remember but hard for others to guess. Go for a password with at least 8 characters long that includes
numbers, characters and symbols. Use different passwords for different accounts and try
changing the passwords regularly.

Install a firewall
A firewall is a part of a computer system or network which can be implemented in either hardware or software or a combination of both. It is designed to block unauthorized access to prevent personal and financial data from being stolen. Nowadays, computers have often come along with a firewall integrated into their operating systems. For those who also have a DSL or a cable modem can provide extra protection as these modems came along with another firewall.

Install and Perform Frequent Update on Antispyware and Antivirus Programs
More often than not, new computers often come along with trial versions of antivirus and antispyware programs which tend to expires within a short period of time. However, in many cases people tend to take it with a pinch of salt ignoring that fact that they are suppose to update their programs as they think that their existing programs are still protecting them, with the reason; “the program is still operating”. This is so not true because their computers are not protected from new viruses as the programs simply cannot detect these viruses. Currently, the popular antivirus programs would be AVG 8.5 version and Kaspersky Anti-virus 2009. If you think it is a little too costly, try Alwil Avast as it is free antivirus software with spyware protection.

Do Not Open Mystery Attachments
Recipients must be alert when receiving attachments especially it is being received from an unknown party. Do not simply open them as they contained viruses or links that lead recipients to dummy sites where they will ask for victims’ financial or personal information. In such a case, there is a high chance that personal data may be stolen.

Use your own computer
Try to avoid using public computers to access into your brokerage account as they may contain software that are able to steal your financial or personal information such as passwords. If you happened to be using one their computers, remember to delete your “Temporary Internet Files” as well as all of your “History” right after you have log off your account.

Be More Alert When Using Wireless Connections
Usually wireless connections may not provide as much security protection as do wired Internet connections especially those in public areas where the most common one would be Internet cafés and hotels. These places tend to even lesser security protection in order to ease users when accessing and using these wireless networks. Therefore, it is advisable to not access your online brokerage through wireless connections.

Get Confirmation First
If it ever happens to you where there is an unknown party who requests you to first send your information by mail over the phone, do not do as they told immediately as they may be fraudulent. Call up the organization to obtain the confirmation on such occurrence first. In another case, if you ever received telemarketing calls at home, and you want to put an end to it; you may file a complaint for free to the National Do Not Call registry. This is because most telemarketers are not allowed to call your number once it has been your registry for 31 days.

Limit Your Credit Card Usage
When you purchase stuff through mail-order, it is advisable to limit your credit card usage to prevent dishonest sales clerk or any other responsible person from stealing your personal credit card information. The same principle applies when you opt for online services in order to prevent thieves from racking up bills before hitting a wall.

Be More Alert when Using ATM Machine
While using the ATM, be more alert to your surroundings and you should look up and around every few seconds while transacting your business. Do not enter your PIN if there is someone else who can see your screen. You should first shield your PIN with your body from onlookers. Try not to use spouse, children, maiden or pet names for your PIN number. In our opinion, we think that our account will be a lot more secure if banks can also provide fingerprint or iris scanning as another step of verification.

Be careful Downloading
Be wary when downloading software programs especially free software or programs from an unknown source. This is because there may be a higher chance of you downloading harmful software programs on your computer or such software may contain other software such as spyware. Protect yourself from such programs by ensuring that you are using anti-spyware software and be sure to know the nature of the software, its source, and its functions before installing it.

In short, we advised all users to be alert and caution at all the times, do safeguard your personal and financial data properly; if you manage your properties well, then you will be safe. In our opinion, the first step to safeguard is to at least have a basic foundation on how cybercrimes works and occur. Then, from here; users can start analyzing on how to prevent them.

Relevant Links:
http://www.finra.org/Investors/ProtectYourself/InvestorAlerts/FraudsAndScams/p037886
http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/general/2006/09/23/safeguard-your-financial-life.aspx
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft
https://www.donotcall.gov/