Credit card is a small plastic card issued to the holder by a bank or financial institution entitling its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services. It is working on a buy first pay later system, that's why it enables consumers to buy goods and services on a credit term with an interest rate as a charges to pay off later. It is true that everyone will at least have a credit cards in his or her wallet nowadays, especially for the youngsters and teenagers. Majority of us will choose to pay by credit cards during online shopping and online transaction. Credit cards can be a great tool but all too often we find we have spent more than we can manage to pay back. This is especially true when we have multiple credit cards and lose track of how much we owe on each of them. Nowadays, credit card debts are major cause of bankruptcies each year. It is because majority of the people are unable to pay back that they have spent to the company. Therefore, debt accumulates and increases via interest and penalties.

HOW DID CREDIT CARD DEBTS OCCUR ?


1) Unemployment
This can be considered as a main reason why everybody is under credit card debts pressure. Obviously, nowadays unemployment rate is quite high, especially for the fresh graduates. Recent research shows that 80%~ 90% of the fresh graduates are under unemployment. Most of them still need to spend though they are unable to secure a job, due to this reason , their alternative is to withdraw via credit cards rather than cash in hand. This may lead to a rise in debt when expenses are not cut down in line with the reduction in income.

2) Divorce
Fees that must spend for divorce such as attorney, division of assets between husband and wife, proceeds given to children are the way to cluster up huge debts by using credit card if it is the gap between the expenses and income. Moreover, it will lead to reduction in income because divorce may force some people to quit their job and to have a walk in other countries.

3) Poor financial management
Poor financial management is one of the best reasons that why so many families have accumulated many
credit card debts. It is because people are unaware to conduct a monthly spending plan and do not keep track of monthly bills. They have never realized their spending on the items that are useless and do not have any value in their life. This bad habit can be seen in most of our lifestyle. Moreover they just keep on spending without any saving .Thus, it has lead to a rise in debts by over using credit cards.

4) Expensive medical expenses
Credit card will probably become one of the useful sources of funds to pay off the medical expenses if health insurance is not adequate to cover the medical bills when one of your family members suffers serious illness.

5) Gambling
Gambling has become part of entertainments in our life. It can be a fun if we are not so addictive to it, but once it becomes addictive, it is hard to stop. Thus, it will surely lead to a financial problem if borrowing money through credit card for gambling.

HOW TO ELIMINATE CREDIT CARD DEBTS ?

1) Making a budget
We can attempt to create clear budget and stick on it that includes monthly bills, food, clothes, entertainment and miscellaneous expenses will prevent from overspending and fall under deeper debt load. Furthermore, we can do a shopping list state down the things that we need to buy and compare to our budget to ensure that it does not over budget.

2) Self control and discipline
One of the best practices is to have a direct set up so that able to pay back the full amount each month and use in emergencies. Thus, self control and discipline are requested to keep these cards in wallet and would not overspend. Moreover, we must have an awareness of the credit card debts and starts to spend less in order to stay away from financial crisis.

3) Stop using credit cards
The credit card users need to stop using credit cards, unless it is an urgent situation. The smart card user only uses the card in place of cash, or to obtain a purchase they can afford. Once the user has reduced credit card debt, they can stop worrying about falling deeper into debt.


4) Use your own saving
In my opinion, this is the best way to get rid of credit card debts. Try to purchase goods or services that are affordable by using our own saving, that is cash in hand. This is the most secure and the best method as we does not need to bear a liability once our payment is cleared. Therefore, attempt to purchase our needs in term of cash if it is possible, you can see the changes as well.

Generally, there are many ways in reducing credit card debts. Though the key point is to start spending less and merely purchase items that does not goes against the finanacial boundaries and attempt to avoid from using credit cards as long as you can.
Related links:
Prepared by Chong Hui Qi'

Phishing refers to the act of tricking people into revealing sensitive or private information. It is an e-mail fraud method in which the phisher sends out legitimate-looking email in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from recipients. Basically, phishing come from those well-known and trustworthy website such as PayPal, eBay, Yahoo, MSN, BestBuy, and America Online so that recipients would not suspect the incoming sources. Phishing attacks generally target on bank information, username, social security numbers, and password information.



Let's have a look on some of the phishing example:

This is an example of a phishing scam targeting Washington Mutual Bank customers. This phish claims that Washington Mutual Bank is adopting new security measures which require confirming ATM card details. As with other phishing scams, the victim is directed to visit a fraudulent site and any information entered on that site is sent to the attacker.

This is a phishing mail from the Charter One bank. This phishing email also pretends to be working to preserve the safety and integrity of online banking. The email also includes the Charter One logo in an attempt to gain reliability and trusty from customers.

Here is another example of a phishing scam targeting SunTrust bank customers. The email warns that the account may be suspended if customers failed to comply with the instructions stated in the statement. The phishers uses the SunTrust logo again which they can simply copied from the real banking site.




PayPal and eBay were two of the earliest targets of phishing scams. This PayPal phishing scams tries to trick recipients by claiming that someone 'from a foreign IP address' attempted to login to your PayPal account, the mail urges recipients to confirm their account details through the link provided at the bottom of the ststement. Once the recipients click on the link provided, it will actually takes the recipient to another unrelated website.

This is another phishing email from eBay website. It urges the eBay member to login and verify the charges due to a billing error that have been conducted previously. In order to make it more reliable, attacker attaches the eBay logo with it.


How To PREVENT Phishing?


In this technology era, phishing can occurs in different manner at anytime and at anywhere. Although complete prevention is impossible, there are several ways to prevent form it.



1) NEVER EVER Click on the hyperlinks provided within the email

You should never ever click on the links that is provided if you are doubt of the email sources. You can do it in an alternative way by directly type in the URL in the Internet browser address bar or call the company on a verified contact number.



2) Always look for "https" and a padlock on a site that requests personal information

Information entered on an Internet Web Site can be intercepted by a third party. Thus, when submitting sensitive financial and personal information through Internet, look for the locked padlock on the Internet browser's status bar or the “https://” at the start of the URL in the address bar. Although there is no absolute guarantee of the site's security, by not doing so, the site is definitely unsecure.




3) Use Anti-phishing software

Phishing Blaster is an Anti-Phishing software that monitors the incoming emails and web pages that might be phishing. Phishing Blaster provides one-step access to the security features that keep your computer safe and blocks phishing scams as it is being updated regularly in order to be more effective. The advantage of this anti software is that it is able to recognize phishing emails pretending to come from eBay, PayPal, Amazon and hundreds of other financial institutions. It benefits consumer from being tricked.

4) Educate Yourself on Fraudulent Activity on the Internet

The best way to avoid from becoming a phishing scam victim is to use your best judgement. None of the financial institution with any sense will email and ask you to input all your sensitive and private information. In fact, most institutions are keep on reminding and informing customers that “We will NEVER ask you for your personal information through phone or email” as the information is private and confidential. So, be SMART whenever you received a phishing mail, definitely you will not be attacked.

Related Links:

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

antivirus.about.com/.../ss/phishing_6.htm

http://www.fraudwatchinternational.com/phishing-fraud/phishing-protection/

Prepared by Chong Hui Qi'

Threat of online security..


Nowadays, people rely on computer to create, store an manage critical information. Consequently, it is important for users to aware that computer security plays a major role in protecting their data from loss, damage, and misuse. Similarly, online security has been online trader's main concern in protecting their websites from potential threats, such as phishing, security hacking, information theft, virus, worms and etc.

However, the increasingly developed technologies sarcastically increase the risk every computer user faced. Everyone who owns a computer with internet connection is able to equip themselves with 'hacking' knowledge by making some research online. Internet provides the opportunities for users to share the knowledge without filtering the content. Therefore, everyone can learn skill that may jeopardize online security via internet and therefore increase the online security risk.

Nowadays, computer users are facing the threats of cybercrime, phishing, internet and network attacks such as computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses and back doors.

Cybercrime is defined as online internet-based illegal acts. Hackers, crackers and corporate spies is part of cybercrime, who have advanced computer and network skills that access into computers and networks illegally with the intention to destroy data, stealing proprietary data and information.

Phishing is a scam in which a perpetrator send an official looking email that attempts to obtain your personal information and financial information. In other words, this method is to collect information through fake websites. For example, some phishing email messages ask you to reply with your information, or a pop up window that looks like a website, that collects the information. The damages caused by phishing can be crucial. The following case illustrate potential thereat caused by phishing.

For example, in 21 June 2007, a spear phishing incident at the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) stole sensitive U.S. defense information, leading to significant changes in identity and message-source verification at OSD. This incident has cost administrative disruptions and personal inconveniences, as well as huge financial loss in making system recovery. More info..

Internet and network attack that jeopardize security include macro virus, worm, and Trojan horse.

Macro virus is a piece of code that is secretly introduced into a system in order to corrupt it or destroy data. Macro virus such as Melissa and ILOVEYOU were propagated through Microsoft outlook email and whose payloads were delivered as Visual Basic for Application (VBA) programs attached to email messages. Virus attack can damage the operating system, causing the loss of data and other possible losses.

A worm is a program that runs independently, copies itself repeatedly and consuming the resources of its host in order to maintain itself which it is capable of propagating a complete version of itself onto another machine. The repeatedly copied files use up the available space and slow down a computer operating speed.

On the other hand, a Trojan horse is a program that appears to have a useful function but that contains a hidden function that presents a security risk. Trojan may arrive in the form of file that looks like an interesting game or program. When this program is run, the Trojan program is installed and executed every time the attacked computer is turned on. This particular Trojan horse enabled the perpetrator to capture user Ids and passwords, to display, delete messages and upload files on the affected computer.

A back door is a set of instruction in a program that allow users to bypass security control when accessing a program, computer, or network. Once perpetrators gain access to unsecured computers, they often install a back door or modify an existing program to include a back door, enabling them to continue access the computers remotely without user's knowledge.

In conclusion, risk exposed by computer users is increasing with the developed technology. therefore, safeguards developer must be always up to date to enhance the defenses against online security threats. In the same time, users must be educated and informed about the crucial damages and loss caused by imposing online online security threats.

Prepared by Wong Kai Lei

Reviewed post: Identity theft-Cases on stolen laptops, hacking and lost CD



I read a post which is about the identity theft and i reliased that how a grave consequance will happen if we do not get awareness of this issue. As identity theft is a crime of stealing someone's personal, identifying information for the purpose of using that information fraudulently. Those personal and identifying information are including social security numbers, credit card and banking account numbers, usernames, passwords and patient records. While these information have been stolen which helped the criminal do the fraudulent activities such as opening new credit accounts, taking out loans in the victim's name, stealing money from financial accounts, or using available credit. There are a lot of cases are happened around us as the victims were be in a huge debt but without applying any loan.



Trickier Methods that would use by Identity Theft
Hereby i would like to share with you some of the trickier methods which identity theft usually use and we should get to know more about their tactics as we can alert of not being one of the victims.

1. Pretexting

A trickier method that thieves fabricate false pretenses under which to obtain your sensitive financial information from banks or other financial institutions. For example, they will impersonate as your relative and obtain your information from a phone company or bank.

2. Direct Theft



It is an straight line method for stealing information directly from you. They can directly get your credit card information, bank statements, and the like by stealing your mail, swiping your purse or pickpocketing your wallet.


3. Skimming

Skimming is where the theft use sophisticated storage device to connect with a card reader and then access that information for malicious use. While this is a very perilous trick as such a device can directly be installed on any legitimate card reader without recognition the card reader is compromised.

4. Redirecting your mail

It is where those companies send a change of address form and from this, theft will divert your mail to a separate address and gain access to your account statements and other information. As another word, they will directly steal from your mailbox.

5. Phishing

It is using fraudulente-mail messages that appear to come from legitimate businesses in order to gain the personal information. Those personal data such as account numbers and passwords, credit card numbers may be abused by theft.





Does Encryption is useful for protecting your personal information?
It can't deny that encrytion will help us to protect our personal data but for me, this is a subjective question. For my opinion, eventhough there are a lot of high technology of encrytion to secure the data. However there are still a lot of hackers successful broke in to get those high confidential data.
Some of the cases happened were due to the people carelessness. Some of the businessmen send their notebooks for maintenance service but they did not store those customers confidential information in a secure location where it will give a chance to competitors stole their information.

Nomatterhow, we still have to prevent those identity theft. Here are some ways which i would like to share with you:
  • Protect your Social security number
  • Treat your trash and mail carefully
  • Be on guard when using the Internet
  • Select intricate passwords
  • Verify sources before sharing information
  • Safeguard your purse and wallet
  • Store information in secure locations
At last, i want to share my personal experience with you. It is a real life case.


During the time when i get hurry to search a good university or college to further my study, i received a private call. The person that talking on the phone is a China girl who speak with China accent. She promoted me to study at China and kept persuaded me with a lot of reasons. I asked her how she can get my phone number and she told me that may be when my friends applied for the China University form and give them my number.
Come on!!! This is a one of the trick as they have gained access to the school and obtain those student data. Therefore, we should always alert of this kind of phone call or email to avoid be trapped into a snare.

Reviewed post from:
Prepared by Wong Chuan Chi

Google Changes Everything


" If you were confusing of something, just go and 'Google Up'. We always heard of this word -- 'Google Up'. What does it mean? Generally, it means that we would be able to look up and search for whatever information that is needed by surfing Internet using the google software.
Google was developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin who was joined in later in year 1996 when they were pursuing their Ph.D in Stanford University, California. The domain google.com was then registered and incorporated as Google Inc in year 1998. The name ' Google' originate from a common misspelling of the word ' googol' . Its mission is ' to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful'. This search engine had attracted a growing number of users especially teenagers and youngsters who fond of its simple design and useful results since its development.
Nowadays, Google is well known of its web search engine and it even ahead of Yahoo and Live Search. Google consists of billion of web pages to enable user to 'google' for the information they required by merely key in the keywords although sometimes it only generate a maximum amount of 1000 results for specific query. Apart from searching information, Google also included a various type of services such as Image Search, Google News, Google Product Search, Google Groups, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Video, Google Translate, Gmail and so on.
Gmail also known as Google Mail is a free web-based e-mail services. We can use it to search for our daily e-mails. Google Video is another useful and free video sharing websites which enables users to upload, search and watch videos from the larger Internet. It is very similar to YouTube. We can use this provided services to share funny, interesting and meaningful videos with people all around the world. Google Translate is also an useful services cater by Google Inc. It can translate a section of text, messages and even web pages into another language that the user desire. By using this services, languages barriers is no longer a problem to anyone of us, we can select whatever language that is suitable and convenient to us during net surfing.
Another usefulness of Google is fast and convenient. Why do I said so? Well, let's have a 80th flashback. We always heard of our parents, relatives, lecturers said that Y Generation students are so lucky and fortunate as they can easily completed their degree by using advanced technologies. Yup, they are right. Students nowadays are doing easier in their studies compared to our seniors. They are able to complete their assignments and thesis in a shorter time as they would not need to go to the libraries to search and look for necessary information. What they need to do is just finding the relevant information through Internet by " Google Up".
In conclusion, Google is a very beneficial web tool in tackling our daily requirements and problems. It makes our life more interesting and easier. Thus, whenever you are confusing or curious of something, what you need to do is just.......... 'GOOGLE UP'.
Prepared by Chong Hui Qi'

Internet is a public network that connecting millions of computers throughout the world. Through telephone wires ans satellite links, internet users can share information in a variety of forms. It si very convenient as we do not need to use other traditional method anymore, but Internet is not a safe place anymore because hackers have te ability to intercept and use some information sch as credit card numbers and expiry dates to falsely do transactions. Data is sent back and forth through various servers which personal information and financial data are being housed. We need to take some precautions to increase internet security and decrease date stolen probability.

How we want to avoid the ttheft from the website? There are some suggestions stated below:

Use password that are hardly to guess

To protect information on the Internet and networks, variety of encryption techniques are being used to keep data secure and private. Encryption is a process of converting readable data into unreadable characters to prevent unauthorized access. Avoid using passwords that are easy for someone to guess such as, birth date or own name. If it is possible, use a combination of numbers and alphabets. Do not ever write down the password and put it into briefcase or wallet.

Do not give personal information to unknown parties

Avoid giving your personal information to unknown parties online, via e-mail and over the phone. Personal Financial Information such as name, date of birth, telephone and identity card number should not be given through online although the mail comes from the bank or other important management that handled by behalf of the institution or its affiliates.

Regularly scan computer

Do regularly scan computers using legitimate anti-spyware program to scan your computer and remove any infected files because spyware can be hidden in software programs that may affect the performance of your computer and give attacker access into the data.

Biometric fingerprints

Use a high technology security or any powerful tools which are easier and convenient for you to protect data. As technology is advancing, many system or parts are now provided with fingerprint access. Biometric fingerprint can be used to prevent unauthorized physical and logical access to factory, warehouse, office, laboratory, ATM machines, notebook PCs and any other computer network. Benefits of using this method are it wont lose although it is being stolen n which the theft will not be able to access into the private data .

Avoid accessing financial information in public

Prevent logging to check any bank balance or other private data when using a wireless access that provided by outside coffee shop or public. Although these systems are convenient, but you do not know how sturdy their firewalls are.

Additional informations:
1) Six ways to safeguard your online assets

2) Keep your financial data safe online

prepared by Wong Kai Lei

One of the most famous example of e-commerce failure would be the e-tailer Boo.com which was launched on 3rd November 1999, that added fears about stability and viability of existing and other future online retailers. Boo.com was funding by investors such as Benetton and Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH, Europe largest luxury goods group. This Boo.com not only become the most heavily funded Internet start-up in Europe but also become the high profile. But, the launch has delayed for six months due to technological problems that reported from various sources. Huge spending on consulting fees in order to launched the website and $6 million was spent in fashion ware which has to be discounted in the end because it was no longer fashionable by the time the site was eventually launched. In addition, slow browsing, poor navigation and irritating technology make lost of potential customer and gained Boo a bad reputation.

Reason of failure include poor web design usability where products are zoom all around the page an customer need to practically have to play target practice in order to select the product they want. there were several reports of 'computer text' appearing in web browser instead of graphics, and complaints that customers were unable to purchase products. The Financial Times reported that one customer have been advised by Boo to "limit the amount of transactions they made, to three per twenty minutes". Obviously, this kind of approach could discourage potential and existing customers from shopping over the internet at all. It is very clear from the customer poor online shopping experiences, there was no sufficient testing was undertaken nor were their circumstances were taken into account. E-businesses should ensure their sites are fully tested and refined before promoting them otherwise they will risk losing customer as well as revenue. Test should incorporate actual audience members and include some professionals, and those who know little about trading and those who had never traded online.

With bad marketing, Boo marketed itself as a premium sports, urban street wear and fashion retailer, stocking quality products for the conscious young individual. Premium products came with expensive charges but customer are attracted more to by online at cheaper prices. When clothing is view to be important with nature behavior of customer like to see, feel and try on items before buying, Boo.com's clever teccnology enabled shoppers to view the items in 3-D and gave a distinc visual feel of the products. unfortunately, they did not account for the key internet driver-lower prices. Apart from that, brands that involved in Boo.com did not wish to offer discounts as it will devalue their brand. The publisher of 'Computing' show the three main reasons for web purchases in UK as 'easy and convenience', 'better prices' and 'speed of process', but Boo.com fulfilled none of the criteria.

Pattern of spending from technology cost was the construction of Boo's technology platform which involved hefty programming for multi-currency sales and product delivery. In addition to the initial outlay of the website, there were high maintainance expenses with five thousand pounds a month for creating 3d photographs of its products for the website. There is also feedbackfrom employees about excessive employment benefits and luxurious spending but these benefit were later justified as in order to attract 'some of the brightest brains in Europe'. Although there had been improvements in the website, but Boo.com was forced into liquidition when it's investor refused to inject any more cash into the business as it had already spent $380 million. Boo did suceed in creating a 'hip and trendy' image suitable for attracting young shoppers but on the other hand, the performance of the site gave the brand a reputation of being customer unfriendly.

A website should be vigorously tested and the structure and site should be completely ready before marketing the brand. using professionals to ensure the site is one hundred percent robust, will deter any embarrassing publicity from damaging the brand and ensuring customers of a stress free shopping experience. budget and sound marketing plan should be in place beforehand and followed. Expensive advertising campaigns maybe effective, but more investment should be placed on retaining existing customers through good Customer Relationship Management.

Prepared by Wong Kai Lei