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

Nowadays, mobile payment system was very famous especially in Europe and Asia. It also can be known as M-payment. It is a new and rapidly-adopting alternative payment method. Consumer can use mobile device such as mobile phone, smart phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) to pay their bills, or buy digital or hard goods such as music, online game, ringtones, books, and movie ticket. Usually for purchase ringtones and wallpapers will use sms text message and it will deliver by Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS). Nowadays, mobile web payment (WAP) and Direct Mobile Billing are more famous.

Nowadays, mobile payment system was start using by Malaysian and become popular in Malaysia. This is due to mobile payment system is convenience in this fast growing market and it will make our busy life to become more simple and easy. By using mobile payment system consumers can pay their bills or transfer money by using their mobile phone at anywhere or anytime. This will help the consumer save their time for queuing up for bill payment at the counter. Beside that, consumers also no need to carry money to make the transaction because it can be paid by using the mobile wallet.

Mobile payment system does not require minimum monthly transaction, rental fee and merchant account. Therefore, consumers do not need to hit the minimum monthly transaction to waive the rental fee. Mobile payment is safe and secure because consumers do not have to worry about the cash, cheque, and credit card handling problems or fraud. It also secured by a strong pin fraud protection, therefore consumers does not need to worry about their date will hack or steal by other.

For the consumer’s adoption strategies, most of the Malaysian use mobile payment system to pay the credit card debt and bills. Therefore, we can know that Malaysian still not familiar with the mobile payment system even though it’s become more popular. Therefore, we need to educate consumers about the mobile payment system, the usefulness and its function. Besides that, we also need to enhance consumer’s confidence and the system’s security.

There are many mobile systems in Malaysia such as mCheck, Telemoney and Mobile Money (MM Wallet). Mobile Money is a PIN-based Mobile Payment Solution designed by Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd to address the limitations and bottlenecks created by cash, cheques and credit cards. Mobile Money allow users make payments and registered users to pay for goods and services at anywhere and anytime by using a mobile phone with a 6-digit security PIN (Personal Identification Number) via SMS (Short Messaging Service). This will encourage more consumers to shop online.

Related link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_payment

http://www.neowave.com.my/mobilemoney_overview.asp

Credit card debt: Causes and Prevention.

Credit card debt results when a client of a credit card company purchases an item or service through the card system. In another ways, credit card can be defined as debt accumulates and raises via interest and penalties when the consumer does not pay the company for the money he or she has spent. In spite of the fact that goverment has organized so much financial planning seminar to reduce the credit card debts impact, but the amount of the people are still increasing in credit card debt significantly.

1.Lack of financial planning. People does not have a desire to make a well financial planning and basic money managemnet skills for their expenses and income. They usually dont make planning first to decide which things are wanted and unwanted , before they make a purchase decision.

2.Poor money management skills. Obviusly,most of the people cannot well manage or handle equilibrium between expenses and income. They do not have an income and spending budget, so they will spend over their income unwisely.

3. Reduced or lost of income. Serious debt may caused by divorce or unemployement. If there is a enormous gap between income and expenses, the alternative way to fill the gap is with credit card debt.

4. Saving too little or not at all. The feasible way to avoid unwanted debt is to prepare for unexpected expenditures by saving three to six months of living expenses. Apparently, a savings cushion in planing, a job layoff, illness or divorce will not cause immediate financial strain and increase debt.

5. No money communication skills. The most important things is to communicate with your spouse or significant other and your children about finances. Keep the lines of communication wide open and discuss financial goals and spending styles. If you are married to a spender and you are a saver, you will need to figure out a strategy for you both to get what you want. Knowing what credit accounts you each have and promise each other to be honest about what each other spends.


Although there are many causes of Credit card debts, there are also have some preventions and safety tips.

1.Photocopy the credit card offer which include the interest rate and terms. Then, form a letter to your credit card competitor companies mentioning that you are thinking of switching to their competitior because they are contributing a quite reasonable interest rate. As a result, credit card companies do not want to lose your business so they will offer a lower rate than the competitor company has offered.

2. Pay off smaller balances first. It is common for a person to try to focus on their cards with larger balances first. Pay off the smaller ones. It will take less time and you will feel a sense of satisfaction when you have actually completed your goal. This will boost your confidence and make it easier to tackle the higher balances.

3. Another alternative is to cut up your cards so that you are not tempted to use them. Save one card for emergencies.

4 If you have equity in your home, look into paying off credit card debt with a refinance or fixed-rate home equity loan. Do not use a home equity line of credit, the rates will rise as the prime rises and suddenly you may find it impossible to keep up with your bills.
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References:

http://www.mozdex.com/prevent-credit-card-debt/

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/debt/debt_manage_2004/top-10-causes.asp

Electornic Currency

Electronic currency is also known as e-money, electronic cash, digital money or digital currency. It refers to money or script exchanged electronically through computer network, internet or digital stored valued system. The examples of electronic currency are Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) and direct deposit. Besides that, also have some system involved the electronic currency system, which are:

1. ClickandBuy
ClickandBuy system is a full-service solution for e-payment and billing system. In 1999s, Norbert Stangl founded FIRSTGATE Internet AG which is the Internet payment system ClickandBuy and was launched in 2000. Nowadays, the ClickandBuy is available all over Europe, US and Asia, which include 126 different currencies and 46 different payment methods. ClickandBuy is used by Apple iTunes, Skype, msn, Playboy and so forth.

2. PayLoadz
The server host of PayLoadz.com is located in New York, United States. PayLoadz provided a secure Digital Goods E-Commerce service for everyone to sell downloadable good online. Such as Software, eBook, music, movies, articles, files, forms, and anything else that can be downloaded.

3. Paystone Technologies
Paystone Technologies is an online money transfer company that provided secure, convenient and quick money transfer and payments for its customers around the world. Paystone Technologies have offering 3 distinct services which are:
a) International money remittance and email money from North America to any bank account in 15 counties.
b) Payment gateway linking North American e-commerce merchant to Chinese online buyers.
c) GroupPay, is a mass payments system that allows you to pay many people at one time internationally via email.


4. Peppercoin
Peppercoin is a cryptographic system for processing micropayments and was developed by Silvio Micali and Ron Rivest. Peppercoin is a small payments technology company transforming routine card transactions into new revenue opportunities. Peppercoin provides a loyalty-ready PCI-complaint small payments suite for all payment models, including pre-paid, subscription and pay-as-you-go with Intelligent Aggregation.

5. DigiCash
DigiCash Inc. was a pioneering electronic currency corporation founded by David Chuam in 1990. DigiCash transactions were unique in that they were anonymous due to a number cryptographic protocols develop by its founder and it was declared bankruptcy in year 1998. Nowadays, DigiCash Inc provide the Digicash Wallet, which can gives merchants a revolutionary new approach for initiating real-time, value-creating coupons and promotion in increase sales, margin, and customers loyalty.

6. Beenz.com
Beenz.com was founded by Charles Cohen, from UK. Beenz.com was a website allowed consumers to earn beenz (is a type of online currency) for performing activities and the beenz e-currency could be spent with participating Web merchants around the world. Since Beenz illegally launching a new currency in many countries, therefore the finance ministers across Europe assure them that Beenz would be categorized as virtual points. After 9/11, Carlson’s business was struggled and the beenz concept was shelved. Therefore, the beenz.com was closed.

7. Flooz.com
Flooz.com was founded by Robert Levitan and promoted by comic actress Whoopi Goldberg in a series of television advertisements in February 1999. Flooz.com was a dot-com venture. The name of “flooz” means “money” in Arabic word. The company establishes a currency unique to internet merchants. Users can accumulate floodz credits to redeem for merchandise at a variety of participating online stores. The company was close on August 26, 2001.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_money
http://clickandbuy.com/US/en/
https://www.payloadz.com/
http://www.techvibes.com/company-directory/paystone-technologies-corp
http://boston.bizjournals.com/gen/company.html?gcode=FF52DE71940147CC86BA8F120810453A
http://www.answers.com/topic/peppercoin
http://www.digicash.com/
http://www.answers.com/topic/beenz-com
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/12892.html?wlc=1246385546
http://www.answers.com/topic/flooz-com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DigiCash

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

Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks. It allows everyone to exchange information and data with other users who are staying at different countries. But, how safe is our data?

In year 2007, the University of California server was hacked into and the confidential information such as names, social security numbers and bank account details of 46,000 students, faculties and staffs were disclosed. The reason for the amount of cybercrimes is rapidly increasing because the cyber criminals know that successful attack is very profitable.

Hence, the users need to be aware the threat of online security and it can improve user's knowledge about methods to prevent the data to be disclosed. Types of threats and attacks can be divided into two categories:

1. Nontechnical attack which is an attack that uses techniques to trick people into revealing sensitive information or performing actions that compromise the security of a network. For example:

• Social engineering which uses social pressures such as human weaknesses (scare, no confident) to trick computer users into comprising computer networks to which those individuals have access. This method is usefulness for cyber criminals to trick computer users rather than waste times and cost to break control system.
  

Phishing is one example of social engineering and it is a technique used to gain personal information such as account number and passwords by sending fraudulent e-mail messages to e-mail users.



2. Technical attack is using programming skills and knowledge to inappropriate use of data.
For example:

• Virus which is a program that attaches itself to other program. For example: I love you virus

• Worm which is a program that copy themselves until it interrupts the operation of network or computer system. This program is automatic attack other computers through network if one of the computers is attacked by worm eventhough already stop the operation network.

• Denial of service (DOS) is hackers flood a network server with thousands of false request to crash networks.Like constantly dialing tel no so no one can get through. For example, February 6, 2000:DOS on e-commerce cause 3 hours slow performance in Yahoo.

In conclusion, the threat of online security cannot eliminate regardless the strongest of internet security such as passwords, change of file permissions, back up of computer's data and so on. However, those threats can be reduced through internet securities.

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

Third party can known as certificate authority or certification authority (CA). It is an entity that issues digital certificates for use by other parties. The digital certificates contain a public key and the identity of the owner.A CA can be a remote third party, such as VeriSign, or it can be a CA that you create for use by your organization by installing Windows 2000 Certificate Services. Certification authorities help verify transactions on the Internet. A certificate does not prove that the website that you visit is legitimate. This is due to any website also can create certificate by their own. Therefore, certification authorities is needed. One of the application of third party certification programme in Malaysia is MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd.



MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd was established in 1999. Trustgate is a licensed Certification Authority(CA) under the Digital Signature Act 1997 (DSA), Malaysia. They have 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. MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd had provide many service such as SSL Certificate, Managed PKI, Personal ID, MyTRUST, MyKAD ID, SSL VPN, Managed Security Services, VeriSign Certified Training and Application Development. MSC Trustgate has been appointed as Asia's first VeriSign Authorised Training Centre.Since year 2000, MSC Trustgate.com Sdn Bhd has been an affiliate of VeriSign. They focus on reselling VeriSign's Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) services to businesses and government, incorporating digital certificates, digital signatures and encryption.

The SSL Certificates that the MSC Trustgate offer to the sever security are Global Server ID (GSID) and Secure Server ID(SSID). GSID using the strongest encryption commercially available for secure communications via Server Gated Cryptography (SGC) technology. It verify your website and enables 128- or 256-bit encryption to secure communications and transactions between the site and its visitors. For the SSID, it protect the transfer of sensitive data on Web sites, intranets, and extranets using a minimum of 40-bit and up to 256-bit encryption.

VeriSign is the leading Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Authority enabling secure e-commerce, communications, and interactions for Web sites, intranets, and extranets. VeriSign is well known for the VeriSign Secured Seal, which is an outward expression of a Web site's authentication and encryption commonly posted to VeriSign SSL Certificate customers' Web sites. The VeriSign Secured Seal was part of the VeriSign's SSL service. It can help the owner
deliver a secure and convenient way to interact with the customer over the internet. This will help the owner increase the customer's confidence to complete the transaction.

Phishing- Example and Prevention Method

What is " phishing"????


Phishing which also known as “Fishing”. In other words, it is an online fraud technique used by criminals to entice you to disclose your personal information. Phishing is the fastest rising online crime method used for stealing personal finances and perpetrating identity theft.


Phishers use many different tactics to lure you, including e-mail and Web sites that mimic well-known, trusted brands. A common phishing practice involves "spamming" recipients with fake messages that resemble a valid message from a well-known Web site or a company that the recipients might trust, such as a credit card company, bank, charity, or e-commerce online shopping site.


How will a phishing email/website look like?



Here are provided some example of phishing email and website:





What to look for in a phishing email ?

• Generic greeting. Phishing emails are usually sent in large batches. Moreover, the internet criminal will use generic names like "Dear sir/madam" or like "First Generic Bank Customer", so they don't have to type all recipients' names out and send emails one-by-one in order to save time. Therefore, be aware if you do not see your name.



• Forged link. Be aware of the forged link which is provided in email. Usually, it will appear in the email with a link that require you to update the personal information. Furthermore, even if a link has a name you recognize somewhere in it, it doesn't mean it links to the real organization. Also, websites where it is safe to enter personal information begin with "https" — the "s" stands for secure. If you don't see "https" then do not proceed.



• Requests personal information. Usually, some email will request for personal information. Therefore, if you receive an email requesting your personal information, it is probably a phishing attempt.

What to look for in a phishing website ?

• Poor resolution. Phishing websites are often poor in quality, since they are created with urgency and have a short lifespan. If the resolution on a logo or in text strikes you as poor, be suspicious.

Below are some of the recommendation about the prevention method of "Phishing":

Keep antivirus up to date – The most important things you can do to avoid phishing attacks is keeping your antivirus software up-to-date。This is because most of the antivirus vendors have signatures that protect against some common technology exploits. Thus, can prevent things such as a Trojan disguising your Web address bar or mimicking an https secure link. If your antivirus software is not keep up-to-date, you are usually more vulnerable to attack which can seize your Web browser and put you at risk.

Do not click on hyperlinks in e-mails – Never! Never! Never click on any hyperlink in an e-mail, especially from unknown sources. You never know where the link is going to really take you or whether it will trigger malicious code. Moroever, some hyperlinks can take you to a replicate HTML page that may try to scam you into typing private information. If you really want to check out the link, manually retype it into a Web browser.

Take advantage of anti-spam software – Anti-spam software can help keep phishing attacks at a minimum. A lot of attacks come in the form of spam. By using anti-spam software such a Qurb, the phishing attacks can be reduced because the messages will never end up in the mailboxes of end users.

Pay attention to your billing cycle. If credit card or utility bills fail to arrive, contact the companies to ensure that they have not been illicitly redirected.

Use anti-spyware software –Keep spyware down to a minimum by installing an active spyware solution such as Microsoft Antispyware and also scanning with a passive solution such as Spybot. If for some reason your browser is hijacked, anti-spyware software can often detect the problem and provide a solution..

References:

http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailscams/ss/phishing.htm

http://www.phishtank.com/what_is_phishing.php?view=website

http://mcobit.business.nd.edu/phishing.cfm

How to safeguard personal and financial data?

Nowadays, most people rely on computers to save our personal data and using online financial services to do financial transactions such as online banking. Information transmitted over the Internet is more vulnerable and has a higher degree of security risk, the information will easily stolen or hacked by others. Therefore, every user must know some ways to safeguard their personal or financial data.

Below will be some suggestion ways for users to safeguard their data:

1. Usernames and passwords
The longer passwords will provide greater security than shorter passwords. If can, try to change the password frequently and do not disclose to anyone.

2. Install and update antivirus software and firewall.
Install the antivirus software and firewall in order to protect yourself against viruses and Trojan horses that may steal or modify the data on your own computer. In order to well protection, you must make sure to keep your antivirus up to date.

3. Regularly scan your computer for spyware
Spyware or adware hidden in software programs may affect the performance of your computer and give attackers access to your data. Use a legitimate anti-spyware program to scan your computer and remove any of the infected files.

4. Encrypt any sensitive files
Encryption is a process of converting readable data into unreadable characteristic to prevent unauthorized access. By encrypting files, you can ensure that unauthorized people can’t view data even if they can physical access it. When you use encryption, it is important to remember your passwords, if you forget the passwords, you may lose your data.

5. Avoid accessing financial information in public
Resist to logging on your bank account or others important data when working from a coffee shop that offers wireless access, Although the systems are convenient, it also easy for hacker the your information though the public wireless access.

References:
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/103893/Six-Ways-to-Safeguard-Your-Online-Assets
http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-008.html