E-COMMERCE WONDERLAND

The advancements in technology grow at an alarming rate, and each week we see new things that we ever were possible before. According to the 2009 Security Threat Report from Sophos, one new infected Web page is discovered every 4.5 seconds. By logging on to the net, you are at risk at once. Online security threats are a big challenge today. The main threats of online security are Spyware, Computer Viruses and Hackers.

Spyware is computer software that is installed furtively on a personal computer to steal information of a user such as passwords, credit cards information, back account details, browsing habits and others without the user's knowledge. It is known to change computer settings, resulting in slow connection speeds, different home pages, or loss of Internet or functionality of other programs. Unlike viruses and worm , spyware does not usually self-replicate. The types of spyware include Trojan Horses, Key Loggers, Dialers and Adware Programs.

Computer Virus is a computer program that can spread itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the owner. Most personal computers are now connected to the Internet and to local area networks, facilitating the spread of malicious code. Today's viruses may also take advantage of network services such as the World Wide Web ,E-mail, Instant Messaging , and file sharing systems and virus will be sent through the infected file or mail. Moreover, our email address book will be one of the sources for the virus to find new people to attack.

Hackers are increasingly motivated by money and stealing our bank account and credit card information. Hackers will try to hack into the computer system, get the information and transfer the money to their account without authorized by the top management. Therefore, in order to avoid yourself getting involed in the threat, users must protect their computer by installing anti-virus software, such as Avira Anti Virus and always be alert when using internet.

By Sze Ying

From the post which titled as ‘More Than 1 Million Computer Viruses in Circulation Now’ in the My E-Commerce blog, I found that the number of computer viruses, worms and Trojans are actually increased from the year 2006 to 2007, indirectly it also means that the cyber criminal problem is also getting serious. Nowadays, in our daily life, not only our personal computers at home, the computers at university also easily get attack by viruses. I believe that the number of viruses will keep on increasing if the there is no solution on it. Besides that, this post has given me more understanding about threats to the computer, especially malware and malicious program.

First of all, let me explain what is viruses, worms and Trojans. Viruses is a program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes and it need a host to run and activate it, whereas worms is a software program that can run independently. Besides that, it uses a network to send copies of itself to other computers and it may do so without user intervention. However, Trojans is a program that may appear to be legitimate, but in fact does something malicious.


Malware is actually a portmanteau word that comes from the words malicious and software. It is a harmful software program to a computer system, which has been designed to damage and disrupt the system, such as viruses, worms and Trojans. According to the Symantec report, 1,122,311 malware is detected, it is quite a huge number. The majority of these viruses are aimed at the personal computer that runs with Microsoft Windows and the criminals are using Trojans to gain access to the PC. In addition, according to Security Firm, it also said that the number of malicious programs has reached an unprecedented high.

Hence, Internet security is very important to the computer system, in order to protect the computer from those viruses, worms and Trojans threats and attacks. In order to avoid the computer system attack by those viruses, worms and Trojans, security firm has used heuristics, or rules of thumb, to spot programs and some used behavior blockers that shut down any program that shows malicious intent. At home, we should also install the anti-virus program. Let’s together reduce the number of those viruses and the number of cyber criminal problems!

By Simone

There are many e-commerce crimes in the Internet world, for example, PHISHING. It is a common type of threats and attacks in e-commerce. Phishing is a technique that the perpetrator tries to steal sensitive personal information such as username, passwords and credit card numbers by instruct recipient to visit fraudulent websites. It is THEFT.Nowadays, it has become a significant criminal activity on the internet, especially happen by sending e-mail messages. Besides that, it also always happens in well known and trustworthy web sites, auction sites and online payment processors. For example, eBay, PayPal, online banks, Yahoo and MSN are the web sites that are always spoofed by the perpetrator.

2) PayPal phishing scams
In the example below, this PayPal phishing scams tries to cheat recipients by acting as a security alert. It claimed that someone 'from a foreign IP address tried to login to recipient’s PayPal account and the e-mail inside include a link that urges recipients clicking it to update and confirm their account details. By clicking the link actually directs the recipient to the attacker’s website.

3) Citibank phishing e-mail
From the example below, we can see that the perpetrator send e-mail by acting as a safety and integrity for the online banking community to get recipient’s banking information. In the email, recipients given a link to visit a fake website and enter banking information that the perpetrator tries to stole.

The following are the some prevention methods that use to prevent from phishing scams:

a)Do not reply e-mails or fill out the forms in e-mails that urgently requesting personal financial information. Legitimate sites normally will not send email to ask for this information.