How to safeguard our personal and financial data?

In nowadays world, almost all computer users are internet users, such as you and I also are users of internet. Internet is a public network which connecting computers throughout the world and this is the reason why people always say that internet is a borderless world. As a user of internet, it is unavoidable that we might need to register at some websites in order to become member of those websites or to subscribe the services provided. When during the registration process, it might be necessary for us to fill in some personal information to complete it. This has exposed the users of internet to the risk of losing their privacy or said to become the victims of identity theft.


Since today’s world is a keep on seeking for advancement, impossible is nothing, that’s mean everything can be happened and sometimes may be out of your imagination. Thus, it is important for internet users to always be alert and beware when you are asked to submit your personal data which including your name, address, contact number, gender, date of birth, e-mail address etc. and especially your financial data such as credit card’s number or bank account’s number when doing online funding transactions.

It is to be informed that identity theft is one of the nation’s fastest growing crimes. In 2003 alone, it was reported that 9.9 million people were victims of identity theft. Therefore, in order to protect ourselves from becoming one of the victims of identity theft, it is necessary for us to learn about how to safeguard our personal and financial data.

So, what can we do?

• Do not reveal any personal information or particularly passwords to anyone. Please always remember to log out properly after visit any website that contains privacy data to ensure that nobody can access into your personal information especially Financial Data Center before leaving the website.


• Close the browser window when using a public computer. You can avoid your personal information and mail reading by other users by doing this particularly when using a computer that shared in public places such as school computer lab, Cyber cafe etc.


• Avoid using passwords that are easily to be guessed. For example, your date of birth, contact number, identity card number and etc. This kind of information are not encouraged to write down or recorded in whichever type of medium and never carry it along with you in your wallet or handbag.


• Install antispyware and antivirus software. Some popular antivirus software such as AVG, BitDefender and Kaspersky are commonly used by computer users currently in trend. Antivirus helps to protect personal information, financial data and etc to be hacked or stolen by other users.


• Using access control mechanism to limit actions that can be performed by other users. Web owner can determine who can use the network resource and what resource can be used with the help of the mechanism to certain the most information or data that can be accessed by different authorised users.


• Keep your card close. No matter when you are out shopping or eating out in any places, you should watch how personnel handle your card when making payment and never ever left or throw the receipt away in a public place but take it with you to home.
  
• Pay attention when using an ATM. When you are doing transactions by using ATM, you should always take notice to those people who are a little bit too interested with your transaction and cover the keypad when entering your PIN to avoid others from knowing it.
• Keep credit cards to a minimum. It is advised that not to hold a number of credit cards in hand and keep only the credit card which actually use while other credit cards which no longer to be used should be destroyed appropriately by shredding them.

As conclusion, it is important for us to build up a community which is willing to work together to help to prevent personal and financial data leakage to identity theft and always be a smart users when using internet so to keep ourselves from suffer of advancement of technology.

For further details, try to have a look on Understand and Cope with Identity Theft, Smart Card Alliance Releases Security, Privacy Guidelines and Identity Theft Affects Internet Marketers and Business Owners Too!

Even more about AVG (AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0.1), BitDefender, and Kaspersky!

~SiuLing~

The application of 3rd party certification programme in Malaysia

3rd party certification is the verification of the public or private key’s holder by a trusted third party known as Certificate Authority to ensure that the web sites are genuine by using digital certificate. It authenticates web sites, individuals, and software companies so that consumers or people using the websites can trust and rely on them.



3rd party certification programme has become increasingly important in the world of internet. The most famous 3rd party certification programme is VeriSign. Another 3rd party certification programme is MSC Trustgate, which is an affiliate of VeriSign incorporated in year 1999, and it is Malaysia’s premier licensed Certification Authority.

Why VeriSign?

The Internet Infrastructure of VeriSign enables confidential information or important data to be delivered across the net safely so that the users can do their transactions with confidence. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate encrypts sensitive information when people doing online transactions. Sometimes, some web sites have encrypted https connection where the users can see “https” in the URL.

A Certificate Authority verifies the identity of a certificate owner with the unique, authenticated information contained in the certificate. When a user points to a secured domain, SSL handshake will authenticate the web site and the user. The user can see the authenticated organization name when he clicks on the closed padlock in the browser window or certain SSL trust marks, such as the VeriSign Secured Seal.

The authenticated organization name is even prominently displayed in high-security browsers and the address bar will turn green when an Extended Validation SSL Certificate is detected. If the information does not match or the certificate has expired, an error message or warning will be displayed.

I think the implementation of 3rd party certification programme can extensively improve customers trust since the web sites they are dealing with are certified as genuine web sites. This enables them to do transactions and transfer their information without much worry that their information will be revealed by impostors. Therefore, it is essential for the implementation of such programme in the e-commerce world.

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

If you think no one would be interested in your personal data, think again. The reality is that anyone can be a victim of data theft like your financial accounts, your credit card records and information, your identify information and your other personal asset. In fact, according to a source which is from the International Federation Trade Commission body, there are more than 50 million victims every year worldwide. It is often difficult to know how thieves obtained their victims' personal information, and while it definitely can happen offline, in many cases start when online data is stolen.

There are dishonest people all around and in the Internet. But you can't judge an online operator's trustworthiness by the look in the eye. It's remarkably simple for online scammers to impersonate a legitimate business, so you need to know whom you're dealing with. If you're shopping online, check out the seller before you buy. A legitimate business or individual seller should give you a physical address and a working telephone number at which they can be contacted in case you have problems.

When it comes to crimes like information theft, you can't entirely control whether you will become a victim. But here are some of the ways that you can minimize your risk while you’re online.

If you're asked for your personal data like your name, email or home address, phone number, bank account numbers, Socso or EPF number. Learn how it is going to be used, and how it will be protected, before you share it.

Don't open unsolicited or unknown email messages. If you do get an email or pop-up message asking for personal information, don't reply or click on the link in the message. Most importantly, do not to respond to solicitations for your personal or financial information.

Example of pop-up message

If you believe there may be a need for such information by a company with whom you have an account or placed an order, contact that company directly in a way you know to be genuine. Never send your personal information via email because email is not a secure transmission method. Most email programs have email filters built-in to the application. Set your email filters, so you can limit the amount of unsolicited email you receive.

If you are shopping online, be careful about providing your personal or financial data through any company's website without taking measures to reduce the risk. There are some indicators that show vendors have taken measures to secure their sites such as a lit lock icon on the browser's status bar or a website URL that begins "https:" (the "s" stands for "secure"). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some scammers have forged security icons.

Example of webisite where data transfered are secured and protected

Read website privacy policies. They should explain what personal information the website collects, how the information is used, and whether it is provided to third parties. The privacy policy also should tell you whether you have the right to see what information the website has about you, whether they provide or sell your information to third parties, and what security measures the company takes to protect your information. If you don't see a privacy policy or if you can't understand it, please do not proceed with it.

No system in this world is completely secure. If you have important files stored on your computer, copy them onto a removable backup or disc, and store them in a secure place in a different place or building than your computer. If a different location isn't practical, consider encryption software. Encryption software scrambles a message or a file in a way that can be reversed only with a specific password. At the same time, make sure you keep your original software start-up disks handy and accessible for use in the event of an operating system crash.

Example of encryption software

Review on a post on Internet Security

There are many cases of internet threats such as viruses attacked, hacking, cyber terrorism, spamming, etc happened around us. It was found that there are a total of 711, 912 new malicious code threats found in 2007. In total todate so far, Symantec already detected 1,122,311 malware. This showed that almost 2/3 of the malware were created in 2007 alone. On the other hand, some security firms also reported a significant increase in the number of viruses online. Moreover, A study from the research firm Gartner suggested that there is a sharp increase of identity theft related incidents since 2003, there are facts showing that there is increase in identity theft, 15 millions Americans were identity theft victims in mid 2005 - mid2006, besides, The average loss of a case of identity theft was US$ 3,257 (2006) and US$ 1,408 (2005) and Only 61% of the loss fund was recovered in 2006.

As we can see there are many cases of internet threats which happened around us, therefore we need internet security to protect our computer. What is internet security? It is basically the prevention of unauthorized access or damage to computer systems via internet access. Internet Security is very important nowadays in order to protect against the internet threats and vulnerabilities. On the other words, it involves making sure that your computer and data are safe from these dangerous software: adware, crackers, hackers, malware, spyware, trojan horses, worms, and viruses.

How to protect our computer being attack from virus? We need to install antivirus software, this software helps us to identify, neutralize or eliminate malicious software, it also used to combat a wide range of threats, including worms, phishing attacks, rootkits, trojan horses and other malware. Beside antivirus, a firewall can also help us blocks all "roads and cars" through authorized ports on our computer, thus restricting unfettered access. It function within a network is similar to firewalls with fire doors in building construction. In the former case, it is used to prevent network intrusion to the private network. In the latter case, it is intended to contain and delay structural fire from spreading to adjacent structures. In order to prevent damage by viruses and worms, users typically install antivirus software, which runs in the background on the computer, detecting any suspicious software and preventing it from running.