P3

Hacking:

Hacking is where unwanted and unauthorised users gain access to a supposedly secure network. This unauthorised user or hacker can then change certain aspects of a website as if they were the user, these details could mean that customers could be giving their personal information to the wrong people/person. In the event of this happening, an e-commerce system would be forced to shut down, at least until the security issue has been dealt with. This means a substantial loss of money for the e-commerce business, pairing this with the already damaged reputation, could be detrimental to the business. The e-commerce business could prevent hackers by updating security software regularly and changing the access information, such as a password, often.

Viruses:

Like all of the above, a virus is the result of someone else on the internet that is actively seeking to cause damage to someone else's computer. It is computer code that is specifically written to gain unauthorised access to programs/files on a computer. A virus can gain access physically, through floppy disk or memory stick, or through the internet using email. Once it gain access to the files/programs it will 'infect' them, hence the name virus. The 'infection' attaches itself to an aspect of the computer, when the virus is triggered it releases what is called a 'payload'. This payload has the ability to be intrusive or destructive or even both and can show a pop up which activity tells the user their computer is at risk and there is nothing the user can do to rectify it. 

Worms:

Worms are similar to a virus in the way that it has a detrimental effect on a computer/computer system, but the two should not be confused as they are not the same thing. Worms invade a computer but run a file created specifically to run malicious code and doesn't show up on the users desktop as it runs in the 'background' which is similar to how spell check runs in the background of word. Worms can only be spread through connection to the internet which is dissimilar to the virus which can be spread a number of ways.

Trojan Horses:

In actual terms a trojan horse is a weapon used in the greek legend about the city of Troy. This legend says that the Romans and the Greeks were at war the Greeks used a large hollow horse as a peace offering which was then taken into the roman fortress, this horse contained greek soldiers inside who waited until sundown to attack the Romans successfully. The same goes for the technological namesake as it is normally disguised as something harmless and mainly beneficial to the user when actually it has the ability to delete files, allow entry to hackers (like the Greek Soldiers) and pass the horse on via mail to other systems. 

Web Servers:

Small Businesses may use a single computer as a web server because they can't afford to hire space on a secure server. This could put the small business at risk of losing everything it owns as it's web server system could be hacked. Web servers are used to host websites and deliver web pages to clients via Hypertext Transfer Protocol or HTTP. HTML documents are the most common delivery, these are documents written in HTML code for the internet. If a small business had a website on it's on private server, which got hacked into, it could lose all it's interface, it's customer details, it's own details and it's reputation for being secure. The answer to infection on web servers in Anti Virus software which protects against malicious software, they can protect from a variety of things but have the ability to cover the two previously mentioned as well as identity theft.


Identity Theft:

Usually the result of being hacked, identity theft involves hackers or anyone that has unauthorised access to the details of another person pretending to be that certain person. In the unlikely event that the website of a bank was to compromise a users details, the hacker would be able to pull all the money out of an account or transfer the money to a separate account. Again, this would not only affect the customer but the company that leaked the details, meaning they would lose money and potentially be out of business, The same precautions as hacking apply, to update security software regularly and change methods of access in the same manner. Asking customers to use gift cards or deposable credit cards would dampen the risk of their details/money being stolen, another way to decrease the risk of this happening would be to avoid shopping online on public computers.

Firewall:

Firewalls come as software and hardware. They are a security precaution that controls what can enter and exit a network, normally with more emphasis on what can enter a network and thats what poses the biggest threat. In terms of e-commerce, this is a necessary precaution as it prevents people from accessing a private network who aren't authorised, meaning customer's details will not be leaked. However, firewalls can slow down the speed of the server that your website is operating from, meaning that service may be slower which can either deter potential customers because do not like the waiting times, but could ensure customers that their details are being protected.

  

P4

The Data Protection Act 1998:

Organisations are allowed to use personal information on clients in some ways but there are limits to what they can do with it, these criteria are outlined by the Data Protection Act. This act ensure that information is used lawfully and fairly, is a limited and adequate manner which means data is only kept for as long as necessary. It has even stronger precautions for 'sensitive information' such as ethnic background, political options, religious beliefs, health, sexual health and criminal records. As well as protecting data, the Data Protection Act also gives you the right to see what information an organisation has about you. There are however some cases where an organisation can withhold information, these include national security and armed forces information, judicial or ministerial information (court dates), information involving crime and tax information. Some organisations will charge for providing the information but these charges are normally no more than £10.

The Computer Misuse Act 1990:

Before 1990, there were no laws in place to combat hacking problems when is was clearly worse than crimes that were already legislated against. The Computer Misuse Act protects against access to unauthorised computer material with intent to commit or facilitate a crime or modification of computer material as well as making anything to carry out a computer misuse offence.  These offences now have relevant punishments, in the same order, accessing computer material warrants a maximum six month in prison and/or a reasonable fine. If accessing this material to commit or facilitate a crime as well as modifying computer material will get you a maximum five years in jail and a large fine. And making material to facilitate hacking you can again receive up to five years imprisonment but it will be an unlimited fine. These laws would definitely deter any potential hackers but since these laws have been in place, they haven't really been enforced to their full potential as hackers are sometimes untraceable and don't get punished because hacking on a small scale isn't seen as a bad crime.

The Consumer Credit Act 1974:

This act covers people who enter into credit agreements which range from £100 - £30,000. It regulates enforcement of agreement for both the creditor and debtor. In order for a business to be able to offer to trade using credit, they have to obtain a license from the Office of Fair Trading, the act also enforces rules for credit advertising, so no one is lied to. As always seen on TV, traders are forced to show the total cost when lending money as Annual Percentage Rate or APR. Adverts for traders such as pay day loaners are tainted by these rates as they are ridiculously high in terms of APR. It also forces potential customers to be shown the procedure that will be carried out should the debtor not be able to pay back what they took, which also has a negative effect on pay day lenders. Courts can demand that relief is given to debtors who have ended up in an extortionate credit transaction. Oddly, a transaction is only cancellable if the deal is not agreed on the traders premises, and can only be cancelled in writing before 5 days have past from the day of the deal.

Trading Standards:

Trading Standards has a responsibility to protect the population against traders who act unfairly or 'rogue traders'. They are permitted to offer advice to consumers, educate and advise traders who aren't aware that they are breaking the law and they can take legal action against these traders. Reasons that Trading Standards should be contacted include: buying something without being giving a full briefing about it's information, buying fake goods, being forced or heavily persuaded into buying goods by a trader when you wouldn't have normally, traders have made false claims about goods, if you want to know is you have a problem in the eyes of trading standards or if you want to find out more about a business. If you do have a problem they will be able to do a variety things including: mediation between consumer and trader, giving contact details of local experts that can test goods as to whether they are counterfeit or not.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000:

In short the freedom of information act allows the public to access information that is being held by authorities. It does this by making this public authorities publish information about what they are doing as well as allowing members of the public randomly request information from these large authorities. Scotland didn't embrace the act until 2002 and have their own Scottish law. Whilst this act involves authorities like the NHS and state schools but does not cover other organisations that receive money from the public such as charities and companies from the private sector that put on public functions. The public can request letters, computer files, sound or video recordings, documents and photographs. This act doesn't allow the public to see information about individuals, but the data protection act does, which I've previously mentioned.

Copyright Legislation:

Copyright means that an owner of intellectual property has an exclusive right to distribute and give permission for others to use it. Copyright is automatically delegated to the creator of any new work even if the creator does not register formally for copyright.Work is protected 70 years after the authors death in the UK and 50 years after in the US. This work must be: sound, recording, literary work, musical work, dramatic work, broadcasts, films and 'typographical arrangement of published additions'.

M2

How Security Issues in E-Commerce Can Be Overcome 

Viruses:

Viruses are specific softwares that are designed only specifically to damage a computer. A virus can have a detrimental effect on a website that runs e-commerce, because the virus can spread from their site to existing customers which would not only anger them but force them to deter other potential customers from using your website. This means you will lose customers and money because of a lack of security on your site, however, you can prevent this from happening by making sure to download anti-virus software and keep it up to date.

Firewall:

Firewalls come as software and hardware. They are a security precaution that controls what can enter and exit a network, normally with more emphasis on what can enter a network and thats what poses the biggest threat. In terms of e-commerce, this is a necessary precaution as it prevents people from accessing a private network who aren't authorised, meaning customer's details will not be leaked. However, firewalls can slow down the speed of the server that your website is operating from, meaning that service may be slower which can either deter potential customers because do not like the waiting times, but could ensure customers that their details are being protected.

Security Socket Layer:

Security socket layer or SSL is a type of computer protocol that uses the internet to transfer private files/documents. SSL uses private and public keys to encrypt data via a cryptographic system. When browsing on a website that has a green coloured lock before the address then you know it is running SSL and is secure to use, popular sites including Google run SSL.

Hacking:

Hacking is where unwanted and unauthorised users gain access to a supposedly secure network. This unauthorised user or hacker can then change certain aspects of a website as if they were the user, these details could mean that customers could be giving their personal information to the wrong people/person. In the event of this happening, an e-commerce system would be forced to shut down, at least until the security issue has been dealt with. This means a substantial loss of money for the e-commerce business, pairing this with the already damaged reputation, could be detrimental to the business. The e-commerce business could prevent hackers by updating security software regularly and changing the access information, such as a password, often.

Identity Theft:

Usually the result of being hacked, identity theft involves hackers or anyone that has unauthorised access to the details of another person pretending to be that certain person. In the unlikely event that the website of a bank was to compromise a users details, the hacker would be able to pull all the money out of an account or transfer the money to a separate account. Again, this would not only affect the customer but the company that leaked the details, meaning they would lose money and potentially be out of business, The same precautions as hacking apply, to update security software regularly and change methods of access in the same manner.

Strong Passwords/Alternatives:

As previously mentioned passwords need to be updated regularly to avoid being hacked, as much as they need to be changed, there's no use in changing a password to one that is easy to guess. Strong passwords include random numbers and words that have no relation or affiliation to anyone related the user. Most e-commerce systems require certain aspects for a password to be acceptable, like having at least 1 capital letter and at least 1 number, they also provide a service which says how strong your password is to be in the unlikely event that someone should try to access your account. The alternatives to a password include face recognition, which scans the users face to see if it is a match with the owner of the account, finger prints, which work in the same way only using the finger and eye recognition, which makes the user look into a scanner to compare the scan with the owner. These are extra secure options but do have flaws, these include having to use the same facial expression when logging on, having to remove contact lenses and using the same finger to log on every time.

RSA Certificates:

An RSA certificate is another way that an e-commerce running website can assure it's customers that it is safe to use. To use RSA certificate, you must be using a private key to protect the user's information that is then given to the user so they can access their account.

M3 (INSERT WEB PAGES)

This is my e-commerce website, it is called Football Memories, as it sells football memorabilia. One of my criteria for designing my own e-commerce website was that it would have a simple site name because I didn't have a well enough established brand to have a quirky address. My website has a subscription news page, which keeps my customers up to date with memorabilia news or just football news in general. It obviously has a feature that allows customers to purchase football memorabilia as well as a page which provides customers which contact details should they have any enquiries.

There is the page that sells the memorabilia.

A page dedicated to news from the football world.

A page where our potential customers can contact us.

A page that describes exactly what our website is about.

P5

Economic and social impact due to speed of changes:

E-commerce sites and the speed of change on the internet has had a large impact on society. Certain products now choose to be released online before they are released on the high street so they can be pre-ordered on sites like Amazon and e-Bay. These sites also contribute to how speed of change can alter prices due to delivery speed. Next day or nominated day delivery can be very expensive, however the shopper can benefit from the online service if they are not worried about the delivery time because then it is normally free. Speed of change can also effect demand and in turn effect prices, on an airline for example, if lots of seats have been booked they can hike prices because they know the cost of the flight is covered.

Bricks and Clicks:

Brick and Click organisations are companies that have an online presence as well as a physical market place. These can also include companies that have a ‘flip’, this means that they have a catalogue, for example Argos has all of these elements including a click and collect. Often the reason for the success of Brick organisations turning into Brick and Click organisations is that the technology in e-commerce has taking steps forward which means people who may have been sceptical about the security of their payment method online now trust that it is secure. This means that they will be more inclined to buy items from the comfort of their own home and either use the company’s delivery service, which is usually free, or choose to collect it when they want meaning that they don’t have to walk around the store which reduces traffic in the aisles and makes it easier for the customer.  

Benefits for customers:

The obvious benefit for customers is that they can buy items as they would do on the high street from the comfort of their own home. Realistically customers could spend all their time in one house for the rest of thier life as they are able to order food and water, luxuries like television, movies, furniture, technology ect. They could even order items to other peoples houses so wouldn't need to leave the house to deliver presents cards ect. Another benefit is the 24/7 service you have available as the websites for stores are always open, unlike the brick equivalent, and you can search the web for discount codes, promo codes or price comparison websites in order to save money.  

Disadvantages:

Paying online is not secure 100% of the time, and some websites will take money from your account with no intention of sending back any items and, for this reason, customers can be sceptical when looking to shop online. There is no element of trying before you buy online as the item is not in the customers physical presence, meaning that they can't be sure of the size or quality will inevitably put some potential shoppers off. Delivery times can put off potential customers as they may want their order for a specific time, and ordering online means that although they might have paid for next day or nominated day delivery they are effectively out of control of when the package will arrive. This can ruin birthdays or Christmas so will put potential customers off and ruin the reputability of the e-commerce business. Turing from a brick to a click business will mean that a business has to make redundancies which will lose a organisations good reputation and put off potential customers. In my opinion the biggest factor of e-commerce is the lack of social interaction which means that people will lose their social skills which are a life essential.

M1

Methods to Promote an E-Commerce System

Search Engines:

Search engines are used to seek out websites via entering key words into a search bar, if we use google as an example, whatever is searched two advertised websites appear at the top of the page. These sites have paid google in order to be the top two results which increases traffic onto their website. Search engines use ‘spiders’, a spider is a program that locates websites in an order of how relevant they are, in relation to certain key words entered by the user. This is why it is important to make sure as a website you include meta tags which provide information about a page like how often it is updated, what is on the page and which key words represent a page.

Pop-ups and Banners:

These are two other forms of promotion for an e-commerce system. Pop-ups are windows which appear when clicking on a link or entering a site, but these aren't very effective as they have been over used and users tend to ignore them as they are usually irrelevant. Banners are pictures normally placed on the top or on the side of the main focus of a website, these pictures are linked to an advertisers page. 

Forums and Q+A:

Forums and Q+A's are online discussions where by people ask for answers or generally talk. These can be a powerful tool in promoting an e-commerce system because you can search for relevant pages and if suitable recommend your services. These sites are used regularly as they are promoted on search engines after keywords from the question are searched. 

Direct Marketing:

This is a technique used to boost sales where advertisers approach potential new customers directly via brochures, catalogues, leaflets, telephone sales and coupons. This method means wasting less time and money by targeting only potential customers and not a vast amount of people who wouldn't be interested in the product/service anyway. Direct Marketing also builds strong relationships with customers that are interested in the product/service, but there are some people who will be contacted who don't wish to be, this includes people changing their address the marketing company using the wrong email, this could give a bad impression of the e-commerce business and would prevent some potential customers from using them.

Spam:

Spam refers to mail that is unwanted by the user and is normally junk mail. This can be a useful method to attract potential customers from a customer list, however, it is very rare for users to check their spam folder when browsing through emails, and even if they were to browse through them it is more rare that they would read every single one if any. I would not recommend using this method as it would be wasted labour and you would be better off spending time using other, more useful methods.

User Interfaces:

Vital when making an e-commerce system, the user interface needs to be simple and easy to use, yet attractive and entice potential customers. This can be achieved by using a simple interface, as people will be more inclined to use it if they know it won't take long or be hard to operate. On the contrary, if the interface is hard to use, you risk losing customers who aren't as computer savvy as others, and would feel alienated.

Site Name:

The name of the site you are using to sell your product/service is important because it needs to be recognisable to the clientele and need to also attract potential customers who haven't used your site before. It also needs to be easy to remember so potential customers can recommend them to friends and give them the correct address.

Customer Loyalty:

Some customers may not be trusting of e-commerce systems because they are giving away details to an unknown entity. This can be avoided by enabling payment through PayPal, or allowing banks to check the websites legitimacy, an example of this would be Lloyds' Click Safe, which checks for the customer before money leaves their account.

P6

Planning an e-commerce Strategy

Hosting:

Hosting or web service hosting is a type of internet hosting. Internet hosting allows any individuals or business to have a website on the world wide web. Companies that host on the web own servers, space from which is leased out to smaller companies who would like a website. These hosting companies also rent out physical space to other companies who want to be part of a data centre and have internet connectivity.

Promotion:

It's not good having a great e-commerce system that no one knows about, so promotion is essential. Methods of promotion include: Spiders, Pop-ups, Banners, Direct Marketing, Site Names and Forums. Spiders are used by search engines in order to locate websites, sorted by the relevancy to the keywords that have been searched by the user. Meta tags work in harmony with spiders by providing information about a website, such as how often it is updated, what the page entails and which keywords represent that page. Pop-ups are windows that appear after clicking on a link, normally very irritating for the user but can be effective if the users don't ignore them straight away and close the window. Banners are similar to pop-ups in that they appear as an image on your screen, but these are more passive and are positioned on the outskirts of a page. Forums are usually linked to a question asked by a user looking for an answer from another user about a certain subject, and a business can answer these questions, if relevant, linking the answer to their page. Direct Marketing is a technique used to boost sales where advertisers approach potential new customers directly via brochures, catalogues, leaflets, telephone sales and coupons. This is more time efficient as the marketing is only targeted at potential customers, if the wrong customers are targeted it can result in bad press. Site names need to be relevant to what the site entails, unless strong brand image is obtained for example, Amazon.co.uk does not give any clue to what the site is used for but everyone knows what it does because of the brand image. Sites like gooutdoors.co.uk have a more straight forward title in order to draw potential customers in.

User Interface and Customer Loyalty:

Vital when making an e-commerce system, the user interface needs to be simple and easy to use, yet attractive and entice potential customers. This can be achieved by using a simple interface, as people will be more inclined to use it if they know it won't take long or be hard to operate. On the contrary, if the interface is hard to use, you risk losing customers who aren't as computer savvy as others, and would feel alienated. Some customers may not be trusting of e-commerce systems because they are giving away details to an unknown entity. This can be avoided by enabling payment through PayPal, or allowing banks to check the websites legitimacy, an example of this would be Lloyds' Click Safe, which checks for the customer before money leaves their account.

If I were to start an e-commerce business I would make sure to shop around for the cheapest most reliable hosting service to ensure my website says up on the internet for a long time with out any downtime for a good price. I would only choose certain methods of promotion though as I feel that some can put potential customers off and be very obnoxious. I would not have pop-ups or certain aspects of direct marketing such as the telemarketing and emailing the customers. I would also invest money saved from the cheap hosting service in to coming at the top of the page when searched on a search engine. My interface would be totally simple and easy to use because I do not want to slim my customer base by making the payment process too complex. I would allow PayPal to be my payment method because customers can trust them, and would allow services like ClickSafe to operate on my site as I want customers to feel safe.