Mobile payment systems in Malaysia: Its potentials and consumer adoption strategies

Malaysians now can make a wide range of purchase without cash, credit card and cheque.




Hong Leong bank Team Up with the Mobile Money to create Innovation to payment industry


Where the consumer required a mobile phone and can make any purchase in any where any time , whether in car, office and home.


Hong Leong Bank will team up with local Mobile Money international to introduce this innovative mobile payment which allow the consumer tp pay goods and services via SMS.



Maxis and MayBank testing Mobile phone payment


Maxis Communication Berhad is currently trialling a mobile phone multi payment service incorporating credit card and prepaid transit payments with maybank, Visa International and Tounch n Go.

Maxis touch n pay used Near field Communication (NFC) technology with short range wireless connectivity in mobile phone and this mobile phone current available om Nokia 6131 NFC phones.

• Low transaction and maintance costs


• Low startup or sign up fees


• No minumum monthly transaction, No rental fees


• No merchants account required
  
• Selling and buying to anyone , anywhere, & anytime


• Get paid fast and faster turnover in T= 2 days


• Flexible method to Request for Payment:Fixed line, SmS
  
• Good audit trail and secure tivketing


• Marketing & point system opportunity using mobile payment

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Benefit of Mobile PHONE

references : http://www.neowave.com.my/0doc/mobilemoneypaymentsystem.html

The Application of Pre-paid Cash Card For Consumers

Nowadays, there are many types of prepaid cash cards had been offered to the consumers. One of the most successful pre-paid cash card is the Touch 'n Go card. It can be considered as a electronic purse that can be used at all highways in Malaysia, major public transports in Klang Valley, selected parking sites and Bukit Merah Lake Town resort. The card looks similar to a credit card and users can use it as long as it is pre-loaded with electronic cash. Since the card is using the contactless smartcard technology so it can enhances the speed of paying the transactions. The users no need to wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction.



Touch 'n Go Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Rangkaian Segar Sdn Bhd), the operator of this Electronic Payment System has offered several range of Touch 'n Go cards to suit different market needs. Fleet Xs is specially designed to meet the demanding needs of today's business. it is a post-paid corporate Touch 'n Go card that is preloaded with electronic cash. It can only be used at several highways. Fleet Xs require an annual fee of RM30 per card and minimum ten cards per application. Each Fleet Xs is individualised to indicate optional details such as driver's name, company names, vehicles classifications and registration number. Biz Xs is a upgrade version of Fleet Xs which similar to it but it have additional function from the Fleet Xs which it can be used at the selected parking lots at business and shopping complexes that are equipped with Touch 'n Go parking system.

Octopus card was launched in Hong Kong in September, 1997. It is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card. It is widely used in payment system for transportation, supermarket, fast food restaurant, car parks and other point of sales. There are two types of Octopus which are Sold Octopus and On-Loan Octopus. Sold Octopus are available in a range of collectible designs and are ideal as souvenier. While On-Loan Octopus have 4 categories such as child, adult, elder and personalised.


Other than making payment by using the Octopus card, the users can also used the card as the access card to gain access into a residential area or a building. As each Octopus has a unique ID number, cardholders only need to register their Octopus at the management office, and the ID will stored in the central security system. Many residential estates and commercial offices have adopted Octopus as a security access system, providing added convenience for over 100,000 residents and employees. furthermore, Octopus has been introduced into the school environment with the ultimate aim of making school life easier. Students can now use Octopus to buy foods, make miscellaneous school payments library loan and etc.

EAZYCARD, is the first 'touch and go' IC card for mass transport in Taiwan. Transaction on EAZYCARD are executed by wireless signal transmission through memory IC chips and induction circuits implanted onto the card. Passengers no longer need carrying coins or repetitive ticket purchases. The current scope of applications of EAZYCARD system is on public transport, transport-related services, access control and school campus. It, thus, ehances citizens' convenience in their daily life.

ItzCash card is India's first multi purpose prepaid card. It is a smart option for all, and the safest online and on-mobile transaction instrument that allows you to be in control on your spent. It facilitates online and on-mobile payment for a host of services. ItzCash enables users to perform a variety of transaction like shopping, travel booking, utility bill payment, donation and charity and etc.

Review on e-Tailing post

After reviewed the posts on the e-commerze blog i found that e-Tailing actually can be used by many industries and its provide convenience for the company and the users. For example, the ecommerce king, Amazon.com had move a step further in their online retailing by launching the text-message shopping (SMS Shopping) on 1st April 2008 which named TextBuyIt. Through this application, customer can buy the things they desired without using the computer. Customer just need to send the name of the product with its description or ID to 262966 using SMS. The confirmation will sent trough text messages and e-mail.

Other than purchasing items online, Opentable.com which dominat service is manage the reservation and improve customer services for over 7000 high-end restaurants which mostly located in New York and San Francisco. With this, reservation become very convenience for customers because it can be conducted on the non business hour beside it was being free. it also provide one click cancellation of the reservation.

The e-Tailing in Malaysia such as the Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank) was the first local bank in Malaysia that introduce online banking. It has 3.6 million registered users of which 830,000 were active user. It also offered the online stock trading at its Maybank2U internet portal. This online trading portal was launched in 2000 has about 10,000 users. Customer who invest through can save up to 63% on their trading fees which enable them to breakeven their investment faster.

Furthermore, Malaysia's government also encourage the agriculture and handicraft industry to venture into online business to market their products and at the same time helps the industries become more competitive. For example, www.right.sarawak.gov.my/Rightmart which set up by the Sarawak Craft Council for the handicraft player to showcase their products and designs online. beside that, the fisherman in Tanjung Dawai also gone the internet way and auctioning their catches via e-mail. It was open to the bidders from all over the world to place their bids from 3pm to 7pm malaysian time everyday. This system was introduced in April with the help of the Malaysia Fisheries Development Board. This system benefited the fisherman as they could get the best deal through the auction.

Since e-Tailing can provide convenience for us but it also have a weak side on some industries. For example, Dell is famous for selling it PC and Laptop directly to their customer through the direct sales online which proved to be very successful business model. But recently, Dell had opened up their retail store in several countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and etc. This maybe because of the growth of PC sales had slowed down.

Credit Card Debt: The Causes and Prevention

What is credit card? Credit card is a card that provides holder with credit to make purchases up top a limit fixed by card issuer( Eg: Visa and Master card).I believe this word or term is very common to all to all of us. Do you have credit card debt? This is something that can very easy get out of hand and credit card reduction should be something that you are always try to accomplish. There are some credit card causes and several suggested ways to prevent you overspend and get your debt under control:

Causes of Credit Card Debt:

1)Poor finance management: This is the most common reason why many people have accumulated credit card debt. This is because people are unaware to conduct a monthly spending plan and do not keep track of their monthly bills. Thus, they will not realize that they overspend snd lead to a rising in debt.

2) Unexpected unemployment and salary deduction: Due to the economy crisis and financial hit that happend around the world, many people are unemployed due to organizational downsizing. Moreover,some of the company have to deduct the employees salary to decrase the organization expenses. Households are forced to use the credit card for groceries, utilities and other expenses purpose to maintain their current lifestyle and some of them can't find the job in short period. Thus, this may cause rise in debt.

3) Gambling: Nowadays, gambling has become an entertainment activites in our daily life. It is hard to stop when it becomes addictive. Thus it will surely lead to a finacial disaster if boorowing money through creditcard for gambling.

4)Habit of purchasing branded goods: Some people are like to purchase the branded goods because they think that the branded goods will represent richness and status. Generally,most of the branded goods are very costly or expensive. Hence, it will lead to overspend.

Ways to Prevent Credit Card Debt:

1) Have a saving plan: This is key to help you to protect yourself from getting into debt. It is important to set a certain amount each month into a saving account. It can just be for general savings or you could set a goal to save up for a big purchase. Saving with a goal in mind motivates many people to stick to their saving plan. Then, at the end you will be able to purchase the desired object without going into debt.

2) Making a budget: You have to create a clear budget and stick on it that includes monthly bills, foods, clothes, entertainment and miscellaneous expenses will prevent from overspending and fall under deeper debt load.

3) 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. Hence, self control and discipline to keep these cards in wallet and would not overspend. Prevention is aware of the causes of credit card debt and start to spend less in order to stay with well in financial situation.

How to safeguard our personal and financial data

The topic we would like to discuss today is how to safeguard our personal and financial data?Nowadays, due to the technology advancement many people like to shopping and purchasing online,doing payment through e-banking and saving personal data in blog and website. They like to doing all the activities through online because it is convenient and time-saving. However, there will be some diadvantages of doing the transaction online such as the important or confidential information will be steal and unauthorized access by the other party. Therefore, we will suggest some ways to safeguard our personal and finacial data.

Ways to Safeguard our Personal and Financial Data:

1.Always using antivirus and antispyware software to protect your computer system-The users can using the antivirus software such as AVG and Avira antivirus software to scan and prevent,detect and remove malware, including Trojan horse,worm and virus

2.Create strong passwords- Do not create passwords that are weak or easy to guess such as your birthday or handphone numbers as passwords. You can create password that contain 12 characters that is hard to guess.

3.Do not disclose or reveal any personal or financial data to anyone- Avoid logging to your financial account in the public place such as Internet Cafe of coffeeshop that offer wireless because maybe the firewall do not strong enough.

4.Encrypt your important and sensitive files- Encryption is a process of scrambling a message or file in a way that difficuly for the unauthorized person to unscramble or read it.

5.Avoid open unknown or mystery files- Never open an attachment or click on a link that sent to us by unknown party. These attachments can contain virus that harmful to your computer system.

A review on a post on Internet Security from My E-Commerce blog

According to "My E-Commerce" Blog, the post of favourite password used online research done by Information Week on an analysis of 28,000 passwords from a popular website:

• 16% uses name (yes, your own name, spouse or children)
• 14% likes "1234" or "12345678" (easy and nice)
• 4% uses "password" or "password1" (password = password)

Some other common passwords includes:

• qwerty (English keyboard letters below the numeric keys)
• hannah, pokemon, matrix, ironman (popular tv show stars)
• iloveyou, ihateyou

In our opinion, a password is like a key to our home. If someone steals it, there are chances he/she will use it to steal something else. We use passwords everywhere in our life, but the life of an Internet user is absolutely impossible without passwords: e-mail, online discussion groups, e-bank, commercial websites - all of them use password-based authentication.

Create a Strong PASSWORD !

Do's:

• Combine letters, symbols, and numbers that are easy for you to remember and hard for someone else to guess.
  
• Create pronounceable passwords (even if they are not words) that are easier to remember, reducing the temptation to write down your password.
  
  
• Try out using the initial letters of a phrase you love, especially if a number or special character is included.
  
  
• Take two familiar things, and then wrap them around a number or special character. Alternatively, change the spelling to include a special character. In this manner, you get one unfamiliar thing (which makes a good password because it is easy for you and you alone to remember, but hard for anyone else to discover).

Examples:

"Phone + 4 + you" = "Phone4you" or "Fone4y0u"
"cat + * + Mouse" = "cat*Mouse" or "cat*Mou$e"

Don'ts:

• Don't use personal information such as derivatives of your user ID, names of family members, maiden names, cars, license tags, telephone numbers, pets, birthdays, social security numbers, addresses, or hobbies.
  
• Don't use any word in any language spelled forward or backward.
  
  
• Don't tie passwords to the month, for example, don't use "Mayday" in May.
  
  
• Don't create new passwords that are substantially similar to ones you've previously used.
  
  

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

There have two major types of attacks- nontechnical and technical.



Nontechnical attack is an attack that uses chicanery to trick people into revealing sensitive information or performing action that compromise the security of a network. Example of nontechnical attacks are pretexting, social engineering.


Social engineering that uses some ruse to trick users into revealing information or performing an action that compromises a computer or network. For example, they will persuade employee to get passwords to access the company internal information.

At a high level, social engineering attacks are Web 2.o. As more users take adventage of Web 2.0 application like social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and other crinimals are going to exploit them.

Phisihing is a broadly launched social engineering attack in which an electronic identity is misrepresented is an attempt to trick individuals into revealing credentials.

Prevention of social engineering

In order to stop social engineering attacks is depends on the victims. Certain positions within an organisation are clearly vulnerable , such as those has private access and confidential information. The company can provide training that all users should learn how to avoid becoming a victim of manipulation. Other ways to prevent is to develop specific policies and procedures.

1. Education and training


2. Policies and procedures


3. Penetration testing

Technical Attacks- An attack perpetrated using software and sysem knowledge or expertise.

1. Denial of service ( DOS) attacks

--- attacker gains illegal administrative access to as many computer on the internet as possible and uses these multiple computer to send a flood of data packets to the target computer.

2. Virus
-- A piece of software cade that inserts itself into a host, including the operating system, to propagate, it requires that its host program be run to activate it.

3. Worm

--A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other nodes (computers on the network) and it may do so without any user intervention. Worms almost always cause at least some harm to the network, if only by consuming bandwidth, whereas viruses almost always corrupt or devour files on a targeted computer.

4. Trojan horse

--A Trojan horse, or trojan for short, is a term used to describe malware that appears, to the user, to perform a desirable function but, in fact, facilitates unauthorized access to the user's computer system.

How computer viruses work