Electronic Commerce

Nestra C. Lawrence

AC1703453

BU460.S.1.1- Electronic Commerce

BU460.S.1.1- Electronic Commerce Assignment #4

February 21, 2018

PART A

     Electronic Commerce (E-commerce), more commonly known as online or internet shopping, is the practice of selling (or trading) products and/or services using computer networks, the internet or other electronic means. E-commerce uses technologies like online transaction processing, internet marketing, electronic funds transfers and automated data collection to facilitate sales or offer services to consumers. Although not the most lucrative (money-wise), the most commonly known form of E-commerce would have to be the Business to Customer (B2C) model.

    The B2C type of E-commerce is basically a company selling their products online directly to their end users, customers or consumers. These types of relationships are usually not exclusive, meaning you don’t have to pay a special membership fee to shop there (like Sam’s Club), and are open to any visitor/shopper to look at or compare with another E-commerce retailer.  To that effect, a large percentage of E-commerce retailers do not even require any special passwords or site access to shop there, instead offering “guest checkout” in many cases.

      Today just about every retail store has a website along with an online shopping experience. You can get anything from OTC medications to car parts, clothes to house paint or even groceries without leaving the comfort of your own laptop, PC, iPad, Smartphone or SmartTV. In that spirit I would have to say that there are a couple of E-commerce companies that almost immediately come to mind, EBay and Amazon. Both of these companies enjoy worldwide recognition and sales along with offering a very wide array of products, both offer many items in a “New” or “Used” condition and both offer different shipping and payment options. Unfortunately that is where most of the similarities end, with EBay being more of an auction type setting and Amazon being like a digital mall, it is only the users’ preference as to where you would prefer to shop.

PART B

     The history of E-commerce can be traced all the way back to the late ‘60s with the advent of electronic data interchange, which allowed companies to carry out electronic transactions. Soon after, the concept of “teleshopping”, better known as online shopping, is invented by Michael Aldrich. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s E-commerce is somewhat limited in scope and operation but does see some success overseas in the United Kingdom and France in particular. Personal Computers are still in somewhat of an infancy stage and are expensive to buy, own and maintain. As the ‘90s dawned the first World Wide Web server is created and in short order restrictions as to the commercial use of the Web are lifted, paving the way for E-commerce that we know and love today. In less than 25 years, E-commerce has gone from a clunky and tedious operation conducted on large PC’s (1992 era) with wires, cables and phone lines galore, to a fast, sleek, mobile and seemingly all-knowing almost completely wireless operation that can be used anywhere that a GPS signal can be received. Currently E-commerce is conducted via PC, laptop, pads, minis, phones, and watches. More and more businesses are data mining their customers and potential consumer bases, along with conducting “personal” conversations with their customers via a pop-up video window or text box. I would have to say that, for the time being, E-commerce has a very good grasp on the market and will probably start competing amongst each other over prices. That is until the next step, which will probably involve something like google glass and will use your retina and/or voice print for identification, transaction verification and security. This can, and will lead to a defacto “military type HUD” that will allow you to “target” the items you want to buy or compare and then buy them with nothing more than your eyes or a single word.

PART C

        Some of the threats to the security of E-commerce come from many different approaches for many different reasons. These include, but are not limited to; hackers, hacktivists, criminals, virus and worm writers and even cyberterrorists. Whether it is to achieve some political cause, profit, financial gain or to cripple infrastructure, there are certain things that can help prevent information loss, financial tampering and even system denial.  Malicious code (worms and virus’), Trojan Horses that hide that malicious code, Logic Bombs, Denial of Service, the Ping of Death, Phishing and Synchronization Flooding are common weapons that are wielded in an effort to defeat or disrupt E-commerce activities.