The Risks of Online Banking
It is said that the arrival of the network age has made communication easier. The network has substantially changed our lifestyle and work, people can communicate more conveniently. On the contrary, it makes precedent infringement on our privacy rights. A persons’ private information can be sneaked into while they use internet, because the companies that provide internet services uses a network software that collects the personal information. Then they sell it illegally. In this public information age, the utilization of personal information in a commercial way is very common. Generally, it is acknowledged that the Internet security is the privilege to individual security and ought to be ensured lawfully, so that the data can’t be stolen. It mainly comprises the identity information that network user provides to the service provider while applying for network services such as name, age, address, etc. The other information that can be illegally accessed is the Health status of an individual, personal credit and property status, such as the online transactions done by users, the details of trading account, passwords, credit cards, electronic consumers’ cards and others. These days most people avoid sharing their information online for commercial purposes that is especially used for database marketing (Jerry, 1998). This essay will theorize that the users of internet, whether they are individuals or businesses, generally underestimate the risks of sharing information that leads to offline and online crime.
The main section affected as related to individual’s privacy while using internet is E-commerce. In this info age, the banking services industry has experienced immence changes. The network technology has made life of people more convenient and the businesses can amplify by utilizing internet technology. The companies are generating more and more profit from this new system. Hence, E-commerce can stimulate the development of the economy. E-commerce has increased the quality of service that banks provide, for example, it is not required to wait for long hours just to communicate with the employees of the bank because people can get the required information on the mobile application of bank. It is more appropriate and productive to use online banking especially for knowing balance and transferring money. Moreover, the banks provide 24-hour service when people use online banking i.e. money can be transferred by individuals anytime through online banking. In addition, the cost of operating the processes of the bank is minimized using online banking system. Particularly, through internet, the online banking system can be utilized by many customers at the same time. However, an important thing to remember is the security of bank. These days, the security systems of banks for online banking are more advanced as compared to earlier, but some weaknesses are there in system. The security risks of online banking are maximum and involves risks of data transmission, attack from computer virus and application system (Liu, 2010).
Credit Card Frauds and Online Shopping
Banking services involve personal and financial information of people and businesses. Internet banking and many online systems are comprised by several computer software systems. Ensuring the safety of data and information is the main concern in implementing online banking. The technical and administrative security of electronic information systems is a very serious risk in the operations of online banking. In traditional banks, risks of security may lead to limited losses only, but in Internet banking, the risks of security can paralyze the entire network (Shi, 2012).
The maximum number of crimes that catches the limelight are credit card frauds. The credit cards fraud involves the illegal ownership of the card for violating card management regulations. The activities involving credit cards fraud harms quite a large number of people. According to Lei (2014), criminals steal information by creating a fraudulent web site and intercepting customer verification. SMS is sent by Trojan virus.
Online shopping is one of the important and large proportion of E-commerce. Nowadays, online shopping is very common phenomena amongst individuals and businesses as this version is very different from the traditional shopping model. More and more individuals like to do shopping online in comparison to offline, because shopping online is more convenient and effectual. Besides this, people get an opportunity to save more as they can compare prices on different sites when they do online shopping (Xi, 2009). This is true but not always because online shops are virtual shops with risks involved. When an individual does online shopping, the personal information can be stolen easily. Some customers do not shop online because of these risks and hidden shipping fee that is revealed only during checkout (Lee, 2016). The crimes occur in two ways. Firstly, when consumers do the online transaction with their debit or credit card, unfortunately, a virus can attack the system during the processing of the payment. Second crime occurs when the personal information of customers is stolen while fill the delivery form (Xi, 2009). In short, the whole system of Internet is more advanced than before, but there are also quite many risks when individuals or businesses utilize the internet.
Phishing sites severely affect the businesses whether it is financial services (online banking) or electronic commerce (online shopping). “Phishing sites” are the fake websites that are like target organization’s website and are choreographed by lawbreakers using various technical methods. Research shows that the cost involved in launching phishing websites is extremely low (Cheng, 2011). People visit a webpage that is not safe and they enter the username and password repeatedly on the login page. If the website is accessible easily, it can be categorized as phishing site (Cheng, 2011). The hackers develop similar looking websites to some target websites and sends misleading messages that draw people to visit “phishing sites” commonly by spam messaging, instant messaging, SMS or fake advertising on a site. They use bugs on web server and inserts harmful code within the main page of the site to cheat users by collecting their important private information like names, mobile numbers, address, identity numbers, bank account details, usernames and passwords of online services and so forth. After getting these details, criminals can steal the money from the bank of the targeted person by placing themselves as target. They do online transactions, send annoying and unnecessary messages to friends, and obtain illegal economic interests. The crimes through phishing websites typically comprises of online shopping frauds where the famous electronic shopping websites are hacked and account numbers and passwords are stolen. The harm by phishing websites has gone far beyond the control (Guo, 2012).
Phishing Sites and Scams
The social networking is the greatest iconic outcome of this mobile Internet era. The social network depends on the progressively refined mobile network and different intuitive innovations that are not the same as the traditional method for information transmission. There are two fundamental parts of security risk in the social network; information theft and access to location. The first risk is about information being stolen while utilizing social networking processes. It is by and large trusted that the information that is transferred and shared furtively won’t be stolen. Actually, this information when stolen can bring about serious harms (Yang and Peng, 2013). Secondly, social networking can also provide access to private location. For example, Twitter has a “geo-location” feature that identifies the user’s location, updates the location information, and shares the location information of the user to other friends on the social network (Yang and Peng, 2013). In recent years, many crimes like ‘human flesh search engine’ have evolved where all the information of individuals is exposed overnight and revolves around the net (Li and Liu, 2014). When persons update their location or vacation plans they give criminals a chance to rob their house. Some homeowners or renters upload the images that contain address or location of their houses, it can lead to offline crimes such as robbery or even severe.
In conclusion, with the advancement of the internet, individuals’ lives have changed and turned out to be more comfortable and proficient however the individual privacy has risen as a significant issue in the meantime, even prompting to the offline and online crimes. It is clear to see that there are different perspectives that influence Internet security and personal data. The personal information should be protected all the time, particularly when transacting on the web (Fletcher, 2013). Unfortunately, individuals usually underestimate these risks when they utilize the internet. It is difficult to find out the information which is stolen. Ideally, individuals might want to raise their vigilance of internet in the event that the personal data could be more secure especially on the Internet and it is important to do additional research to decline the rate of offline and online crimes that are related to online personal information.
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