e-Commerce
E-Commerce is concerned with internal and external business process communicating with each other. Any such communication is essentially an exchange of data between two computers with only a few clicks of the mouse.
E-Commerce transactions are essential quite simple. Any one can execute such transactions with minimal knowledge of the system and its working.
Example for Online Book Purchase
We want to buy a book. We should know the title of the book, name of author(s) or the publisher. We will first go to a ‘Search Engine’ like Google, Yahoo, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos and Search for the title of the book, its author or its publisher. The search engine will present a number of web sites for review. We will visit a webs site and after confirming all the details, proceed to place the order. Before we commence the process of placing the order, the protocol ‘HTTP; changes to ‘HTTPS’ and there is an icon of a key at the left hand bottom corner of the browser window to confirm that the web site is secure fort the transaction.
Internet Explorer
However, each browser has different from of security icon, Take Netscape Navigator, it has a padlock icon on the bottom left hand side of its status bar. The open icon means pages are not secure and the closed means they are secure. If you need to find information regarding the security status of the pages just click on the icon. The Internet Explorer displays a lock icon on the bottom left-hand side of its status bar. Some browsers do have a key icon which is either complete or broken depending on whether it is secure or insecure.
Customer Information
We now require to type in the name of credit card company, credit card number, expiry date, name of the cardholder, e-Mail address, mailing address, contact telephone number, title of the book, amount to be charged to the credit card etc.,
Now is the stage when all of us shudder and begin to ask a number of questions ?
- What will happen to my information ?
- Who will have access to it ?
- Can it be misused in the future ?
- Will the wrong amount be charged to my account ?
- Will I receive the book I have ordered ?
- What if I don’t get the book ?
- What if I don’t get the book on time ?
- What do I do if I am overcharged ?
Well, the answers to most of these questions and some others lie in understanding the technologies that make e-commerce a secure and hassle free experience.
