Hacking through an iphone

Recently the Dutch government has identified a group of cyber criminals operating through "cracked" iphones. Cracked Iphones, also known as "jailbroke" iphones, are iphones which are hacked so that other applications and programs could run on an iphone and not just the authorized ones. What the Dutch government has found are hackers operating by sending viruses to these jailbroken iphones and taking controls of network connections. This virus is known as the Duh worm, when an iphone user tries to access a bank website to make transactions, a phony website similar to those genuine websites appear and acquire user's details. iphone users are not to jailbrake their devices, "these hacks not only violate the warranty, they will also cause the iphone to become unstable and not work reliably"- Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison. Users of iphone must preserve its original system and not crack it for safety reasons. Its security risks are greater than its benefits.

(reference:http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/business/44397-jail-broken-iphones-hacked-by-new-virus)

The art of Phishing.

In the cyber world, phishing has become one of the famous methods of conducting crime. Phishing is referred as a form of crime to acquire sensitive personal information such as full name, age, address, credit card details and even pull it off by asking them directly for their password by pretending to be who they claim to be. Its a piece of cake for some people out there in the world of digital trade. Talented youngsters mostly responsible for creating fake websites pretending to be HSBC, alerts you that there is in need of "update" if not, your account shall be "terminated", one might easily fall prey due to the fact that the website is so perfectly designed to replicate as HSBC or any other entity.

The victim might be asked to fill out a form regarding information likned with banking details, the perfect combination needed to withdraw money from an account. As the victim clicks the enter/submit button, the data goes straight to the these cyber geek youngster sitting in front of their computers on the other side of the country. Phishing is a form of crime to steal personal data over the internet. Phishing can come in forms of emails, with a given link to connect too. There have been many cases of phishing where victims have easily fallen prey and have lost lot of money.

(source: http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/phishing-6.jpg)

Above is a sample of phishing through an email message. Ounce these cyber geniuses get the personal data, they can have direct access to one's financial pot and could drain out their victims.

(yet to be updated)

Internet Contract Law?

What is a contract Law? What is a contract? A contract is any agreement between two or more parties. And a contract law is the formal agreement between these two or more parties and tends to make any agreement amongst parties legal. A contract law can cover many aspects such as a sale of certain goods such as properties, rent or hire purchases of certain goods and services such as renting an apartment or buying a car from the bank, contracts of employment, and many more. The purpose of a contract law is to insure that both parties complies to the agreement made, if any of these parties does not comply to the contract agreement, the other party is liable to take action by reporting to the courts and either force the defaulting party to carry out is promise or demand compensation in the form of damages. For example, a person can be agreed upon a contract when renting an apartment, the owner and the tenant shall sign upon a legal document, with stated terms & conditions, if any of these terms are broken by any of the parties, than the other party can take him to court for legal action. In other words the contract law creates a legal binding promise between the parties involved. It is a form of protecting each other from damages that might occur due to unethical practices. A contract law consists of elements such as offer & acceptance, Intentions to create Legal Relations, considerations, certainty, legality, legal capacity and free consent.

Let us examine contracts in regards with e-transactions. There are certain legal framework presented in the electronic commerce section. It has become a global trend to shop online, and the question, is an internet contract enforceable? Author Jonathan Frieden answers this question in his article, "Is an internet contract enforcebale?". According to him, "Though the Internet is fairly new, the enforceability of Internet contracts is governed by the well-established legal principles which apply to traditional written contracts. To form an enforceable contract, two or more parties must mutually assent to the terms of the contract and the contract itself must be supported by some consideration."

He says that this contract law over the internet is divided into 3 categories, and each being treated differently by the courts. The first category, shrink-wrap agreements, are agreements named for the license agreements contained in the packaging of commercial software products. Online, these contracts provide notice that continued use of the site will constitute the user's agreement to the site's terms and conditions. If proper written agreements are present to the website user, than only is this enforceable by law. The second category is click-wrap agreements, many commercial websites offer a terms and conditions notice to users before they purchase any product or service, by approving this terms & conditions, one is binded into the stated agreements. And under this condition does the traditional contract law principles apply. The last category is the is the browse-wrap agreements, these are terms & conditions which are purport to bind any user visit to the website. And by visiting this website, one is already binded with the browse-wrap agreements and does require further approval from the user.

Although these laws are present, author Jonathan Frieden says that "subject to traditional contract principles, click-wrap agreements are generally enforceable and browse-wrap agreements are very difficult to enforce. Shrink-wrap agreements lie somewhere in between, though recent case law supports their enforceability." A proper legal framework over the internet is yet absent in many countries and governments, businesses and consumers must be careful.

Jonathan Frieden

(reference: Is an internet contract enforceable? by Jonathan Frieden)

E-commerce: International Legal Framework

E-commerce is the new trend, in which business modules operate electronically over the Internet. Any transaction over the internet whether by an individual or by an organization is known as e-commerce. Shopping online from amazon.com is a form of e-commerce or buying travel tickets from airasia.com is also an e-commerce. E-commerce has grown substantially in the past decade, eliminating the traditional brick and mortar and thus has created convinience. Customers can survey and purchase their products from their own home at any time. It also eliminates intermediaries and also creates efficiency and pushes down costs. There are various forms of e-commerce such as B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumers) and many more, we shall not go in too deep.

In an electronic market, consumers must be very carefull since they may become victims of unfair marketing practices. Consumers must be aware fraud, deception, misuse of personal information, insufficient disclosure of information such as refund policies, cyber crimes, contract terms and many more. There are numerous international e-commerce laws present to help protect the customers. Not only does it protect customers but also protects businesses and provides guidelines for companies/individuals setting up e-commerce sites. Let us examine two international legal framework targeted towards e-commerce.

OECD Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce (1999) is a framework created to protect online consumers and eliminate certain uncertainties that consumers and businesses may incur. These guidelines are created to help governments, businesses and consumer representatives to develop, implement and maintain an online protection system. These guidelines established by OECD represents the existing legal protection available to both consumers and business and promotes fair business practices, advertising and marketing practices; clear information about an online business's identity, the goods or services it offers and the terms and conditions of any transaction; a transparent process for the confirmation of transactions; secure payment mechanisms; fair, timely and affordable dispute resolution and redress; privacy protection; and consumer and business education. This framework can be downloadable in many various languages and is an internationally recognized framework.

Another internationally recognized framework is the APEC BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE which provides the development and use of electronic commerce by creating legal, regulatory and policy environments in the Asia Pacific (APEC) region which are transparent, clear and well defined. This framework is to ensure e-business are operating at the proper standard and that governments and businesses should work together closely in order to regulate. Below is a fraction of the agreement under the APEC BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION ON ELECTRONIC COMMERCE retrieved from the Internet.

" The role of governments is to promote and facilitate the development and uptake of electronic commerce by :

• Providing a favourable environment, including the legal and regulatory aspects, which is predictable, transparent and consistent
  
  
• Providing an environment which promotes trust and confidence among electronic commerce participants
  
  
• Promoting the efficient functioning of electronic commerce internationally by aiming, wherever possible, to develop domestic frameworks which are compatible with evolving international norms and practices, and
  
  
• Becoming a leading-edge user in order to catalyse and encourage greater use of electronic means
  
  

For electronic commerce to flourish, business and government should cooperate wherever possible to ensure the development of affordable, accessible and interoperable communication and information infrastructure.

Government and business should co-operate to develop and implement technologies and policies, which build trust and confidence in safe, secure and reliable communication, information and delivery systems, and which address issues including privacy, authentication and consumer protection."

(source:http://www.apec.org/apec/leaders__declarations/1998/apec_blueprint_for.html)