E-Commerce ALERTS - Archive 2002

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SMALL BIZ ARE BIG SPENDERS

Many markets stand to benefit from the deep pockets of small businesses (SBs) of up to 99 total employees, according to comprehensive research by Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. — MORE

TOWER RECORDS SITE EXPOSES DATA

A security hole on Tower Records' Web site exposed data on millions of U.S. and U.K. customers until it was closed late Wednesday — MORE

THE WEB CONTINUES TO SPREAD

Internet usage has shifted from routine to essential, according to findings from Ipsos-Reid that demonstrate an increasing reliance on the medium worldwide — MORE

INTERNET ABUSE DRAINS TIME AND MONEY

Data from Websense Inc. indicates that Internet misuse costs American corporations more than $85 billion annually in lost productivity -- an increase of 35 percent since the year prior — MORE

CANADA CREATES E-COMMERCE CLIMATE

Canada has the potential for high e-commerce growth but e-tailers and consumers aren't taking full advantage of the environment, according to research — MORE

U.S., CANADA, BRITAIN BEST PLACES FOR E-COMMERCE

Crediting state-of-the-art communications infrastructures and strong political leadership, the U.S., Britain, and Canada have created the best environments for e-commerce to flourish among the top industrial nations, a study by Booz Allen Hamilton said this week — MORE

PRIVACY FIRST

Canada's privacy commissioner George Radwanski is urging HR professionals to build a privacy policy into their employee records-keeping systems before implementing changes to IT — MORE

NO INTERNET SECURITY, NO PRIVACY

Computer hacking -- it is easy, andÊvery prevalent. Who should be worried about it? Anyone who has a computer connected to the internet — MORE

U.S. HOUSE PANEL: INTERNET SECURITY SUFFERS SERIOUS PROBLEMS

The report card is in -- and the federal government is getting a failing grade in computer security. A House panel today said the government is doing a poor job protecting some of its most important computer systems — MORE

STILL AN INSECURE WIRELESS WORLD

The results of the second World War Drive are in, and they don't look good for wireless security — MORE

CANADIAN SMALL BUSINESS PROFITS FROM INTERNET

Canadian businesses that adopt Internet business solutions can realize financial benefits that include increasing revenues and reducing costs, according to the Canadian Net Impact study — MORE

E-MAIL WORKS FOR DIRECT MARKETING

E-mail can drive purchases in other channels -- including offline stores -- according to research funded by Web ad technology player DoubleClick — MORE

SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES WARY OF E-BUSINESS COSTS

Canadian small and medium enteprises say high costs are putting them off from adopting the Internet business solutions. An industry group says they need to be competitive — MORE

SECURITY A PRIORITY IN I.T. BUDGETS

META Group predicts that security investments will increase, with 55 percent of companies spending 5 percent or more of their IT budget on security by the end of 2003 — MORE

ALLIANCE PUSHES "CYBER SECURITY" DAY

Hoping to remind computer users once again of the security risk for themselves and the nation's infrastructure, the National Cyber Security Alliance has designated October 27 as National Cyber Security Day — MORE

MORE USERS BUT LESS TRUST

Internet users are becoming a study in contradictions, according to research from Consumer Internet Barometer that compares U.S. consumers from Q4 2001 to Q3 2002 — MORE

'WAR DRIVERS' EXPLOIT SECURITY GAPS

As wireless local area networks have proliferated, so has the practice of war driving, a term derived from the Matthew Broderick character who uses his computer to hack his way into a nuclear command and control system in the 1983 movie War Games — MORE

SHIPPING FEE AN ONLINE DEAL-BREAKER

A study by market research firm NFO CFgroup says for every full shopping cart Canadians check out of online retail operations, another one is abandoned at the cash register — MORE

STATE DEPARTMENT WEB SITE HACKED

Hackers last week defaced a U.S. Department of State Web site, replacing www.usinfo.state.gov with obscenities — MORE

COMPUTERS STILL INSECURE

Despite widespread concern that cyberterrorism is a legitimate threat to worldwide computer infrastructure, only 42 percent of Canadian CEOs felt it was a moderate priority to protect their companies from attacks, and another 19 percent said it was not a priority at all — MORE

CANADIAN E-BUSINESS INITIATIVE FOCUSES ON SMEs

The Canadian e-Business Initiative (CeBI) officially launched Thursday with the introduction of the organizations involved, which have been divided into project teams that will encourage e-business development in the small and medium enterprise (SME) space — MORE

PRIVACY COMMISSIONER CO-AUTHORS BOOK FOR BUSINESSES

Canadian businesses are ahead of Americans in taking seriously the privacy concerns of online customers, says a co-author of a new book on protecting personal information — MORE

TOP 10 MOST COMMON INFO SECURITY MISTAKES MADE BY INDIVIDUALS

The following list represents a compilation of mistakes identified by security experts as those most commonly made by employees -- often unknowingly -- that put their organization's information assets at risk — MORE

PATROLLING THE CYBER-BORDERS

The President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, which authored the strategy, is expected to recommend that the United States work closely with Canada and Mexico to create a North American safe cyber-zone, according to a draft of the report — MORE

REPORT: ALMOST A THIRD OF COMPANIES LACK CYBERDEFENSES

A new survey of corporate information security specialists reveals that despite heightened infosecurity awareness, 30 percent believe that their firms remain unable to mount an adequate defense against such assaults — MORE

INSECURE WIRELESS NETWORKS EXPOSED

A local consulting firm launched a controversial Web site yesterday that shows gaping security holes in hundreds of wireless networks throughout the downtown Toronto core, including many in the financial district and some government and university areas — MORE

WHY BUSINESS SHOULD PROTECT PRIVACY

Ann Cavoukian and Tyler Hamilton, authors of Privacy Payoff, offer 10 reasons why companies should pay attention to the issue of privacy -- now more than ever — MORE

MALICIOUS SPAM ON THE RISE

Law enforcement officials and security experts at McAfee.com say that spam is often used to target unsuspecting consumers and lure them to "official looking" Webs sites -- such as a billing center for an online service provider or the front page of a mortgage information form — MORE

THE HIDDEN THREAT OF INSTANT MESSAGING

In theory, conducting a conversation via computers in real-time means no one can eavesdrop on what is being said. But for corporations, these chats can be a productivity-killer and a silent threat lurking on the network — MORE

E-TAILERS GIVE THEMSELVES POOR SCORE

The industry may turn out to be its worst critic as a survey of 273 online retail executives revealed overall dissatisfaction with e-tailing — MORE

E-COMMERCE CONTINUES TO POST GAINS

Total online consumer sales (excluding auctions) in July 2002 were $6 billion, up 26 percent versus the same month last year, and non-travel sales grew 20 percent, to $3.1 billion, according to measurement analysis from comScore Media Metrix — MORE

WEB ADDICTION ON THE RISE

America's favorite pastime for the 21st century, Web surfing, is now being pinpointed as the one of the most highly addictive activities to scourge the modern workplace — MORE

TD BANK WASN'T BANKING ON PORN SITE

Toronto-Dominion Bank, whose official online address is www.tdbank.com, was left red-faced yesterday after it discovered the insertion of an extra keystroke could lead its customers away from the bank and to an Internet porn site promoting live sex shows — MORE

CANADIANS LEERY OF ONLINE SHOPPING

Most Canadians remained wary of online shopping despite the glowing predictions of mass success when electronic commerce began, suggests a new poll — MORE

DIFFERENT TACKS IN FIGHTING SPAM

Separating the wheat from the chaff in e-mail is tricky enough on a manual basis. Automating the process is complex and often has mixed results, but three approaches examined by eWeek Labs can significantly reduce the expense and frustration of dealing with junk e-mail — MORE

TEENS POSSESS PURCHASING POWER

Research from InsightExpress finds that students, including teens and young adults, have the real power when it comes to which consumer electronics are purchased when heading back to school — MORE

FOUR STEPS TO STRONGER E-BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS

Regardless of the stage or type of technology being employed, companies too often still have wasteful supply chains because they have not taken steps to foster better communities. Remedying this problem is no small feat, but doing so will generate an enormous return — MORE

LAUNCH OF INEXPENSIVE "DO-IT-YOURSELF" SMALL BUSINESS WEB SITE TOOL

Toronto company Yfactor Inc. has launched a new web site "wizard" tool for a different sector -- small business — MORE

DON'T LET COOKIE MISUSE THWART YOUR COMMERCE EFFORTS

Tracking online traffic isn't easy or simple because it ties into the basic browser technologies in play and creates customer trust issues. And by simply refusing to accept your site's cookie, customers can derail your good-faith tracking efforts. But some new privacy standards could go a long way in easing customer tension — MORE

INTERNET SECURITY ALLIANCE RELEASES BEST PRACTICES MANUAL

In an effort to raise the bar on corporate cybersecurity standards, the Internet Security (IS) Alliance released a report last week, urging top management to get actively involved with their Internet security policy — MORE

E-SHOPPING AROUND THE WORLD - SECURITY STILL A CONCERN

While global Internet usage has grown slightly (up from 31 percent in 2001 to 34 percent in 2002), the proportion of users making a purchase has remained unchanged at 15 percent. However, an increase in the number of people online has helped to ensure that e-commerce is growing — MORE

TOP E-COMMERCE COMPANIES ANALYZED

According to new research released this week from Miller-Williams, e-commerce customers feel that over 80 percent of their decision to purchase or not reside in issues beyond their online experience. What's really important to customers is brand performance — MORE

THE RIGHT STUFF: BEST PRACTICES FOR E-BUSINESS

So how does a company avoid becoming e-business road kill? Based on the work of numerous organizations to design and implement world-class e-business initiatives, five best practices have been gleaned that all successful e-business initiatives share — MORE

POLL REVEALS FORTUNE 500 UNPREPARED FOR CYBERATTACKS

Digital security isn't a priority for many Fortune 500 companies, and most senior IT executives operate in a reactive mode when dealing with electronic security vulnerabilities, according to a new report by Ernst & Young — MORE

ARMY RESEARCH WEB SITE HACKED

An attacker defaced a page on the U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Web site Friday with a message criticizing the military organization for supplying weapons to Israel — MORE

OPERATION DARK SCREEN LOOKS TO SHED LIGHT ON CYBERTERROR

Organizers of a simulated cyberattack planned for San Antonio, Texas hope the drill yields a blueprint for how cities should respond to terrorist attacks on critical IT infrastructure — MORE

WASTING WORK TIME ON THE WEB

A survey among 544 human resources (HR) managers and officers from some of Britain's largest corporations found that almost three-quarters (72 percent) of U.K. firms have had issues with Internet misuse — MORE

REPORT: INTERNET SECURITY THREAT GROWING, QUIETLY

The number of Web-based security attacks grew at a rate of 64 percent a year during the first half of 2002, even though no single attack grabbed public attention, according to Riptech's second Internet Security Threat Report — MORE

INTERNET ATTACKS ON COMPANIES UP 28 PERCENT, REPORT SAYS

Internet attacks against public and private organizations around the world leapt 28 percent in the past six months, with most targeting technology, financial services and power companies, according to an industry report due out today — MORE

CYBER-SECURITY IS UNDERPLAYED, INDUSTRY SAYS

Among the more contentious questions to arise from U.S. President Bush's proposal last month for a Department of Homeland Security is one it did not explicitly address: How should the government deal with threats in cyberspace? — MORE

E-MARKETS MAKE A COMEBACK

E-markets -- also known as e-marketplaces, exchanges, trading hubs, and a host of other terms -- have been quietly evolving and slowly finding their financial footing. In fact, at least six e-markets within the Global Trading Web Association (GTWA) will become cash-flow positive this year — MORE

YOUR URL HERE

Your Web address is representative of much hard work, planning, personal sacrifice and, of course, money. Therefore, it is in your best interest to make sure that URL gets seen and clicked as much as possible. Here are some offline methods for spreading your Web address around — MORE

ISRAEL, HONG KONG: HACKER HOTBEDS?

Among the most highly wired economies, more cyber attacks originate from Israel and Hong Kong on a per-Internet-user basis than anywhere else, while Kuwait and Iran top the list of the category of countries with fewer Internet users, according to a study released on Monday — MORE

CONSUMER PROTECTION

E-commerce security is expected and should be an absolute requirement for every transaction. Security measures prevent credit card and bank account numbers from being intercepted or purloined by a hacker — MORE

SURVEY: GOVERNMENT WILL SUFFER MAJOR CYBERATTACK

A report released earlier this week by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and Entrust reveals that a majority of IT professionals believe the U.S. government will be victimized by cyberterrorism in the next year — MORE

FRAUD CONTINUES TO HAUNT ONLINE RETAIL

More than $700 million in online sales were lost to fraud in 2001, representing 1.14 percent of total annual online sales of $61.8 billion, according to GartnerG2 — MORE

TRUST IS IN THE DETAILS

A study of 1,649 online users, primarily from the United States and Finland, conducted by Stanford University's Persuasive Technology Lab and sponsored by Makovsky & Company, revealed that little things, such as misspellings, could be detrimental to a site's credibility — MORE

CONSUMERS WILLING TO PUT A PRICE ON PRIVACY

A report released this week by the technology consultancy Forrester Research reveals that consumers do have a price when it comes to abandoning their online and off-line privacy -- and it is not high — MORE

IT MANAGERS STILL NOT GETTING INTERNET RISKS

A new survey suggests U.S. companies continue to invest in information security, but managers still underestimate risks associated with doing business via the Internet — MORE

IN CANADA, SIZE MATTERS

A study of e-business in Canada shows that smaller companies are less nimble in doing business to the Internet, lagging behind medium-sized and large business operations — MORE

E-COMMERCE - COLOR IT GREEN

There's good news for e-commerce entrepreneurs - a new industry report says that a majority of American retailers reported profitable online operations last year — MORE

RANDOM RADIO WAVES AROUND WALL STREET

The mission was to take a random walk around Wall Street and see whether investment houses, stock brokerages and exchanges in this brain center of global capitalism were vulnerable to having communications snatched by passersby — MORE

RECENT BREACHES RAISE SPECTER OF LIABILITY RISKS

Organizations that fail to show due diligence in protecting their data assets face a real risk of legal problems in the not-too-distant future, analysts said — MORE

PRIVACY WORRIES PLAGUE E-BIZ

E-businesses that want to succeed better step up their privacy and security efforts. Jupiter Media Metrix is reporting that these issues could potentially cost e-businesses almost $25 billion by 2006 — MORE

PRIVACY IS COMMON ISSUE ONLINE

Although businesses and their customers have largely taken divergent paths to e-commerce -- businesses promoted it endlessly; consumers embraced it tepidly -- these two groups are in lock step on at least one issue: online privacy — MORE

IBM UNVEILS WEB PRIVACY WORK

Researchers at IBM's Privacy Institute are working on software that automatically scrambles Web visitors' personal information -- so consumers perhaps won't feel compelled to lie just to protect their privacy — MORE

ONLINE SALES KEEP ON GROWING

The government says that U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of this year were an estimated $9.849 billion, up about 19 percent from the first quarter a year ago — MORE

QWEST WEB HOLE LEAVES CUSTOMER DATA EXPOSED

A flaw in Qwest Communications' Web site exposed online customers' records, including credit card information and complete copies of recent long-distance phone bills — MORE

WEB GLITCH EXPOSES FIDELITY ACCOUNTS

A design flaw at a Fidelity Investments online service accessible to 300,000 people allowed Canadian account holders to view other customers' account activity — MORE

THE SITE OF NO RETURN

A recent survey of devout Web surfers shows that people's online expectations have skyrocketed over the last few years and they're quick to reject any Web site that doesn't keep up — MORE

DOT-CA REGISTRATIONS ON THE RISE

Nearly half of all Canadian companies have registered dot-ca domain names, according to Impact Research, which attributes the growing percentage to the trust and geographical reference associated with the dot-ca extension — MORE

THE YAHOO PRIVACY STORM THAT WASN'T

Internet privacy is like the weather. Everyone complains about it, and no one does anything about it. The latest example involves users of Yahoo, the vast Internet portal that set off howls of protest when it abruptly changed its marketing policy in March — MORE

HACKERS SIPHON FORD CREDIT RECORDS

Ford Motor's credit arm has warned 13,000 people that their credit reports, full of information that could be used for identity theft or fraud, were illegally downloaded — MORE

BUILDING TRUST IN AN INCREASINGLY PRIVATE WORLD

As digital-savvy marketers and advisors, we need to ask our CEO or CIO an uncomfortable question: "To stay competitive, is it more important to build trust by investing in and promoting security technologies, or plan for and demonstrate the precautions we take in the event of a security breach? — MORE

CREDIT CARD THEFT THRIVES ONLINE AS GLOBAL MARKET

Tens of thousands of stolen credit-card numbers are being offered for sale each week on the Internet in a handful of thriving, membership-only cyberbazaars, operated largely by residents of the former Soviet Union, who have become central players in credit-card and identity theft — MORE

IDC PREDICTS AREAS OF GROWTH FOR CANADIAN IT MARKET

This new series of forecasts contains some key information that helps IDC Canada's customers target the right market with the right strategy. Behind each one of these forecasts are Canadian based analysts who provide more in-depth knowledge, analysis and predictions than any other IT market research firm in Canada — MORE

SECURITY STILL AN 'AFTERTHOUGHT'

Despite the current emphasis on security in the IT industry, CIOs and IT managers are still not paying enough attention to the problems facing their organizations, a panel of security experts said Wednesday — MORE

POOR SECURITY MEANS LOSS OF TRADE SECRETS

Poor security practices can result in a loss of trade secret protection for a business's most valuable information -- a devastating prospect for most companies — MORE

E-COMMERCE GOES ON A ROLL

Growth in e-commerce, spurred by travel sales and a general renewed confidence on the part of consumers, continues to be a bright spot in the Internet economy, despite a continued slump in IT spending by businesses — MORE

CLOSING THE PRIVACY GAP

Is your Web site putting you at risk? If you don't think so, guess again. In today's interconnected world, there is a great deal of risk surrounding the issue of privacy. And Web sites, by their very nature, are prime candidates for exposing the organization to that risk — MORE

THE E-COMMERCE EVOLUTION

comScore Networks said recently that its review of consumer e-commerce for the first quarter of 2002 showed consumer sales in the United States set a record of about $17 billion — MORE

CONSUMERS RANK TRUST ABOVE LOW PRICES

E-commerce site owners take notice: online shoppers demand honesty and respect from retailers -- more than the highest-quality merchandise or the lowest prices, according to Cap Gemini Ernst & Young — MORE

SURVEY SHOWS MOST UK WEB SITES FAIL TO COMPLY WITH DATA PROTECTION ACT

The majority of UK Web sites are failing to comply with data protection legislation, putting consumer confidence in e-business at risk, according to a new study by the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology — MORE

CANADIAN CONSUMERS WARMING TO E-COMMERCE

Online shopping in Canada is poised for healthy growth over the next few years despite a relatively slow start, according to analysts from the Yankee Group — MORE

FLORIDA BANK BREACH NETS ONLINE BANKING DATA

A cracker managed to breach a Florida bank's firewall and steal the personal data of 3,600 online-banking customers. Officials at Republic Bank discovered the incident a few weeks ago but kept it from customers until April 17 — MORE

PROSECUTOR SAYS HACK ATTACKS MUST BE REPORTED

Companies need to come forward and admit when they've been hacked, urged U.S. prosecutor David Green at Microsoft's Government Leaders' Conference last week — MORE

GOOD NEWS FOR E-BIZ

E-commerce will reap the benefits of a growing U.S. population of Internet users that are increasingly more comfortable online. eMarketer predicts that one-half (over 60 million) of Net users over the age of 14 will purchase goods and services online by the end of 2002 — MORE

A MATTER OF TRUST: WHAT USERS WANT FROM WEB SITES

The online reality today is that few Internet users say they can trust the Web sites that have products for sale or the sites that offer advice about which products and services to buy. Only 29 percent of users say they trust Web sites that sell products or services — MORE

INTERNET ATTACK TRENDS MORE MALICIOUS THAN EVER

A new study by the Computer Emergency Response Team says cyberattacks against the Internet community are becoming more sophisticated and destructive, while firewalls are rapidly losing their effectiveness against intruders — MORE

CYBERSECURITY VIOLATIONS MULTIPLY, SAYS FBI

The vast majority of American businesses -- 90 percent -- have suffered computer security breaches in the past year, according to a joint study by the FBI's Computer Intrusion Squad and the Computer Security Institute — MORE

ONLINE ADVERTISING DRIVES SALES OF CONSUMER PACKAGED GOODS BRANDS

Information Resources, Inc. and DoubleClick have released results of their "e-AdWorks: Internet Advertising Effectiveness Study", which examines the impact of Internet advertising on purchase behavior and consumer attitudes — MORE

GUIDE HELPS BUSINESSES DEVELOP INTERNAL E-MAIL POLICIES

Authored by Nancy Flynn, founder and executive director of the ePolicy Institute, this free 16-page publication is intended to help organizations establish rules for acceptable e-mail use — MORE

THEFT OF DATA, VIRUSES RANK HIGH IN CYBER SECURITY

U.S. companies and government agencies report losing more money from theft of proprietary information than any other type of attack on their computer system, according to a new study — MORE

THE FAILURE OF CUSTOMIZATION: OR WHY PEOPLE DON'T BUY JEANS ONLINE

Ever since the Internet emerged as a sales channel in the 1990s, it has been thought that one of the chief advantages of e-commerce would be its ability to facilitate the customization of goods and services for consumers — MORE

SECURITY A TOP CONCERN FOR HANDHELD USERS IN THE ENTERPRISE

As smart handheld devices continue to penetrate U.S. corporate environments, it's clear that security measures to protect data sent, received, and stored on these devices is a top priority — MORE

CONFIDENCE IN INTERNET FALLS AFTER HOLIDAYS

The Yahoo/ACNielsen Internet Confidence Index found that confidence in the Internet was down in the first quarter of 2002 after it achieved record highs in the fourth quarter of 2001 — MORE

ACCOUNTING FOR IMAGE CHANGE

The damage that an economy-shaking scandal like Enron's has done to the reputation of accountants, once ranked by the public as near the top in terms of honesty and integrity, is "extremely serious" — MORE

BT ACCIDENTALLY PUBLISHES PRIVATE LOGIN NUMBERS

A plan to prevent British Telecom (BT) customers from abusing a flat-fee phone service inadvertently provided easy access to hundreds of confidential network login numbers — MORE

STUDY: BIG SITES IMPROVING PRIVACY

Large Web sites are getting better about respecting consumers' privacy online, collecting less data, using fewer tracking devices, and posting more information about their practices, according to a report — MORE

INSTANT MESSAGING AND CHAT USERS ARE SUCKERS FOR HACKERS

Just when corporate security officers finally started getting users to leave e-mail attachments unopened, those same users have found a new way for others to compromise systems — MORE

CYBER CRIMINALS TOO SAVVY FOR GLOBAL POLICE

Global law enforcement cannot cope with savvy cyber criminals who are quick to exploit technology to create havoc, top officials at the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said — MORE

20 QUESTIONS DIRECTORS SHOULD ASK ABOUT PRIVACY

Privacy is a significant concern to Canadian consumers. Numerous polls and surveys have identified fears about privacy as one of the major inhibitors to the growth of electronic commerce in Canada, and around the world — MORE

ROUGH WATERS AHEAD FOR WORK SURFERS?

Major corporations are increasingly classifying employee email and Internet privileges as potential security hazards, distractions or worse, costly legal dangers in the making — MORE

WHY THE SECURITY BUCK STOPS WITH YOU

Companies are increasingly handing over security provision to specialist third parties as they recognise they do not possess the in-house technology to manage the technologies properly — MORE

NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR BROWSER SNOOPS ON WEB SEARCHES

AOL Time Warner's Netscape unit is snooping on searches performed by users of its latest Navigator browser at Google and other search sites. According to a network traffic analysis performed by Newsbytes, Netscape is capturing Navigator 6 users' search terms, along with their Internet protocol (IP) address, the date Navigator was installed and a unique identification number — MORE

DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEE SENTENCED FOR SABOTAGE

A programmer is starting a three-year sentence for sabotaging his former employer's computers, the first person to be sentenced under a US federal law — MORE

GUESS LEAKS CREDIT CARDS OF THE FASHION-CONSCIOUS

Guess.com's situation is hardly unique; Credit Cards Numbers Exposed is fast becoming the Dog Bites Man story of Internet crime reporting. But the case underscores one of the chronic obstacles to making e-commerce more secure: that good Samaritans often have no clear channel for reporting security holes in Web sites that handle sensitive customer information — MORE

PREPARING YOUR BUSINESS FOR THE E-COMMERCE AGE

Canada's small business owners want to better understand the e-business world and what it means for them. This is evident in their response to the Canadian Bankers Association's e-commerce seminar for small business — MORE

EBAY TAKES SOME HEAT ON PRIVACY POLICY

Online privacy advocate Junkbusters.com has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate auction giant eBay Inc.'s recent changes to its privacy policy for possible "unfair or deceptive trade practices." — MORE

SURVEY STRESSES THE NEED FOR PRIVACY POLICY VERIFICATION

What do businesses need to do to win consumer trust (and their dollars)? Having a privacy policy is not enough. Adhering to a privacy policy is better, but is still not enough for most consumers to feel comfortable doing business with a company — MORE

EMPLOYERS TRAIN CYBERVIGILANTES

Corporations victimized by cybercrime are increasingly taking the law into their own hands to track down the criminal perpetrators, a computer expert has said — MORE

E-COMMERCE TO TOP $1 TRILLION IN 2002

By the end of 2002, more than 600 million people worldwide will have access to the Web, and they will spend more than US$1 trillion shopping online, according to a study by research firm IDC — MORE

NEW ALLIANCE AIMS TO EDUCATE AGAINST CYBER ATTACKS

A new alliance of private companies and federal agencies earlier this month launched a public awareness blitz designed to encourage home and small business computer users to take steps to protect themselves from cyberattacks — MORE

SECURITY TIPS LIST

Don't be caught offguard, or unaware. This is a Security Top Ten list for work and home that counts! — MORE

PROFILING CORPORATE INTERNET SECURITY VICTIMS

The threat your company faces from online aggressors is rising and is correlated to your size, visibility, and industry. That's the message of the new Internet Security Threat Report — MORE

CPO SURVEY REVEALS CORPORATIONS TAKING PRIVACY SERIOUSLY

The first results from an October 2001 survey of corporate privacy officers (CPOs) show that CPOs tend to have experience, qualifications and access — MORE

PROFITABLE E-BUSINESS?

Truth is, amid all the Internet bubble-bursting gloom and doom, some companies are actually starting to make money -- and a few have been doing so for some time. Here are three winners, and what they did to get into the black — MORE

U.S. TREASURY COMPUTER SECURITY STILL WEAK

Despite several warnings, the Treasury Department's Financial Management Service remains vulnerable to cyberattacks because of weak security, according to the General Accounting Office — MORE

ONTARIO PROPOSES BROAD PRIVACY LEGISLATION FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR

The Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Business Services has announced that it plans to enact a tough new law to prevent businesses, non-profit organizations, and health care institutions from violating the personal privacy of Ontarians — MORE

TECH DEMANDS LEAD TO NEED FOR SECURITY RETHINK

Experts are warning IT managers to overhaul security procedures and techniques, prepare for Web services, more sophisticated hacker attacks and increasing technology demands from employees — MORE

INTERNET THREAT SERIOUS AND GROWING, REPORT CLAIMS

The Internet is a rough neighborhood -- and it's getting rougher, according to a report released last week by Riptech — MORE

THE ART OF E-COMMERCE WEB DESIGN

Before you can design a winning Web site you need a comprehensive blueprint, and that begins with defining the purpose -- as well as prioritizing the various objectives — MORE

IDENTITY THEFT: TOP CONSUMER FRAUD COMPLAINT OF 2001

Identity theft was the leading consumer fraud complaint reported in 2001, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — MORE

USABILITY - Discovering the Value Link

High usability, coupled with high utility, creates a winning situation for any e-content application, while poor usability leads to financial loss. This is a key finding of the second e-Content Institute members' report — MORE

CORPORATE PRIVACY MANIFESTO

As submitted to the Association For Internet Marketing And Sales Discussion List — MORE

27% OF U.S., CANADIAN BANKING DATABASES BREACHED: SURVEY

Twelve percent of online corporate databases suffered security breaches in 2001, and those of banking and financial institutions were most commonly targeted, a survey of database developers has found — MORE

NET MORE VULNERABLE THAN EVER

Spending on Internet security continues to grow, yet the worldwide supernetwork remains more vulnerable than ever to viruses, break-ins and terrorism. Simply put, hackers are getting smarter, and computer networks are getting more complex and difficult to keep safe — MORE

E-MAIL: USE IT OR LOSE THEM

Customers want to be treated like people in the online and offline worlds. That means companies have to respond promptly to their inquiries and concerns. If not, people will quickly find other places to shop — MORE

E-COMMERCE WEB SERVERS VULNERABLE TO ATTACK

E-commerce sites could open themselves up to denial-of-service (DoS) attacks unless they patch their Web servers, a UK security company has warned — MORE

HOW TO SUCCEED IN E-BIZ IN 2002

We think it was Bill Gates who said you can't turn a dumb or even merely obvious idea into a business plan by adding "on the Internet." But we're also sure that there are ways to become a successful Internet-based business in 2002 — MORE

RETAIL FORWARD REPORT: 2001 ONLINE SHOPPING FIGURES

According to a report from Retail Forward, 2001 saw more holiday e-shoppers during the holiday season, but the percentage that bought something was down from 2000 holiday numbers — MORE

AD CLUTTER AND ITS EFFECTS

Internet research firm Dynamic Logic reports that consumers miss out on advertising branding messages when ads appear in cluttered Web pages — MORE

COMPANIES GET PUBLIC WITH PRIVACY

Will all this lead to a surge in demand for privacy-related software and services? Vendors are convinced privacy is the next big thing. But chief privacy officers are more concerned with policies and business practices than technology — MORE

TOYS'R'US FINED FOR PRIVACY BREACHES

Toys'R'Us.com, the online arm of toy retailer Toys R Us, has agreed to pay a $50,000 fine to settle allegations by the state of New Jersey that it shared customers' personal information with another firm — MORE

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IN WEB RISES

Consumers are more confident in the Web, according to the latest findings from a quarterly study conducted by Yahoo! and market research firm ACNielsen — MORE

HOLIDAY ECOMMERCE REPORT: FASTEST GROWING E-TAILERS

Columbia House topped the list, as more than 25 million consumers made shopping trips to the site in November and December 2001, up 219 percent since last year. FingerHut.com claimed the second spot, jumping 144 percent with eight million visits — MORE

SHOPPERS SHOW CONFIDENCE IN INTERNET FOR HOLIDAYS

Overall, the number of people willing to shop online continued to grow during the holiday season. According to the Pew study, 58 percent of Internet users have ever bought a product online, up from 51 percent last year at this time. That represents a jump of 11 million in the online shopping universe — MORE

SELLING TO THE E-FLUENTIALS

Burson-Marsteller and RoperASW conducted a study that gave birth to the term "e-fluentials." According to the study, e-fluentials are a powerful group of online movers and shakers who can affect the purchasing decisions of an estimated 155 million U.S. adults — MORE

TROUBLE FROM WITHIN: BUDGETS NEEDED FOR COMPUTER SECURITY

Speaking to a group of CEOs and CFOs in Omaha, Mary Pat McCarthy, KPMG's vice chairwoman of information, communications, and entertainment business, warned the executives of the ongoing need to budget for computer security systems — MORE

CYBERLAW 2002: THE NEXT GENERATION

The continuing importance of issues such as copyrights and privacy facilitates the task of predicting cyberlaw trends for the year ahead. While there are always some surprises, most of the central concerns are not tough to identify — MORE

SURVEY OF PRIVACY OFFICERS SHOWS PRIVACY IS BEING INSTITUTIONALIZED

An American survey of privacy officers across consumer-services industries in the States shows companies that have Privacy Officers are institutionalizing comprehensive privacy policies and practices in their organizations' operations — MORE

WOMEN LEAD AS ONLINE SHOPPING GROWS

A study released yesterday says women have jumped ahead of men for the first time in using the Internet to do their holiday shopping and that ethnic minorities are joining them — MORE

ADDITIONAL NEWS ARTICLES IN 2001 ARCHIVE

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