Overview
Overview
• Increased sales
– Reach narrow market segments in geographically
dispersed locations
– Create virtual communities
• Decreased costs
– Handling of sales inquiries
– Providing price quotes
– Determining product availability
• Being in the space
Disadvantages of Electronic Commerce
DMS
Client
Web Server Application Database
Server Server
E-commerce Technologies
• Internet • Access security
• Mobile technologies • Cryptographic security
• Web architecture • Watermarking
• Component programming • Payment systems
• Data exchange
• Multimedia
• Search engines
• Data mining
• Intelligent agents
Infrastructure for E-commerce
• The Internet
– system of interconnected networks that spans the globe
– routers, TCP/IP, firewalls, network infrastructure, network
protocols
• The World Wide Web (WWW)
– part of the Internet and allows users to share information with
an easy-to-use interface
– Web browsers, web servers, HTTP, HTML
• Web architecture
– Client/server model
– N-tier architecture; e.g., web servers, application servers,
database servers, scalability
E-Commerce Software
• Content Transport
– pull, push, web-caching, MIME
• Server Components
– CGI, server-side scripting
• Programming Clients
• Sessions and Cookies
• Object Technology
– CORBA, COM, Java Beans/RMI
• Technology of Fulfillment of Digital Goods
– Secure and fail-safe delivery, rights management
System Design Issues
• Good architectural properties
– Functional separation
– Performance (load balancing, web caching)
– Secure
– Reliable
– Available
– Scalable
Creating and Managing Content
• What the customer see
• Static vs. dynamic content
• Different faces for different users
• Tools for creating content
• Multimedia presentation
• Integration with other media
• Data interchange
• HTML, XML (Extensible Markup Language)
Cryptography
• Keeping secrets
– Privacy: interceptor cannot use information
– Authentication: sender’s identity cannot be forged
– Integrity: data cannot be altered
– Non-repudiation: sender cannot deny sending
• How to evaluate cryptography
• Secret key (symmetric) cryptography; e.g., DES
• Public key (asymmetric) cryptosystems; e.g, RSA
• Digital signatures, digital certificates
• Key management; e.g., PKI
Security
• Concerns about security
• Client security issues
• Server security issues
• Security policy, risk assessment
• Authentication methods
– Something you know: passwords
– Something you have: smart card
– Something you are: biometrics
• Firewalls, proxy servers, intrusion detection
• Denial of service (DOS) attacks, viruses, worms
Payment Systems
• Role of payment
• Cash
– properties: wide accept, convenient, anonymity, untraceability, no
buyer transaction cost
• Online credit card payment, Smart Cards
– Secure protocols: SSL, SET
• Internet payment systems
– Electronic cash, digital wallets
• Micro-payments
• Wireless devices
Transactions Processing
• Transactions and e-commerce
• Overview of transaction processing
• Transaction processing in e-commerce
• Keeping business records, audit, backup
• High-availability systems
• Replication and scaling
• Implementation
Other System Components
• Taxes
• Shipping and handling
• Search engines
• Data mining
• Intelligent agents
• Inventory management, enterprise resource
planning (ERP)
• Customer relation management (CRM)
Course Outline
• Overview of e-commerce
• The Internet and the WWW
• E-commerce software building blocks and tools
• Scalability, high-performance servers, web caching
• Basic cryptography
• Security, watermarking, firewalls
• Payment systems
• Current and future directions