In an online penny auction, participants purchase bids for a fee, with each bid placed on a particular item increasing the price of the item by a small increment (e.g., one penny) and extending the bidding period for that item by a few seconds. The last participant to place a…
The recent cyberattack on Anthem, Inc., one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States, illustrates the persistence and severity of the risk of data breaches. On February 4, 2015, Anthem confirmed that one of its databases had been hacked. The data breach exposed personal information of approximately…
Net neutrality refers to the principle that Internet service providers and governments should treat all Internet traffic equally, regardless of the source. Among other implications, net neutrality includes the idea that a website should not be given the option to pay an Internet service provider a premium to speed up…
Virtual currencies have become a popular tool for allowing direct peer-to-peer online transactions using electronic payments that eliminate the need for conversion between currencies. Over the past few years, Bitcoin has enjoyed a considerable amount of praise as the virtual currency of choice. This hype carried with it significant funding…
In general, online privacy falls under two categories. First, is personal privacy. Second, is corporate privacy. For example, corporate privacy concerns the protection of corporate data (e.g., electronic communications) from retrieval or interception by unauthorized parties. Security is important for the protection of trade secrets, proprietary information, and privileged communications.…
The Internet of Things (“IoT”) is the next evolution and is making a remarkable impact on technology and our way of life. In fact, the availability of an omnipresent network connectivity has fostered the widespread use of smart devices. Devices are now able to communicate with each other through embedded…
Electronic discovery (a/k/a “eDiscovery”) is the process of identifying, locating, preserving, collecting, preparing, reviewing, and producing electronically stored information in the context of the legal process. Electronically stored information (“ESI”) includes anything that can be stored in electronic form on a computer or other media device. A computer is defined…
In these days, many people spend time on their electronic devices to become members of internet dating services. Many companies are now providing online dating services to their members. In general, the online dating services require their members to submit a profile, which may include personal information (e.g., name, email…
Online banking is an electronic payment system that enables customers of a financial institution to conduct financial transactions on the web. In today’s high-tech world, online banking fraud is committed on a daily basis. As such, sometimes customers may not be liable for certain unauthorized online transactions, subject to the…
Pay-per-click (“PPC”) advertising is a profitable online service that search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, or Microsoft, provide their customers. Now recently, PPC fraud has developed and caused loss of revenues for businesses and advertisers. PPC fraud occurs when someone or a program clicks on a company’s advertisement without intending…