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eCommerce Glossary of Terms
Schang Internet has provided the following glossary
below to help you understand some of the E-Commerce terminology that you
may see on our website.
Application Programming Interface (API) -
A program code that allows the program to interact directly with the
operating system. An API is used by programmers to write applications
that can interact with other applications.
Authentication - The process of identifying users before
they are allowed access to computer systems or networks, typically by
user IDs and passwords.
Browser - A graphical-based software that is used by
computers and allows users to point and click to access information
on the Web. Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator are examples of
commonly used browsers.
C/C++ - This is a programming language developed in the
late '70s. It became hugely popular due to the development of UNIX,
which was written almost entirely in C. C++ is an extension of the
C programming language that adds object-oriented concepts.
Cookie - A cookie allows a Web site to "recognize"
and "remember" individual visitors by storing files on
their browsers with a record of the last visit. For example, ABC
company may send a cookie to your browser to let it know whether you
are a new visitor or if you have been there before. ABC company would
then check for that cookie the next time you visit its site and
perhaps show you some different information if you are a repeat
visitor. Cookies cannot be used to "see" any other data on
the user's computer, nor can they determine the user's e-mail address
or identity. If you want to view your cookies, look for a file
called "cookie.txt" on your hard drive.
Domain Name - The domain name refers to the name of the
location you are visiting on the Web (e.g., schang.com). The
domain names are issued by the National Science Foundation and come
with different extensions, based on whether the domain belongs to a
commercial enterprise (.com), an educational establishment (.edu),
a government body (.gov), the military (.mil), a network (.net) or a
nonprofit organization (.org). Some domains use a geographical
notation too (e.g., companyname.com.uk would refer to a company with
a server based in the United Kingdom).
Download - The retrieval of files from a remote computer
to your local hard drive.
Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) - Electronic commerce is
the conducting of business transactions via remote electronic means.
Electronic Mail (E-Mail) - Electronic messages generated
and received by computers connected by networks. Using the example
"yourname@schang.com," your e-mail address consists of
three sections:
- Yourname — This identifies your user name on the server hosting your e-mail address.
- @schang.com — This identifies the name of the institution hosting your e-mail address.
- .com — This identifies the type of institution hosting your e-mail address (.net, .edu, .gov, etc.).
Encryption - Encryption/decryption is the process of
scrambling a message so that a key, held only by authorized recipients,
is needed to unscramble and read the message. The encryption process
is based on two components — the cryptographic algorithm and the
key. A cryptographic algorithm is a mathematical function that takes
intelligible information (plain text) as input and changes it into
unintelligible cipher text. This text is then deciphered by the key.
Payment Processors then processes all orders and payment information
using industry-standard RC4 1024-bit encryption with Secure Sockets
Layer (SSL) Version 3, considered one of the most secure encryption
standards available.
When the encrypted data is routed through the gateway, it is
decrypted and processed. All processed information (approved/declined
transactions) is then re-encrypted and sent securely back to the
merchant’s Web site. Once at the Web server, it is decrypted and
displayed to the consumer. The gateway SSL API guarantees that the
orders and payment information generated by the merchant's Web server
remains totally secure.
Firewall - A software program that acts as a gatekeeper
between networks, such as between the Internet and a corporate
network. Firewalls filter Internet and intranet traffic, protecting
against hackers, bad code and computer viruses.
Gateway - A computer that links two networks, often
converting protocols or messages from one network to the other.
The term can also refer to a system capability that provides direct
access to other remote networks or services.
Home Page - A home page serves as the introduction, or
starting point, to a site on the Web.
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) - HTML is a collection of
formatting commands that create hypertext documents (Web pages).
When you point your Web browser to a URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
uniform resource locator (URL), the browser interprets the HTML
commands embedded in the page and uses them to format the page's text
and graphic elements. HTML commands cover many types of text
formatting (bold, italic, lists, headline fonts in various sizes, etc.)
and also have the ability to include graphics and other nontext
elements.
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) - HTTP is a protocol
used to transmit and receive data over the Web. When you type a
(Uniform Resource Locator) URL into your browser, you are actually
sending an HTTP request to a Web server for a page of information.
This is why all URLs begin with "http://." The protocol "HTTPS"
indicates that a Secure Sockets Layer connection is being used.
Hyperlink - Hyperlinks are the easy-to-spot underlined
words or phrases you click in Web documents to jump to another screen
or page. Hyperlinks contain HTML (Hypertext Markup Lanugage)HTML-coded
references that point to other Web pages, which your browser then
jumps to.
Intranet - A restricted-access network that works like the
Web, but is not a physical presence on the Web. Usually owned and
managed by a corporation, an intranet enables a company to share its
resources with its employees without confidential information being
made available to everyone with Internet access.
A computer that links two networks, often converting protocols
or messages from one network to the other. The term can also refer to
a system capability that provides direct access to other remote
networks or services.
Internet Service Provider (ISP) - An organization that
allows users to dial into its computers to connect to an Internet
link for a fee. ISPs generally provide only an Internet connection,
an E-mail (electronic mail) address, and perhaps Web browsing software.
You can use an ISP based in your town that offers an access number in
your local calling area or a national ISP that provides local-access
numbers across the country (many of them also offer 1-800 dialing access).
You can also connect to the Internet through a commercial online
service, such as CompuServe or America Online. With this kind of
connection, you get Internet access and the proprietary features
offered by the online service, such as chat rooms and searchable
databases. Internet access through online services may be more
expensive than that obtained through an ISP.
Login - The process of identifying yourself to gain access
to a system as a legitimate user. The usual requirements are a valid
user name (or user ID) and password.
Logout - The concluding steps for formally ending a session
with a system. Physically disconnecting or powering down a terminal
without depressing the logout key does not necessarily result in a
logout.
Protocol - Computers cannot simply throw data at each other
with no rules or standards. Because so many different types of
computers and operating systems connect via modems or other
connections, they have to follow communications rules called protocols.
The Internet is a very heterogeneous collection of networked computers
and is full of different protocols (e.g., HTTP - Hypertext Transfer
Protocol).
RC4® - RC4 is a secret-key cryptosystem designed by Ron
Rivest of RSA Data Security. It is a variable key-size operation that
runs very quickly in software. While the algorithm is confidential
and proprietary to RSA Data Security, Inc., it has been scrutinized
under nondisclosure conditions by independent analysts, and it is
considered secure.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) - A protocol designed by Netscape
Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications
across the Internet. URLs that begin with "https" indicate
that an SSL connection will be used. SSL provides three important
things: privacy, authentication, and message integrity. In an SSL
connection, each side of the connection must have a security
certificate, which each side’s software sends to the other.
Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from both its
own and the other side’s certificate, ensuring that only the
intended recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be
sure the data came from the place it claims to have come from, and
that the message has not been tampered with. Since most browsers are
SSL capable, cardholders simply need to look for the "key"
or "closed lock" on the bottom left-hand corner of their
browser to see that they are on a secure page before making a credit
card transaction.
Security Certificate - Data (often stored as a text file)
that is used by the SSL protocol to establish a secure connection.
Security certificates contain information about who it belongs to,
who it was issued by, a unique serial number or other unique
identification, valid dates and an encrypted "fingerprint,"
which can be used to verify the contents of the certificate. In order
for an SSL connection to be created, both sides must have a valid
Security Certificate.
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) -
A network communication protocol, which is used as a standard for the
Internet, wide area networks (WANs) or local area networks (LANs).
UNIX - A computer operating system, originally developed at
AT&T Bell Laboratories, which is compatible with a wide range of
computer systems. Ultrix, Solaris, AIX, HP/UX, BSD, Linux, and SystemV
are among its numerous descendants.
Upload - The sending of files from your local hard drive to
another computer over a network.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) - URLs are the Internet
equivalent of addresses. In the example http://www.schang.com/hosting,
"http:/" is the protocol, "/www.schang.com" is
the server address or domain, and "/agents" is the area on
the server that the file resides.
Web Server - A dedicated computer that delivers interactive
text, graphics, digital audio or video over the World Wide Web.
World Wide Web - A set of standards originally conceived at
the Particle Physics Lab in Switzerland in 1990, which allows all
connected computers to easily communicate with each other through a
mouse-based point-and-click interface.
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