1. «GameStop» Digital Firm – Overview
In my research I would like to point out gaming industry as a very profitable e-commerce sphere and as an example present a company named «GameStop».
«GameStop» was originally founded in 1984 in United States of America, as a small software retailer in Texas region.
In 2009, «GameStop» took a major step by initiating a digital growth strategy that incorporated a Nov. acquisition of Jolt Online Gaming, an Ireland-based publisher of free-to-play titles.
In 2011, the company again carried out on its digital expansion strategy, obtaining streaming technology company “Spawn Labs” and digital sharing service “Impulse”.
At the moment the company operates around 6,700 retail shops around the world and is commited to distribute great video games to customers, despite of how and where they play. «GameStop» is ranked as one of the world’s largest multichannel game retailer.
This organization offers consumers the most up to date hardware, game accessories for next generation video game systems and the PC. In addition, their buy, sell, trade politics creates value for customers while recycling products no longer being played.
The motivation on why and to which extent the chosen firm is considered to be digitally operated is due to the fact, that «GameStop» reported $290 million in sales from its “digital offerings,” which it said was up 61% year-over-year.
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Many people of today remember how video games began the decay of the physical and mental well-being of the world’s youth since the inception of the Atari game Pong in 1974. What Atari creator Nolan Bushnell did not realize back then was that when he invented this wildly successful creation it would leave such a large imprint on society; physically, mentally and emotionally. Many youths of today ...
That total, which includes sales of subscription cards for online video game services like Xbox Live, as well as PC downloads, still pales in contrast to the company’s general sales, which were around $9.47 billion.
2. Data stored in «GameStop» database. CRUD model.
Data that is stored in «GameStop»’s database contains following information: * Partners and contracts –gaming industry companies that sell their products throught the website * Projects – game concepts, ideas and future development. * Financial records – transactions between customers, partners etc. * Employee records – human resource information.
* User/Buyer records – recordings of customers information, their transactions and searchings throughout the website. * Branch records – data about shops and servers that are located in other countries.
The part that could be used to power a database enabled website of “GameStop” may contain following data: financial records, projects, partners and contracts, because through these data company is gaining most of its profit and opportunities for future development.
Financial records, contracts and employee records are better to stay internal as they refer more to confidentiallity and most probably it is not needed to be shown on the website.
On the Table 1, main users that have certain rights in “GameStop” are shown. It is necessary to point out the top management, it has all rights that could be engaged in the company’s database, in comparison with guest users, who has the right to read only.
Employees have the right to create, read, update. IT technologists are provided with the same rights and gamers who a registered in the website are able to read and update information on the website of “GameStop”.
3. Two possible computer crimes affecting «GameStop» digital company. Protection strategies.
Two computer crimes could be identified affecting «GameStop» company. The first and the most dangerous crime that could be pointed out is theft of identity.
The second computer crime is Theft of Data.
I would like to put emphasis on the fist computer crime – theft of identity. This crime could cause following security threats for the company, which is intrusion by hackers, phishing, spyware and social engineering. Hackers could intrude into the computer network of «GameStop» and harm the content provided by the web site.
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Phishing is another threat that can occur; users might receive fake emails that seam to come from the company and try to capture private information
about a specific account.
Information about users might be secretly gathered while they are surfing the website, that would be a type of malware – spyware. Although the spyware does not specially suppose to to be dangerous for user, because cookies are used to remember infromation automatically by a brwoser and make it easier for customer to login into the website.
Social engineering is a possible threat that is represented as shoulder surfing in this case. Someone can stand behind a user and secretly look at the password that he/she is typing.
In order to protect its database, «GameStop» various kinds of strategies and software: * Passwords – a strong 8 characters password that contains not only symbols, but also numbers and head letters. It is also necessary to change it once a month. * Firewall – a standard protection that combines hardware and software, that acts as a filter between private network and external computers. * Antivirus/Antispyware – a software that checks computers for presence of malware and viruses and often elimates it. * VPN – virtual private networks provide a secure channel through the Internet for transmitting messages and data using a private network. * Data Encryption – secure socket layer (SSL) manages secure transmission of transactins through the Internet. * Awareness – employees and users have to be aware of all possible dangers that can occur when using the database. Trainings for employees and warnings for users have to be in place.
4. Sources
– http://paidcontent.org/2011/02/01/the-most-successful-digital-companies/13/
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– http://www.gamestop.com/
