How effectively are you protecting your organization from brand misuse and consumer-targeted phishing attacks?
Brand owners can find out the answers to this question and more during the annual RSA Conference, as experts divulge the details on what makes for the most impactful online strategies. Among the highlights, we’ll look at dual programs that combine both brand and fraud protection into a hybrid approach.
Brand infringements are defined as unauthorized uses of intellectual property that divert traffic with impersonation or false affiliation. This includes false association, non-phishing brand impersonation, cybersquatting, brand and logo confusion, partner compliance, and keyword hijacking. Fraud, on the other hand, includes the deliberate intent to illegally obtain money or data and encompasses malicious threats such as malware, phishing, business email compromise (BEC) scams and spear phishing.
In both cases, consequences can prove dire for a company’s revenue, reputation and consumers.
Start with your customer
Most internet users are well-intentioned, meaning they aren’t looking for a fake and expect brands to protect them from this unintended outcome. Recent research shows that 88% of consumers believe that brands should be doing more to protect them from the online counterfeit threat and many are concerned that hackers can steal their details (65%), their identity (59%) and their money (56%) when they use online services.
A dual-purpose solution
An undeniable crossover has surfaced between brand protection and cyber security. This blurring of lines was highlighted in our Online Barometer: The future of online brand protection, in which 72% of marketing decision makers surveyed said brand protection was gaining more attention in their organisation due to the increased focus on cyber security. In addition, 82% said in the next year their brand protection strategies would change to include new threats around cyber security and fraud.
Brands can approach both fraud and infringement head-on by adopting a dual-purpose approach in online protection. In essence, this approach tackles both challenges by placing internet users at the heart of brand efforts, prioritising infringements and taking the fight to where your brand is most visible to consumers – where they use your services online. In this way, regardless of intent, both types of threat get addressed.
Protection should start with a comprehensive set of tools which deal with prevention, detection and mitigation. This toolkit should contain:
A means to block consumer access to malicious websites: If a customer inadvertently accesses a malicious site, it is unlikely that they will trust that brand’s online channel again.
TIP: Employing Fraudcasting services can provide immediate and widespread blocking of access to phishing sites and is one way to do this.
A way to identify phishing activity: Malicious threats often take on the form of phishing when targeting a brand, putting at risk both customer financial assets as well as a company’s brand and reputation. Anti-phishing solutions should be able to protect customers and prospects from phishing attacks with preventative tools which address the threats before they launch. Early warning domain registration data and phish kit intelligence offer an effective method for disrupting a fraudster’s business.
A service with comprehensive coverage: Work with a partner who can identify and detect threats from a wide range of data sources. Mitigation should include multiple types of communication points and be able to shut down any type of phishing, vishing, smishing or email attack.