New to managing brand-specific risks in the digital sphere? Here’s a rundown of the most important things you need to know.

The online narrative around your brand can be the difference between your business succeeding and growing, or floundering. A survey of business executives by global communications firm Weber Shandwick attributed a staggering 63 percent of their company's market value to their company's overall reputation.

Businesses are now more accessible to customers than ever before with online marketplaces and social media, boosting the opportunity to foster brand loyalty. But the online world has also become the hunting ground for cybercriminals to engage in advanced phishing attacks that can cause serious damage to your brand’s name.

Brand-Oriented Digital Risk Protection: The Basics

New to managing brand-specific risks in the digital sphere? Here’s a rundown of the most important things you need to know.

What is brand-oriented digital risk protection?

Monitoring, detection, and takedown of external cyber threats are the basic components of brand-oriented digital risk protection. This should include strategies and technology aimed at a rich array of external, cyber, legal and commercial threats, such as phishing, social media impersonation, trademark infringement, and counterfeiting among other hazards.

Why is this important?

In today’s digital world, a substantial amount of a brand’s reputation is determined online. Cyber fraud has a host of negative effects that can devastate a business, including but not limited to financial loss, revenue loss, and irreparable damage to brand reputation.

Without digital risk protection, you can lose everything that you worked so hard to establish. A business without sufficient protection is highly vulnerable to cybercriminals, whose methods are more advanced than ever before.

Unfortunately, the law is slow to develop and implement specific rules to protect brand owners from digital fraud. Scammers are highly aware of this, and work around the clock to take advantage of the gray areas in cyber law.

Want to learn more about brand oriented digital risk protection? 

What are some hazards businesses need to be aware of?

There are a number of specific, common risks facing businesses when it comes to protecting their good name online.

• Malicious domains are websites that purport to be the official site of a specific brand or company, but in reality are a false front run by scammers. They often use very similar URLs to the legitimate website, with slight typos or common misspellings, driving unsuspecting users to their site.

• Rogue mobile apps are designed to mimic the real apps offered by brands and businesses, tricking customers into downloading malware onto their devices.

• Social media impersonation is when cybercriminals set up fake profiles, pretending to be senior executives. They leverage these false profiles to scam employees, investors, and consumers.

• Whaling is an advanced form of online phishing, which typically targets senior executives or key stakeholders of a company. This involves cybercriminals spoofing corporate email addresses and messages for very convincing exchanges, which employees often fail to detect as fraud.

What damage is caused by digital risks? 

The problems caused by digital threats are far-reaching and can have a hugely negative impact on your business. These issues include: 

• Manpower hours spent on resolving and processing complaints from deceived customers 
• Loss of revenue 
• Deterioration in relations between a business and its customers, partners, and investors 
• Data loss 
• Internal network credential threat

Additionally, a brand can be found legally liable if it did not carry out due diligence to protect consumers or educate them on counterfeits. That can lead to heavy penalties, both financial and legal, from both government and industry regulators.

Which types of businesses need brand-oriented digital risk protection? 

Every business that has even the slightest online presence, including new businesses and industry veterans, small labels and huge corporations, needs to develop a digital risk protection strategy for their brand.

It’s important to remember that a brand’s online presence is not always determined by the brand themselves. Since consumers want to talk about your brand, your online reputation can be easily shaped by third parties - especially if you’re not taking an active role in monitoring and engaging in the online discussion around your brand.

Any online presence, whether it’s your eCommerce shop, social media pages associated with your brand, or company website serves as a customer-facing front through which consumers speak about you and search for you online.

A new, smaller business that has just launched may not think they have enough of a presence to invest in brand-oriented digital risk protection. But even lowkey buzz generated by small-scale promotions or advertisements is enough to make cybercriminals’ ears perk up. Any online attention around a brand, no matter how minor, can potentially motivate a cybercriminal to produce a counterfeit product. 

Protecting Your Brand Online: A Closer Look

Digital risk protection services are the key to ensuring your business’ good name and legal status remain protected from cybercriminals. But businesses must be aware of the intricacies involved. 

What should a digital risk protection strategy involve? 

An effective brand-oriented digital risk protection solution should offer your business the following:

• Brand Protection
• Social Media Impersonation Protection
• Actionable Threat Intelligence
• Threat Hunting And Disruption
• Fraud Campaign Protection

In a landscape that is rapidly shifting, with new techniques and attacks evolving each day, 

you need a multi-faceted, 360° approach that covers all aspects of digital risk for brands. 

Digital risk protection: A cost-benefit analysis

A solid digital protection strategy provides multiple important benefits. These include safeguarding your present and future revenue, protecting your business’ bottom line and maintaining its good reputation, and avoiding heavy financial losses associated with fraud.

Scams and phishing attacks aimed at your company’s senior executives can cost your business millions, alongside the loss of business that comes along with an embarrassing breach of security that will surely color your customer’s perception of your organization. You can avoid these issues by investing early in digital risk protection services.

While smaller businesses may be reluctant to invest upfront in a digital protection solution for their brand, the cost of being vulnerable is far higher. Customers who fall victim to fraud are likely to blame your brand, feeling that it's your responsibility to protect them. If they end up buying a fake, they will be left with a negative impression of your business and could share that experience online.

What do brand-oriented digital risk protection companies do? 

These companies focus on helping businesses manage and mitigate the risks originating from online scams, including fraud, executive impersonations, phishing attacks and more. 

Brand-oriented digital risk protection companies monitor the digital sphere to map attack surface and vulnerabilities, detect external threats and fraudulent networks. They then formulate strategies for remediation and attack disruption in the event of a breach.

These solutions offer a safety-net from common online threats for businesses, providing an additional layer of security and awareness around digital risks that are specifically facing brands.

Choosing the right solution for your business

With multiple options on the market and a plethora of risks and strategies to keep in mind, what are the most important things to look for when choosing digital risk protection services?

Essentially, you need a solution that provides you with a comprehensive scope of coverage, advanced and innovative detection methods, effective takedown capabilities, as well as the right level of automation for your enterprise and the best approach for your business. You should also prioritize programs that provide big-picture transparency and consistent reporting.

BrandShield has years of experience in this industry, managing these exact challenges, combined with the highest level of professionalism. Talk to us today to learn more about how we can help protect your business’ good name and serve as a valuable partner for your enterprise’s future.