The Cyber Threat is Evolving. Is your Brand?

In the world of online commerce, the environment is becoming more threatening with each passing day. The threats are in a constant state of evolution and so should your brand protection strategy. Is your brand ready to face the challenge these threats pose? If you haven't yet, you will want to consider a brand protection plan sooner, rather than later.

The characters behind these threats are in a constant state of evolution, The threats are becoming more sophisticated and they are becoming harder and harder to predict, let alone anticipate. It's not enough to utilize free tools that are disconnected, time-consuming and are simply not thorough. You've worked long and  hard on building your brand, customer loyalty and commitment to excellence. Just one of these threats can cause damage to all of this.

The Internet is ever-expanding. Adding to this constant growth is the recent gradual release of over 1500 gTLds. This alone has caused a digital earthquake, not witnessed since the launch of the World Wide Web. Domain Squatters are out there, looking to steal your brand's glory by registering your trademarked domain and there is very little being done to stop them from doing so. Just think of all the variations of a global brand like Nike has to contend with. NikeSale.Buy, BuyNike.Shop are all fair game to these CyberCriminals. And sometimes, they can cause enough damage to a brand that the authentic brand will wave the white flag and pay a ransom fee to the cyber thief.

There are Typo Squatters taking advantage of the way people, especially in foreign countries misspell brand names, and driving them to their bogus and fraudulent sites, selling them a cheap counterfeit or perhaps getting them to buy something entirely different, cutting into your good name and profits all at once, within seconds. Just think of the many ways you can spell Adidas.

Last year, online commerce saw a spike in phishing attacks, after a relative lull. Cyber thievery continues to refine ways in developing techniques ever more sophisticated. These attacks are used to steal information that most deem sensitive, such as passwords, usernames and account information. Now, with the use of mobile devices taking off, these attacks are predicted to increase by 22% each year.

The threats are always evolving, as Cyber-criminals are becoming more savvy. Besides the damage to a brand's bottom line, these online attacks can damage the trust you worked so hard in building. Are you ready to protect your brand against these threats? There are a lot more.

The World Wide Web is the primary channel for brands to stay in touch with their Internet savvy and always-connected customers. With more sales online being conducted, your brand's credibility can take a huge hit, if any sensitive info winds up in the wrong hands. This can destroy trust.

Online marketers and other stakeholders at a company need to create a plan to face these ever-mounting risks their brands face. Brand owners, for the most part only are aware of roughly 10% of the threats their brands face online. Being what it is, it is of paramount importance, and I will add critical, that brands need to adopt a strategy to combat these threats while keeping their digital brand in top health.

The main challenge for brands is being able to identify the risks facing their brand online and taking action to protect against the threats they are facing. Currently, brand owners only know about approximately 10% of the threats they face online. As a result, it is imperative that organizations adopt a proactive, precautionary attitude and introduce measures to expose the threats targeting their brand.

For example, you might want to look into the implementation of SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology to ensure that your customers feel confident they are coming to your site and not to some bogus site. This will also enable you to discover any malware or viruses in advance of them doing any considerable damage.

As the aforementioned threats continue to wreak havoc in the world of digital commerce, you need to be ready. Do your homework. Choose an online brand protection tool that evolves with these threats and you will make sure your brand is ready to take on the threats out there.