More and more companies are discovering the importance of looking out for typosquatting and online trademark infringement. Nevertheless, the business community tends to underestimate the danger posed by such threats. The main reason being lack of awareness regarding the potential risks. The three main hazard types are therefore explained below.
1. Undesirable domain names
Detecting potentially malicious domain names that resemble your own name or brand is the best-known reason for domain name monitoring. Most businesses are aware that lookalike domain names can be used for phishing, CEO fraud and spam. A lot of threats nevertheless go unrecognised. Many malicious domain names point to legitimate company websites and have proper TLS certificates, or don't point to websites at all. So criminals are able to keep a low profile, while using their domains for mail-based scams, such as sending spam and identity fraud. If the person receiving the mail checks out the domain, a redirect takes them to a legitimate site, leading them to think that the message they've received is genuine.
2. Your own domain names
Domain names that belong or recently belonged to your organisation represent a risk that's frequently overlooked. Large organisations often have huge domain name portfolios that include 'forgotten' names. For example: a. Names that have fallen out of use b. Names registered by someone who has since left the organisation c. Names 'inherited' from companies that have been acquired and merged
It's not unusual for such names domain names to remain known to internal mail servers and applications. With the result that a criminal who gets control of one can use it to gain access to company systems, for example.
3. Partners' domain names
Your organisation may well be involved in joint ventures, or work with agents, distributors or the like. Such partners understandably look to exploit the strength of your brand. But they may not always do that in ways you know about or approve of. And there may be scammers out there trying to pass themselves off as official partners or resellers, when they aren't. Meanwhile, some genuine partners may have websites that aren't up to your own high security standards and consequently tarnish your brand. Perhaps they don't have working SSL certificates, or they don't use e-mail security standards, for example.
SIDN BrandGuard
SIDN BrandGuard flags up domain names that include or resemble your brand name. When you first subscribe, we give you details of all matching historical registrations. Many SIDN BrandGuard users start off by checking through this initial bulk report for possible abuses. After that, the BrandGuard alerts you every time there's a relevant registration, making the service an ideal tool for managing your own domain names.