A. Shibli
Individual victim losses due to internet crime were greater than $1.4 billion in 2017, and those numbers continue to climb. If you think you are well-protected from cybercrime, think again. It’s more than likely that you are overlooking important areas of vulnerability, such as your brand identity. Today, your online reputation can make or break your business. Companies spend untold amounts of money on advertising and marketing but can get close-fisted when it comes to investing in their brand’s security.
Monitoring people’s banter about your brand across a wide variety of social channels is crucial for your protecting reputation. Someone hijacking your online identity can put your brand on a fast-track to a full-grown social media crisis.
What is brandjacking?
Brandjacking is a fusion of the words’ “brand” and “hijacking”. By definition, it is the act of acquiring or assuming the online identity of a person, brand, or business.
With the constant improvement in online brand building tacks, brandjacking instances have become more high profile. The rise of social media and the ability to create fake accounts easily have granted power in the hands of the cybercriminals to hamper your brand’s image.
Keeping your brand secured from brandjack-ers
Cyber crimes will continue to grow and get more and more sophisticated. The only way to stay secure is to be aware of it and prepare a prevention plan. An important component in any brandjacking prevention plan is to register domain names in other popular and business-relevant extensions. For starters, if your primary domain is celestialyogawear.com, locking down celestialyogawear.store, .online and .ca can help limit potential nefarious activity, as well as drive more visitors to your website. Below are five easy-to-follow tips will help you keep your brand safe from brandjacking.
Conclusion
In today’s day and age, you must take enough measures to stay protected from brandjacking. Adopt two-factor authentication for all your accounts and implement domain locks at your registrar. These extra layers of security will ensure that no one can easily hack into your accounts and cause havoc. Moreover, educate your team about the causes and consequences of this cyber threat. The more vigilant you are, the safer your brand will be online.
This blog was written for Webnames Blog by Alisha Shibli, a Content Marketing Specialist at Radix, the registry operator behind great new domain extensions like .store, .online, .tech, .press and others.