MarkMonitor: Making headway against brandjacking

Brandjackers continue to abuse online brands using an increasing range of tactics, demonstrates brand protection firm MarkMonitor in its latest report.

by Helen Leggatt

MarkMonitor’s latest Brandjacking Index has been released and the results show that while some headway is being made by brandholders and scrutiny by authorities to deter some types of brandjacking attacks, the perpetrators are continuing to evolve new tactics.

Instances of pay-per-click fraud, domain kiting and paid search abuse all decreased during Q4 2007, mainly due to ICANN scrutiny and aggressive legal action from brandholders.

"Brandholders have proven they can fight back--we've witnessed an incredible turn-around in domain kiting and pay-per-click abuse,” said Irfan Salim, MarkMonitor’s President and CEO in Monday's announcement. “This should encourage all brandholders to be vigilant about protecting their brands and their customers against evolving threats."

Phishing attacks and cybersquatting, on the other hand, continued to rise in Q4 2007, and brandjackers are paying more attention to more mainstream industry targets including CPG, food and automotive.