Its Winter Brandjacking Index is an independent report that tracks and analyzes abuses of 30 brands from the Best Global Brands study by Interbrand . MarkMonitor searches around 134 million public records and 60 million suspected phishing emails for brand abuse daily.
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| Unauthorized trade mark use on the internet |
Although the company has released quarterly reports on brandjacking in the past, this is the first time it has provided a year-in-review analysis.
The report gave two main reasons for the rise in cybersquatting. The first is that most generic dictionary words and terms have now been registered as domains, which encourages brandjackers to focus their attacks on trade marks. The second reason is that the use of brand names in domains helps brandjackers drive traffic through search engines.
But although the rise in cybersquatting attacks will concern IP owners, the report also found that there was a significant decline in domain kiting and pay-per-click fraud in 2007, which MarkMonitor attributes to more aggressive litigation by brand holders and increased scrutiny by ICANN .
Last month ICANN announced that it will try to curb domain kiting – also known as domain name tasting – by seeking to charge the annual fee of 25 cents for each domain registration as soon as a domain name is registered, rather than after the end of the five-day Add Grace Period, in an effort to discourage registrars from abusing the system.
MarkMonitor said that the top three hosts of brandjacking web sites in 2007 were the US (68%), Germany (9%) and the UK (4 %).
The report also said that brandjackers and phishers have adapted their techniques by targeting new industries and technologies. Phish attacks against retail/service brands increased 533% in 2007, for instance, while cell phone attacks (vishing) and phishing through text messages (SMishing) are also on the increase.
In a statement, president and CEO of MarkMonitor, Irfan Salim, said: “Brandjackers continue to sharpen their techniques to reap greater profits, as demonstrated by this quarter’s accelerated threats to mainstream industries and their customers. But brandholders have proven they can fight back – we’ve witnessed an incredible turn-around in domain kiting and pay-per-click abuse. This should encourage all brandholders to be vigilant about protecting their brands and their customers against evolving threats.”
