Brand impersonation attacks targeting SMB organizations

Introduction

Building and maintaining a brand is an important part of a successful business. Having a recognized brand confers recognition, and if done well, provides a way of developing trust between customers and company. Brand trust and loyalty go hand-in-hand. Research has shown that 80% of US customers look at the trustworthiness of a brand when making a purchase decision. 

So, when a company brand’s trust is impacted by a cyberattack, a business can suffer adverse effects that cost money and time to rectify. 

There has been a recent shift in cyberattack strategy to focus on smaller businesses. SMBs are now in the sights of phishing campaigns and brand impersonation of the SMB looks set to become the new low-hanging fruit for cybercriminals.

Why use brand spoofing and brand impersonation attacks?

Relationships, both in the real and digital world, work best when they are based on trust. If you know a person who shows repeatable good behavior, you are more likely to interact positively with them. This is psychology 101 and we use it in our daily lives. 

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We use the same strategies online too. Trust is the basis of internet exchanges: protocols such as TLS and digital certificates form the architecture to define and deliver trust. Other technologies, such as verification of an individual, build layers of trust to allow assured transactions to happen.

One thing that companies can do to build additional trust is to create a trustworthy brand. This involves demonstrating that you deliver quality goods that are on time as well as various other aspects of good business practice. It takes time and money to create digital trust. A trustworthy brand is an intrinsically valuable commodity and this fact is not lost on cybercriminals.

Cybercriminals can exploit trust. In fact, using trust as (Read more...)