Brand Monitoring

Your brand is one of your organization’s most valuable assets. So why wouldn’t you protect your brand the way you’d protect any other business asset? By actively monitoring and protecting your brand, your organization can maintain a positive image, effectively manage potential risks to your reputation, and better understand how your brand is being leveraged — and by whom. 

What Do You Get with Flare’s Brand Monitoring Solution? 

How does Flare answer brand monitoring needs? 

Flare allows your organization to continuously scan the clear and dark web, looking for any mentions of your brand’s name. The platform also monitors the web for leaked intellectual property, like technical data, source code, or secrets. Brand monitoring includes scanning for counterfeit products, sensitive code that was accidentally pushed to the wrong GitHub repository, or stolen information that has appeared on a site like Pastebin. Flare then notifies your team of the leak so you can take immediate action to protect your assets.

How does Flare’s solution answer brand monitoring use cases?

Flare’s solution protects your brand by leveraging advanced monitoring and analytics tools to detect and mitigate threats across the digital landscape. Flare continuously scans the dark and clear web for malicious activities. By providing real-time alerts and detailed reports, Flare enables your business to swiftly respond to threats, safeguard your brand reputation, and protect your customers from fraud and misinformation.

What are the key benefits of the Flare brand monitoring solution?

The key benefits of the Flare brand monitoring solution include:

• Real-time alerts: Flare provides immediate notifications of any unauthorized use of brand assets or mentions, allowing businesses to respond quickly to potential threats.
• Comprehensive coverage: Flare monitors a wide range of platforms including social media, news sites, forums, and the dark web, ensuring no mention of your brand goes unnoticed.
• A proactive security stance: By identifying potential threats early, Flare enables your company to take preventive measures, protecting your brand reputation and customer trust.
• Automated brand monitoring: With continuous surveillance and rapid response capabilities, Flare strengthens the overall security posture of your brand, keeping you covered 24/7 and detecting fraud and misinformation.

Brand Monitoring: An Overview

What is brand monitoring?

Brand monitoring is the practice of tracking and analyzing any mention of a brand across various online channels. When companies actively monitor their brand they are better able to understand their reputation, gauge customer sentiment, and respond promptly to feedback or misinformation.

What online threats can harm your brand reputation?

Threats to an organization’s brand can come from various sources and can significantly impact its reputation and customer trust. Some common threats include:

• Malicious/spammed negative reviews: A bot spamming a site with negative reviews on social media and review sites can harm your brand’s reputation and deter potential customers.
• Counterfeit products: The distribution of fake products can damage a brand’s image and erode consumer trust.
• Social media attacks: Malicious posts, comments, or campaigns on social media platforms can spread rapidly and negatively impact public perception of your brand.
• Employee posts: Actions or statements by employees that are inconsistent with the brand’s values can harm your reputation.
• Misinformation and rumors: False information or rumors about your brand can spread quickly online, leading to misunderstandings and negative perceptions.

How can you monitor your brand reputation online?

• Track brand mentions: Monitor any mentions of your brand across the web, including social media, review sites, news outlets, and forums.
• Engage with your customers: Customers are almost always willing to share their thoughts. Respond to customer feedback, both positive and negative, in a timely and professional manner.
• Monitor your competitors: Keep an eye on your competitors’ online presence to ensure your brand is not being discussed on their site or social media. 
• Use automated brand monitoring tools: Use advanced brand monitoring tools like Flare to get real-time alerts and detailed analytics, helping you stay on top of your brand’s online presence and reputation without having to scan for brand mentions manually.

Why is Brand Monitoring Especially Relevant Now?

Why is brand monitoring important? 

With consumers spending so much time (and money) online, attackers often seek to exploit your brand to scam your customers. This can lead to reputational damage, loss of customer  trust, loss of revenue, and possibly legal penalties. By keeping track of brand mentions and sentiments across various platforms, you can quickly address threats and protect your consumers, maintaining a positive public image.

Why do you need brand monitoring in today’s cybersecurity landscape? 

• Early threat detection: Brand monitoring helps identify cyber threats such as phishing attacks, fake websites, and social media scams that exploit your brand and take advantage of your customers or employees.
• Reputation management: Cyber incidents, including data breaches and cyberattacks, can quickly damage a brand’s reputation. Brand monitoring allows for swift identification and mitigation, helping to control the narrative and reduce the negative impact on your organization.
• Fraud prevention: Detecting counterfeit products, unauthorized use of brand assets, and other fraudulent activities protects your consumers and preserves the integrity of your brand.
• Proactive security: Early detection of potential cybersecurity threats enables your organization to prepare and implement effective crisis management plans, minimizing damage.
• Brand consistency: Monitoring your brand ensures your messaging remains consistent and that any unauthorized or malicious use of your brand is quickly corrected.

What are some examples of brand threats? 

• Misrepresentation: A bad actor uses your business’ copyright, trademark, or intellectual property in order to sell products or services in a manner that leads consumers to believe it’s your company’s brand.
• Domain spoofing: A website address is registered and uses a domain similar to your organization to trick visitors into thinking it’s your brand. This alteration of your original brand domain can be as simple as a .com versus .net or could have a common misspelling of the address, tricking visitors to your business onto the spoofed domain instead.
• Cybersquatting: A threat actor registers domains that are similar to yours owned by other companies without permission in order to sell products under those domains without having any affiliation with the brand owner.
• Spear phishing: Phishing attacks intended to trick employees and consumers into providing cybercriminals with sensitive information or downloading malware that can infect systems.
• Supply chain disruptions: In the event of supply chain disruptions, cybercriminals will attack brands through a third-party vendor and affiliate business relationships.
• Social media impersonation: By impersonating a brand on social media, cybercriminals can spread false information and content that can harm a brand’s reputation.

Brand Monitoring and Flare

Flare provides the leading Threat Exposure Management (TEM) solution for organizations. Our technology constantly scans the online world, including the clear & dark web, to discover unknown events, automatically prioritize risks, and deliver actionable intelligence you can use instantly to improve security. Flare’s automated scanning can help you monitor and protect your brand from threat actors and scammers.

Our solution integrates into your security program in 30 minutes to provide your team with actionable intelligence and automated remediation for high-risk exposure. See it yourself with our free trial.