As cybersecurity threats spike in frequency and complexity, organizations must upgrade their tools and resources for fighting back. Without the right combination of technology and expertise, critical risks evade detection until it’s too late. Managed Detection and Response (MDR) addresses this gap by delivering continuous threat monitoring and expert-led incident response. This article explains how MDR works, and why it’s important for future-proof businesses.  

Curious about how your cybersecurity defenses measure up? Take advantage of our free risk audit to identify weaknesses today.  

Understanding Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

As a cybersecurity service, MDR allows businesses to detect, analyze, and respond to security threats without stretching internal teams beyond their limits. Rather than just providing alerts, an MDR service provider handles monitoring and incident response in real time. Their team of security analysts, operating from a security operations center (SOC), investigates suspicious behavior and guides containment efforts with precision.  

This approach combines security technologies with human expertise, enabling organizations to take decisive action rather than react to alerts. By integrating seamlessly with existing security tools, it strengthens the security posture of companies across industries.  

Detection Technologies that Collaborate with MDR  

Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI)  

CTI continuously monitors the threat landscape to identify emerging risks targeting your organization. It provides actionable insights about threat actors, their methods, and indicators of compromise to help you stay ahead of attacks before they impact your business.  

Threat Hunting  

Threat hunting proactively searches for hidden threats that have evaded traditional security controls. Our expert hunters use advanced techniques and behavioral analysis to uncover sophisticated attacks that are already inside your environment but haven’t yet been detected.  

Risk Scoring and Assessment  

Risk scoring quantifies your organization’s exposure across digital channels and threat vectors. It prioritizes vulnerabilities and threats based on their potential impact, helping you allocate security resources where they matter most and make data-driven decisions about risk mitigation. 

How MDR Enhances These Technologies  

Businesses need human insight to tackle nuanced cybersecurity threats. For dynamic and evolving cyberattacks, MDR adds a managed layer that monitors, validates, and acts on alerts. This human-driven response filters noise and prioritizes real threats. Cyberthreat intelligence experts in the don’t just detect issues, they respond to them in real time.  

It also closes the gap between threat detection and action. When threats emerge, the MDR team isolates affected systems, advises next steps, and ensures that breaches are contained before damage spreads. 

MDR in Practice 

MDR services integrate seamlessly into a company’s existing environment through tools already in use or other security products. Once integrated, the MDR solution provider begins monitoring activity around the clock. Analysts review threats, validate their severity, and respond in accordance with agreed-upon protocols.  

If attackers breach a system, MDR experts take immediate steps: isolate compromised endpoints, neutralize malicious processes, and guide the company through recovery. This active response protects both data and operations without requiring round-the-clock attention from internal teams.   

The Benefits of MDR Services 

Here are six key benefits that Managed Detections and Responses could bring to your organization:

1. You’d respond to threats faster with real-time.

2. As a whole, your organization would reduce alert fatigue by filtering out noise and false positives.

3. Your security posture would strengthen, without replacing current tools.

4. You’d also gain access to security experts without building a large in-house team.

5. The services make it easier to scale, extending your digital safeguards as your business grows or shifts environments.

6. You’d decrease your operational costs, compared to the cost of hiring and training internal analysts.

Key Advantages of MDR vs. Traditional Security  

Traditional security tools wait for threats to reach your perimeter or endpoints before taking action. Managed Detection and Response takes a fundamentally different approach by extending visibility far beyond your network boundaries.  

Within a Digital Risk Protection solution, manage response tactics monitor the entire digital ecosystem where threats to your organization develop. These threats span the full spectrum of digital channels from dark web forums and social media to compromised credentials, from marketplaces to fraudulent domains. Beyond simply detecting threats, managed detection and response strategies identify and neutralize them before they can impact your business.  

The key differentiator is our takedown capabilities. When we identify threats like phishing sites, fraudulent domains, or leaked credentials, we don’t just alert you – we actively work to remove them from the internet, disrupting attack campaigns at their source. This proactive approach transforms cybersecurity from reactive defense to offensive threat disruption.   

Considerations and Potential Challenges 

Data control may shift partially to the service provider, which is not something all teams are comfortable with

Considerations and Potential Challenges around MDR

While MDR offers significant advantages, its implementation comes with important considerations. The integration process itself may require you to adjust existing workflows to fit the provider’s model, which can be a disruptive undertaking. It’s also crucial to remember that your security outcomes are directly tied to the provider’s quality, as their expertise dictates the speed and accuracy of threat response. Finally, adopting MDR means a partial shift of your sensitive data control to a third party, a prospect that not all internal security teams are comfortable with, potentially raising issues around visibility and governance.

Choosing the right MDR provider involves looking beyond features to how well the service aligns with internal goals and expectations. At the same time, organizations should recognize that MDR focuses primarily on internal detection and incident response. To cover external risks such as phishing campaigns, brand impersonation, and malvertising, businesses can strengthen their security posture with Digital Risk Protection services. This combined approach ensures that threats are managed both inside and outside the organization’s network. 

Conclusions

MDR helps organizations shift from passive monitoring to proactive protection. It doesn’t replace internal teams; it reinforces them. With the right managed detection and response services, companies stay prepared, respond more quickly, and build long-term resilience against evolving threats. 

Partnering with experienced managed security service providers puts skilled analysts and advanced tools behind every alert. When time and expertise are limited, MDR builds a clear and focused path forward. 

The post What Is MDR in Cyber Security appeared first on EBRAND.

Customer service helps us in our time of need, whether we’ve missed our flights or our vacation is at risk. In the travel industry and many others, scammers increasingly hijack these services to trick the vulnerable, and providers must fight back. 

A friend in need is a friend indeed. When we’re far from home, facing a travel nightmare, we need a friendly voice and a reliable solution that we can trust. For example, imagine if a cancelled flight strands you in an unfamiliar airport. Your pre-booked accommodation falls through, leaving you scrambling with tired children in tow. In moments like these, you need a lifeline, and it’s time to call for customer support. The person who answers is not who they seem.

Scammers specifically target distressed travelers by hijacking the very customer service channels that people trust. They create fake support pages, establish fraudulent call centers, and even compromise legitimate contact points for real travel agencies and airlines. Here, we explore recent cases that highlight the scourge of these customer service scams. We unpack their impact on innocent holidaymakers, from financial loss to ruined trips, and the severe brand reputation damage left in their wake. Finally, we explain how travel companies can fight back with proactive tools like anti-scam audits and comprehensive digital risk protection strategies.

One Recent Customer Service Scam

Consider the recent case of a Denver man whose flight cancellation led to a financial nightmare. After his flight was canceled, he searched for customer service help. He found the airline’s real website, and clicked on their legtimate customer support number. The man spoke to a customer support agent for around three hours, and believed he had the problem solved. However, he never received his expected refund. Instead, a devastating $17,000 charge appeared on his credit card, labeled deceptively as “AIRLINEFARE,” on top of the cost of his rebooked flight.

This incident underscores critical lessons for consumers and providers alike. Even sites that appear legitimate leave vulnerabilities where cybercriminals intercede. In the age of AI, where attacks increase in complexity and frequency service providers must implement proactive tools and strategies, no matter what industry you’re in. Sophisticated scammers abuse trust and personal details to cancel legitimate bookings and redirect refunds to themselves, presenting a worrying template for a broader issue.

How Scammers Manipulate Customer Service Search Results

Another recent report told the story of a Canadian holidaymaker who lost $500 to a similar fake customer service scheme. They aren’t isolated incidents: they’re a concerning trend across services industries, that manipulate human vulnerability and digital infrastructure. We can also link the increase in customer service scams with exploits in search engine algoriths, SERP, and SEO. Bad actors learn how to manipulate systems like Google to elevate their fake airline customer service numbers to the top of search results.

For example, a recent search for a common query like “Airline flight change” revealed a troubling reality. Half of the results were from scammers impersonating a major North American airline, their fraudulent phone numbers prominently displayed and waiting for desperate calls. This manipulation of search engines directly targets consumers when they are most vulnerable and seeking immediate customer service help.

Other Tactics Used in Customer Service Scams

Beyond hijacking search results, scammers employ a range of other tactics to launch their customer service scams. Cybersquatting involves registering domain names that are misspellings of legitimate brand websites, tricking users who type a web address incorrectly. Fake ads are another major vector; these paid-for results, often labeled “sponsored,” direct users to malicious sites.

Frustrated passengers often turn to social media for quick customer service responses. On platforms like X, formerly Twitter, fake profiles monitor customer complaints and reply with fraudulent contact information. In a disturbing twist, some scams involve compromising legitimate channels. In one case, a passenger who definitely called the airline’s official customer service number still fell victim. He reported speaking all day with customer service agents, but the airline’s internal logs showed only a short call, suggesting a sophisticated hijacking of their own support system.

The Far-Reaching Impact of Fake Customer Service

Underneath each of these stories, behind all the tactics and headlines, lies a series of real people under threat. For holidaymakers, customer service scams wreak a huge psychological toll. Families suffer upset and distress, and fraud ruins precious vacation memories. For the brands impersonated, severe implications for revenues and careers also await. Organizations in the travel industry face stolen revenue, damaged reputations, and potential compliance sanctions for failing to protect consumer data. Every successful scam emboldens criminals and erodes consumer confidence in the entire travel industry.

Fight Back with Digital Risk Protection

The travel and services industries, like many customer-facing sectors online, must fight back. Digital Risk Protection services provide a powerful defense against these customer service scams, helping organizations take control of their online threats. They combat consumer phishing by identifying malicious domains designed to harvest personal information. At the source, they also tackle fraudulent websites that impersonate your brand, securing your digital assets before customers suffer.

Digital Risk Protection services also extend to removing fake mobile apps from app stores that seek to appropriate funds and distribute malware in the guise of customer support. They also monitor for fraudulent sponsored ads on social media and search engines, ensuring scammers cannot pay to impersonate your brand and lure victims. By proactively identifying and eliminating these threats, companies can safeguard their customers and their reputation.

Don’t let scammers damage your brand and exploit your customers. Get started now with a free brand audit to unmask and eliminate customer service scams operating in your brand’s name.

The post Customer Service and Support Scams Hit the Travel Industry appeared first on EBRAND.

Spear Phishing vs Phishing: What Is The Difference? 

Phishing and spear phishing are among the most common and dangerous cyber threats. Both attacks use social engineering tactics to manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive information, but they differ significantly in scope, technique, and execution.  

This blog post will delve into the key differences between phishing and spear phishing, their tactics, the risks they pose, and best practices for preventing these attacks. As we explore the topics, you can also get a free phishing audit to what’s currently hunting your brand online.

Understanding Phishing Attacks 

Phishing is a broad term that refers to any attempt by cybercriminals to deceive individuals into divulging sensitive information, such as credentials, credit card numbers, or sensitive data. The attackers often impersonate a legitimate entity, such as a well-known company, government organization, or bank, through fraudulent phishing emails or websites. These emails typically contain a malicious link or attachment designed to steal the victim’s passwords, install malware, or gain access to their personal information. 

Phishing attacks can be carried out on a large scale, targeting a vast number of recipients simultaneously. This form of bulk phishing relies on the assumption that a small percentage of recipients will fall victim to the attack. Phishing scams often use generic language and spoofed emails to trick individuals into acting impulsively. 

Phishing can also take the form of smishing (SMS phishing) or vishing (voice phishing), where attackers use text messages or phone calls to trick victims into revealing personal information. The main goal of these phishing attempts is usually to collect sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, and financial details. Attackers may impersonate a trusted sender, such as a bank or service provider, to create a sense of urgency and trick the recipient into clicking on a malicious link or providing sensitive information. 

What Is Spear Phishing? 

Unlike standard forms of phishing, which casts a wide net, spear phishing attacks are carefully crafted to target a specific individual or organization. Spear-phishing emails are highly personalized, often using information about the recipient, such as their name, job title, or recent interactions, to increase the chances of success. This personalization makes spear phishing attacks far more convincing and harder to detect. 

A typical spear phishing attack may come from a seemingly legitimate sender, such as a colleague, boss, or trusted partner. The attacker uses information gleaned from social media, company websites, or previous communication to create a believable context for the attack. These emails often contain malicious links or attachments designed to install malware or direct the victim to a fake website that captures login credentials or other personal data.  

This targeted nature makes spear phishing a far more dangerous threat to individuals and organizations. 

Key Differences Between Spear Phishing and Phishing 

The most notable distinction between phishing and spear phishing is the level of personalization and targeting. In phishing, the attacker sends out bulk phishing emails to a large number of people, hoping that a small fraction will fall for the scam. These emails are often generic and designed to deceive anyone who might open them. 

In contrast, spear phishing focuses on targeted attacks, often aimed at specific individuals within an organization or company. The attacker may use personal information about the recipient, such as their role, recent activities, or relationships with colleagues, to craft a convincing attack. These spear phishing emails are much more difficult to spot, as they seem to come from trusted senders. 

Another key difference is the complexity of the attack. Phishing is typically less sophisticated, using broad tactics such as creating a fake website or sending a phishing message that mimics a legitimate brand. Spear phishing, on the other hand, may involve email spoofing and advanced social engineering techniques, such as impersonating a trusted sender and requesting actions like wire transfers or sensitive information exchanges. 

While phishing attacks often rely on low-cost, high-volume tactics, spear phishing is a sophisticated attack vector that demands more resources and careful planning by the attacker. 

Common Tactics Used in Phishing Attacks 

One of the most common methods is email spoofing, where the attacker makes the sender appear as if it’s a legitimate entity. This can involve sending a phishing email that looks like it’s from a bank or a well-known company. The email will often urge the recipient to click on a malicious link or download an attachment, both of which may lead to the installation of malware or direct the victim to a fake website. 

In spear phishing, attackers take this a step further by personalizing the email. They may reference the recipient’s job position, specific project, or recent communication to make the email appear more legitimate. The attacker may also employ psychological manipulation to create a sense of urgency, prompting the recipient to act quickly without thinking. 

On top of that, business email compromise (BEC) is a growing concern. In this form of spear phishing, attackers impersonate executives or high-ranking officials to trick employees into making wire transfers or providing sensitive company information. These types of spear phishing scams can be especially dangerous due to their high level of sophistication. 

Risks Associated with Phishing and Spear Phishing 

The primary risk is the theft of sensitive information, including login credentials, financial data, or personal identification details. This can lead to identity theft, financial loss, or unauthorized access to personal or corporate accounts. 

For businesses, the consequences of a successful spear phishing attack can be catastrophic. Attackers may gain access to critical systems, steal intellectual property, or engage in fraudulent financial activities, such as wire transfers or invoicing scams. The reputational damage from a phishing scam can also be severe, with customers losing trust in a brand’s security practices. 

Phishing attacks may also serve as a gateway to other forms of cybercrime, such as the installation of malware, ransomware, or other cyberattacks designed to further compromise the victim’s systems. Once an attacker gains access to a victim’s email account, they can often escalate the attack to target additional accounts or systems. 

Best Practices for Prevention 

Preventing phishing and spear phishing requires a multi-layered approach. Here are some of the best practices to help protect against these threats: 

1. Email security tools: Use anti-phishing software, spam filters, and email security tools to detect and block suspicious emails. 

2. Multi-factor authentication (MFA): Implement MFA to add an extra layer of security in case login credentials are compromised. 

3. Security awareness training: Conduct regular phishing simulations and cybersecurity training to help employees recognize phishing messages and avoid falling for social engineering tactics. 

4. Be cautious with clicking: Never click on links or open attachments in unsolicited emails, even if they appear to come from trusted sources. 

5. Verify suspicious requests: Always verify requests for sensitive information or wire transfers directly with the person or organization through a different communication channel. 

For well-protected, future-proof organizations, the best protection comes from combining these tactics with a professional digital risk protection service. These services deliver continuous monitoring, early threat detection, and proactive defense to safeguard your organization from external cyber threats, including phishing and data leaks. 

Conclusion 

Both phishing and spear phishing are significant threats in the world of cybersecurity. While phishing attacks cast a wide net to capture unsuspecting victims, spear phishing is more targeted and sophisticated, focusing on specific individuals or organizations. By understanding the differences between the two and implementing robust security practices, you can reduce the risk of falling victim to these dangerous cybercrimes. Protecting sensitive data and using the right tools and training helps your organization safeguard against phishing and spear phishing attacks. 

The post Spear Phishing vs Phishing: What is the Difference?  appeared first on EBRAND.

Agentic AI transforms cybercrime, enabling autonomous phishing attacks at scale. Organizations must understand this emerging threat and implement advanced defenses like digital risk protection and threat intelligence to stay secure.  

A Fraudster’s Dream Scenario

Put yourself in the shoes of a cybercriminal. Running “Fraud Inc.” is exhausting. You need teams to build convincing websites, post fake marketplace listings, run social media accounts, and lure in victims. Like any business, you plan campaigns around peak shopping seasons, test different approaches, and manage cash flow to keep the operation running. All the while you must stay hidden from investigators like EBRAND and other security firms that work to shut you down. In this business, time is money, so you focus on brands that give you the best return for the longest period, those that take longer to react, have weaker monitoring, and especially those that do not work with firms like EBRAND.

Now imagine replacing that entire workforce with an AI assistant. You give it a single goal such as stealing credentials, impersonating a brand, or draining accounts and it does everything else. No supervision, no breaks, no delays. It works at massive scale, optimises tactics on the fly, and produces professional-grade output. You could be relaxing on a beach with a cocktail while your AI agent runs a full-fledged fraud empire for you. That is the reality of agentic AI, as we’ll explore today. In the meantime, you can also get a free audit to see if agentic AI is threatening your organization right here.

The New Era of Agentic AI Phishing

Agentic AI phishing refers to attacks that use artificial intelligence to make scams more convincing, personalised, and persistent. These systems can analyse vast amounts of data including job history, recent purchases, social media activity, and online habits, and use that information to create messages tailored to a specific individual. A phishing email might reference a recent online order or a press release from the target’s company, making it appear legitimate and relevant.

Unlike generative AI, which focuses on creating content, or analytical AI, which interprets data, agentic AI is designed to make autonomous decisions, set its own actions, and pursue a goal without ongoing human input. This allows it to operate like a self-directed employee, running entire phishing campaigns from reconnaissance to execution while adapting in real time to maximise success.

The sophistication does not end there. Traditional phishing is static and easy to discard, but agentic AI adapts when its first attempt fails. If a target ignores an email, it may try a different channel such as SMS, a messaging app, or a direct approach on social media. It can alter tone, change formatting, and experiment with alternative hooks in an iterative process until it finds one that works.

Exploiting Every Channel

Because agentic AI can discover and exploit new communication vectors, it often finds opportunities that human operators might overlook. It might detect that a target has recently joined a niche social platform or an online forum and craft a phishing message suited to the norms of that space. It can maintain multiple simultaneous identities, operate in different languages, and sustain long-running interactions that gradually build trust with the victim.

Agentic AI in Action: Inside an Modern Phishing Operation

Cybercrime operations now mirror legitimate software services. Platforms like Darcula and Bogus Bazaar provide phishing tools and stolen data through subscription models. Agentic AI supercharges this ecosystem by automating attack creation, allowing even inexperienced criminals to launch sophisticated campaigns. These services lower the barrier to entry while increasing the volume and quality of threats. 

A typical campaign begins with reconnaissance. The AI harvests open-source intelligence and data from breaches, scanning for vulnerabilities in a brand’s security posture. It prioritises targets where takedowns are slow, internal coordination is weak, or monitoring is limited. From there, it builds branded templates, registers convincing domains, and deploys fake websites and accounts.

Once operational, the AI launches campaigns across multiple channels including email, text messages, direct messages on social platforms, and marketplace listings. If a victim engages, the AI converses naturally, adjusting its language and timing to mirror the victim’s habits. It can request sensitive information, guide the victim through fraudulent transactions, or direct them to malware-laden sites. If its infrastructure is disrupted, it rebuilds quickly, often with a modified approach to bypass the same defences that stopped it before.

Why Conventional Defences Struggle

Static email filters cannot keep pace with attacks that evolve dynamically. Human analysts are too slow to match the split-second adaptability of AI. Even well-trained staff can be deceived when messages feel authentic, reference real-world events, and mirror the target’s own style of communication. The attack does not feel like a generic scam, it feels like a legitimate conversation.

Countering Agentic AI Phishing

Defending against this new breed of phishing requires more than awareness training or reactive tools. Organisations need AI-powered detection systems capable of spotting subtle anomalies in language, inspecting URLs in real time, scanning suspicious websites, and cross-referencing activity against live threat intelligence. Proactive digital risk monitoring must extend beyond email into social platforms, marketplaces, and emerging communication channels.

Advanced technology is essential not only for detection but also for coping with the unprecedented scale and quality of these attacks. Instead of a handful of threat vectors from a single actor, we now see tens of thousands of linked cases produced at speed, built at scale using smart algorithms, and virtually indistinguishable from legitimate content at first glance.

User education remains essential but must evolve. Simulated phishing exercises that incorporate AI-generated content can prepare employees for the realism of modern scams. Real-time awareness training can help them recognise not only suspicious messages but also suspicious behaviours across multiple channels.

Governance is equally important. As AI becomes embedded in both legitimate and malicious use cases, organisations must set clear internal guidelines for its adoption, ensure transparency in automated decision-making, and integrate robust security measures into every AI-powered process.

The Role of EBRAND

EBRAND combines AI-driven monitoring with human investigation to identify and neutralise threats before they cause damage. Its approach includes detecting fake accounts, dismantling phishing sites, and monitoring for brand impersonation across both visible and hidden areas of the internet. This fusion of automated speed and investigative depth is essential to counter the fast-changing tactics of AI-enabled fraud.

Organizations need proactive defenses to counter AI-driven phishing. Digital risk protection solutions provide continuous monitoring for impersonation attempts across domains, social media, and the dark web. These systems use AI to detect emerging threats faster than human analysts can, enabling rapid response before damage occurs.  

Specialized security providers offer critical support in this evolving landscape. For example, EBRAND’s Cyber Threat Intelligence services combine AI-powered monitoring with human expertise to identify and neutralize agentic AI threats. Their solutions help organizations detect fake accounts, take down phishing sites, and prevent brand impersonation before it impacts customers.  

Conclusions: The Time to Prepare is Now

Agentic AI is not a distant risk, it is already here, operating at scale and without rest. Criminals now have tools that think, adapt, and refine themselves with every failed attempt. The organisations that will withstand this shift are those that prepare now, with layered defences, integrated intelligence, and rapid incident response.

Time, for both fraudsters and defenders, is the most valuable asset. In the age of agentic AI, the clock always ticks in the attacker’s favour unless you are ready to match their speed. We must all assess our vulnerabilities and strengthen defenses before attackers exploit them. Contact us today for a free AI impersonation audit and discover how to safeguard your business against this new generation of cyber threats. 

The post Are You Ready for Agentic AI? The Next Wave of Phishing  appeared first on EBRAND.

These rogue websites exist solely to steal credentials, drain bank accounts, and trick unsuspecting employees, consumers, and partners. They erode trust, devastate brands, and inflict massive financial losses.  

In this guide, we’ll dissect the top five tactics to target US businesses with fake webpages. You can also check which rogue websites are spoofing your organization for free right here.

What Exactly is a Rogue Website? 

The term “Rogue websites” covers malicious and fraudulent web pages that impersonate legitimate brands, services, or individuals. Websites go rogue when cybercriminals exploit lax domain registration processes to secure deceptive URLs (e.g., amaz0n-support.com or microsoft-security-alert.net). They use tactics like typosquatting (common misspellings), homograph attacks (using similar-looking characters), and hijacked subdomains to secure deceptive infrastructure. Once registered, they build their fake pages with nuanced and specific strategies to trick their targets. These strategies often look like fake shops that imitate retailers or fake login pages to impersonate banks. Increasingly, they’re so effective in their impersonations that even digital authorities like ICANN can no longer tell which is which. 

Cybercriminals dress their rogue websites in stolen logos, brand colors, and AI-generated copy that mirrors legitimate communications. Deceptive landing pages often leverage SSL certificates (showing the «padlock» icon) to appear secure, exploiting user trust. Once live, they slowly and steadily implement scams and cybercrimes like fraud, counterfeiting, and data theft.  

Below, we’ll outline the five most common and most dangerous rogue website use cases.  

Tactic 1: Fake Login Pages + Phishing Emails 

The most devastating rogue website attacks occur right at the start of your digital journey: your inbox and your login page. Attackers deploy deceptive pages that mimic login portals across the internet. They spoof customer login pages, and internal platforms like VPN access or payroll systems. Crucially, scammers stack their assets to maximize their impact. Hosting an email server and a rogue website on the same domain, and promoting the page with the relevant email, creates a brutally effective attack.  

Hosting customer accounts and colleague services unlocks all kinds of business benefits. Many companies run these kinds of login pages for security and control. However, they often neglect their potential as an attack surface. Scammers recently hosted fake login pages for platforms like Netflix that were so convincing that authorities had to step in.   

A single compromised credential can lead to data breaches, ransomware, and regulatory penalties. Armed with the latest high-powered and out-of-the-box phish kits like Darcula 3.0, amateur and organized cybercriminals alike have your infrastructure in their sights. Secure organizations must take steps to detect suspicious domains, especially those lookalike pages and active mail servers.  

Tactic 2: Promotions & Product Launches on Rogue Websites

Scammers exploit the hype around product drops, sales, or investments by creating rogue websites that impersonate well-known brands. Worse, they impersonate CEOs and celebrities on social media to leverage big names and lucrative reputations. Fake tweets or LinkedIn posts drive traffic to scam sites selling nonexistent products, «exclusive» NFTs, or fraudulent investments. These rogue websites use polished designs, fake countdown timers, and stolen media to appear authentic.  

One scam follows another in these cases, compounding their impact in a cybercrime cascade. For example, this year, scammers impersonated a famous economist’s Twitter account. Their malicious campaign then tweeted a link to an entirely spoofed newspaper website. On the website, they hosted a detailed and persuasive article promoting a new cryptocurrency in the media outlet’s name. While platforms eventually remove these kinds of scams and impersonations, organizations must take their own action when it comes to removing the rogue website at the root of the problem.  

Within the broader issue of phishing, VIP impersonation runs rampant. Exploring VIP and Executive Protection solutions also helps organizations secure their online footprint, and protect their clients as well as their business leaders.  

Tactic 3: Fake Online Stores Exploiting Events 

Fake shops and counterfeit websites represent one of the most common rogue website threats for any brand selling products online. Whether you’re in food and beverages, luxury fashion, or auto parts, fake shop scammers can undercut your margins and trick your clients at every turn. Fraudulent sites impersonate legitimate stores, offering «too-good-to-be-true» discounts, exclusive launches, or liquidation sales. While they operate year-round, these scams seem to grab headlines during ecommerce surges like shopping seasons and major brand announcements, preying on urgency and consumer trust.  

For example, when craft retailer Joann faced financial struggles, scammers launched rogue websites posing as official «going-out-of-business» sales, tricking customers into entering payment details for non-existent products.  

 Similarly, during a recent holiday season, cybercriminals flooded search engines with fake online stores advertising «last-minute deals» on hot-ticket items like gaming consoles and designer goods, only to steal credit card details or never ship orders.  

Beyond financial losses, fake shops inflict severe brand damage, eroding consumer trust and flooding the market with counterfeit goods. They also violate intellectual property laws by illegally using trademarks, copyrighted images, and brand names.  

Tactic 4: Fake Support Pages on Rogue Websites

Nearly every business needs support teams, and scammers know it. Cybercriminals build rogue websites mimicking essential teams like IT support, helplines, or account management. Using stolen contact lists from breaches or dark web sales, they blast emails and communication channels with messages like these: «Your account is locked! Click here to restore access.» Victims land on fake support pages, where «agents» demand remote access or payment for «services.»  

SecurityWeek recently reported that these kinds of scams targeted all kinds of large US companies, from Apple to Bank of America. Ultimately, rogue website scams impersonating support teams absolutely demolish customer trust. Detecting and tracking rogue websites that impersonate any kind of support channel thereby creates an important foundation for your business relations and recurring revenue.  

Tactic 5: Rogue Supply Chain & Partner Portals 

Partnerships and reseller ecosystems take growth strategies to the next level, but they also expose some concerning vulnerabilities to rogue website attacks. Attackers impersonate trusted partners like suppliers, resellers, marketing agencies, or recruiters with fake websites portals for invoices, contracts, and project updates.   

In one recent scheme, scammers sent convincing phishing emails posing as Meta recruiters, directing victims to fraudulent domains where they were pressured into paying for «background checks» or «training fees.» The scam was highly coordinated, leveraging Meta’s reputation to exploit job seekers’ trust.  

The consequences extend far beyond financial loss. Fake recruitment portals erode trust in corporate hiring processes. For businesses, the solution requires more than reactive takedowns. These threats demand continuous domain monitoring, strict third-party verification protocols, and employee training to recognize these sophisticated deceptions.  

Conclusion: Don’t Let Rogue Websites Win 

To summarize, we’ve seen that these scams all use multi-channel, multimedia attacks to launch their rogue website campaign. When scams blend fake sites with email, social media, and even deepfakes, we must take a comprehensive approach to fighting back. It takes just one person clicking a link for these scams to strike. One distracted employee, customer, or partner can trigger financial loss, data theft, or reputational ruin.  

With the right strategy, you can hunt down impersonating domains, social accounts, and apps. Discover if your brand is being exploited right now with a Free Rogue Websites Audit. Our team will scan for impersonating domains, along with fake social profiles, and app store clones targeting your business. Protect your revenue, reputation, and customers today. 

The post Rogue Websites: The Top Five Most Dangerous Website Scams appeared first on EBRAND.

This guide dives deep into PPC brand protection, detailing strategies to shield your revenue and your reputation from online scammers. We examine why cybercriminals target paid ads, how even authorized resellers can turn rogue, and practical methods to detect impersonators across platforms. You can also get a free PPC brand protection audit right here.

How to Protect your Brand Across PPC Channels 

PPC brand protection means preventing unauthorized or malicious use of your brand in paid ads online. Ad channel brand protection tactics safeguard your intellectual property across platforms like Google Ads and Meta, encompassing Facebook and Instagram. With 65% of mid-sized companies leveraging PPC marketing, these platforms deliver immense value, but also attract sophisticated fraudsters.  

Scammers deploy calculated tactics to exploit your brand value. They bid on your exact brand keywords, pushing legitimate ads below counterfeit listings in search results. Leveraging powerful technical tools like CDNs, they also create fake websites with AI-generated text and stolen visuals, replicating your login pages to harvest credentials. These operations span search engines and social platforms, with Facebook and Instagram as prime targets for phishing schemes. Financial institutions, ecommerce brands, and tech companies face the highest risk due to their large customer bases.  

Why Scammers Attack Brands Through PPC 

Cybercriminals focus on PPC because it ambushes consumers during their most vulnerable moments. When users research products, they actively seek solutions. Scammers position fake promotions atop these results, intercepting traffic meant for legitimate brands.  

These scams thrive within trusted environments. On Instagram or Facebook, fraudulent ads blend seamlessly between family photos and friend updates. Users lower their guard when seeing familiar logos or «limited-time deals,» unaware they’re entering payment details on cloned pages. The illusion of credibility proves devastating; a fake ad bearing Google’s logo or a «Verified» badge tricks victims into submitting sensitive data before redirecting to polished phishing sites. Without any kinds of PPC brand protection tactics, the malicious campaigns appear, strike, and disappear before they even show up on the brand owner’s radar. 

Beyond Scammers: The Hidden Threat of Rogue Resellers 

While impersonators pose grave dangers, authorized partners can also undermine your PPC strategy. Consider, for example, that 95% of Microsoft’s revenue flows through its partner network. Legitimate resellers help brands break into new markets and drive sales. The affiliate marketing industry alone surged from $27.8 billion in 2023 to $32.3 billion in 2024, accounting for 6.25% of global e-commerce sales.  

That being said, this ecosystem also creates serious vulnerabilities. Some affiliates hijack your brand keywords, bidding on terms like «YourBrand + discount» to claim commissions for sales you would’ve made organically. Unauthorized sellers flood markets with counterfeit PPC campaigns, confusing customers with inferior products and undercutting prices. Without PPC brand protection, you lose control over pricing, messaging, and customer experience across your global markets.  

Business Cases for Protecting your Brand Against PPC Abuse

Besides simply tackling scammers and enforcing your IP, PPC brand protection delivers concrete benefits for organizations across industries. Let’s look at the mechanics of pay-per-click advertising: Each bid, and each competitor, raises the costs for each paid search term. Therefore, PPC brand abuse directly drains your marketing budget, by artificially inflating your key terms. Fraudulent advertisers bidding on your branded keywords force you to compete against impersonators, throwing money down the drain while losing out on traffic.

Compounding this waste of resources, scammers aggressively exploit paid advertising channels on lesser-known intermediary search engines, platforms often eager to take their revenue but less diligent in policing fraud upfront. This means your marketing budget potentially funds clicks that divert your customers to fake sites or competitors through these channels.

A lot of brand protection can be quite abstract and hard to trace the ROI in the short term. PPC brand protection presents the exception: Costs come down, malicious ad campaigns with thousands of impressions disappear from the internet, and your legitimate PPC pipeline enjoys a real boost. That being said, let’s get into the details about how to get started and protect your brand from PPC piracy.

How to Protect your Brand Across PPC Channels

Smaller brands often take a practical but limited approach to patrolling their channels for PPC brand protection: simply searching, and seeing what comes up. Marketing teams can search brand keywords daily on Google and Bing, adding modifiers like «login» or «coupon» to uncover impersonators. Each suspicious landing page requires meticulous inspection for subtle typos in domains, such as «YourBrandd[.]com» instead of your authentic URL. This process typically consumes hours or days every week, while missing the vast majority of the fake ads. Even when you detect one, the flagging, tracking, and takedown processes require the same time investment all over again.

Automated Online Brand Protection platforms deliver scalable solutions. These tools integrate directly with Google Ads and Meta Ads data feeds, continuously scanning global campaigns. You configure your protected assets, like logos, product images, slogans, and keywords, enabling AI algorithms to detect infringements across thousands of ads hourly. Advanced systems rank threats by severity, track repeat offenders, and streamline takedowns for rapid and effective resolution.

Conclusions: Get Started with PPC Brand Protection

PPC brand protection is non-negotiable in today’s adversarial digital landscape. Scammers exploit paid channels to steal revenue and erode trust, while rogue affiliates divert hard-won conversions. Proactive monitoring combined with automated enforcement lets brands secure their advertising real estate, protect customers, and preserve market integrity.  

Begin your defense with a free PPC brand protection audit. Our experts scan your branded keywords across Google, Meta, and more, identifying active threats and impersonators. You’ll receive a prioritized action plan within 48 hours, with no obligations.  

What is PPC brand protection? From fake adds and cyberscammers to rogue resellers and phishing pages, find out how to protect your brand.

The post What is PPC Brand Protection? appeared first on EBRAND.

Here, we’ll explore the world of social media monitoring and digital impersonations. With 78% of people targeted by brand impersonation scams, as per Security Magazine, forward-thinking businesses must take steps to mitigate these threats. If left unchecked, social media impersonators target IP and victimize customers. We’ll also examine malicious ads, as scammers increasingly use paid marketing to spread impersonations and spoof legitimate brands. 

Which Threats Require Social Media Monitoring? 

Impersonations and infringements occur across all the major social channels. With 51% of browser-based phishing attempts involving brand impersonation, companies bear the brunt of these evolving scams. Social media spoofs span from lookalike companies on LinkedIn to fraudulent accounts on Instagram. Near-identical fake profiles promote knock-off products, link to counterfeit shops, and direct users to malicious login pages.   

Beyond passive scams, social media impersonators often message a brand’s existing customers and prospects. Brands without social media monitoring risk impersonation scams on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, and worse still, cyberattackers implement their profiles into broader phishing campaigns. Among the most concerning trends are scams on Instagram, where fake promotions and deceptive DMs trick users into losing their cash and their private information. 

VIP and Executive Impersonations 

No one is immune to digital impersonation—not even the world’s most powerful executives. Last year, scammers impersonated the CEO of a global advertising giant, using deepfake audio and doctored emails to trick employees into approving fraudulent transactions. This wasn’t an isolated incident. High-profile executives, celebrities, and financial leaders face relentless attacks from criminals who exploit their credibility to orchestrate scams. 

These fraudsters don’t just create fake social media profiles—they weaponize AI. Deepfake videos, cloned voices, and phishing emails mimic executives with chilling accuracy. In one notorious case, criminals impersonated a hedge fund manager on LinkedIn, luring investors into a sham trading scheme. Another attack spoofed a Fortune 500 CEO’s email domain, tricking accounting teams into wiring millions to offshore accounts. Find our more about VIP and Executive scams, from CEO fraud to influencer impersonation, right here.

New and Evolving Platforms for Social Media Monitoring 

New social networks like Threads and BlueSky create a dangerous gray area for brands. While companies hesitate to establish official presences, fraudsters rush in—registering lookalike accounts, impersonating customer service reps, and running fake promotions. Other evolving platforms like VK, TikTok, and Mastodon increasingly gain traction as digital behaviours change with social and geopolitical currents. Organizations must therefore enforce a robust social media monitoring strategy across all relevant avenues. Without any verification systems in place, users have no way to distinguish real brands from scams. The consequences are staggering: 44% of social media scams involve fake online stores, while another 20% lure victims into fraudulent investment schemes—all under the guise of trusted names. 

But this isn’t just about protecting a brand’s reputation—it’s about shielding customers from financial harm. When criminals impersonate a company on emerging platforms, they don’t just damage trust; they steal money directly from loyal buyers. A fake «limited-time offer» on Threads, a counterfeit customer support account on BlueSky, or a fraudulent «CEO announcement» on Mastodon can trick even savvy users into handing over payment details. Organizations now face a duty to protect their clients from getting ripped off in their brand’s name, hence the need for solutions like social media monitoring and enforcement. 

Malicious Ads: The Next Steps for Evolving Scams 

Scammers don’t just rely on fake profiles—they also build deceptive ads to amplify their campaigns. By linking fraudulent social media accounts to counterfeit landing pages, they slip past users’ defenses. These ads appear alongside personal content, making them harder to detect. Without effective social media monitoring, businesses risk having their brand misused in paid promotions that evade detection until significant damage is done. 

Fortunately, effective brand protection and risk protection platforms use datafeeds from ad libraries to detect infringements on legitimate organizations. Scanning channels like Google Ads, Bing Ads, and Meta Ads for Facebook and Instagram infringements helps unmask advertisement scams before they strike. When organizations detect and eliminate these infringements, they protect their IP from abuse and dilution, and protect innocent targets from having their data and their cash stolen by scammers. Want to check if cybercriminals are ripping you off with impersonations on paid ads? You can find out, with a free audit. 

The Benefits of Proactive Social Media Monitoring 

Manual monitoring is nearly impossible—scammers strike fast and disappear before most brands even notice. The FBI estimates that global losses from impersonation attacks exceed $5.3 billion, according to Forbes, so there’s a lot of money on the line. Proactive enforcement minimizes these costs, ensuring a secure social media landscape. Patrolling threat vectors allows businesses to grow their traffic, their revenue, and their following without interference. By maintaining a well-monitored presence across all relevant platforms, companies reinforce trust and credibility while shutting down impersonators before they cause harm. 

Conclusions: Protecting Your Brand with a Free Audit 

Cybercriminals create sociable scams across consumer platforms, putting your brand, your team, and your customers at risk. Beyond that, they promote their fake profiles with paid ads that borrow trust from social media channels to steal and deceive. If your brand isn’t actively monitoring social media and ads, you don’t even know what’s out there. 

Take control today with a free social media and ad audit. Together, we’ll scan your landscape to unmask impersonators and stop them in their tracks.

The post Social Media Monitoring and Ad Scams: Unmasking Impersonators  appeared first on EBRAND.

In this guide, we’re breaking down the trends, and pulling straightforward takeaways for businesses. Let’s explore the facts behind the threats, and create a practical plan to keep your business safe. Covering topics like Online Brand Protection (OBP) and Digital Risk Protection (DRP), we’ll outline an effective digital defence strategy, so let’s get into it. 

The Rising Tide of Cyber Threats 

Cybercrime’s financial impact continues to grow at an alarming rate, with projections showing it will cost the global economy £10.5 trillion annually by 2025. Attackers exploit vulnerabilities across all business functions, from core IT systems to brand reputation. We’ve seen hospitals paralyzed by ransomware attacks that disrupt critical patient care, while retailers and financial institutions battle sophisticated impersonation scams that erode customer trust and divert revenue. These aren’t hypothetical scenarios – they’re daily occurrences in today’s threat landscape. 

The financial consequences of cyber incidents reach unprecedented levels with each new attack. Recent data reveals that organisations now require an average of 258 days to identify and contain a breach, with each incident costing a record £4.88 million on average. In the UK alone, more than half of all businesses reported experiencing at least one cyberattack in the past five years, resulting in estimated losses of £44 billion in revenue. These figures demonstrate the cyber threat security revolution, as attack go from technical nuisances to existential business risks demanding executive-level attention. 

Medium and large companies? Medium and large risks

Cybercriminals go where the money is—and that means targeting medium and large businesses. These companies typically invest more in cyber threat security and brand protection, but they also have more to lose. Higher revenues come with higher stakes. 

According to the UK government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2025, 67% of medium businesses and 74% of large businesses reported cyber breaches or attacks—rates that remain stubbornly high and unchanged from 2024. In contrast, only 35% of micro-businesses faced the same threats, and that number continues to drop. Phishing leads the pack as the most common attack type for medium and large businesses, followed closely by impersonation scams. On average, each cyber breach costs large businesses tens of thousands on average with each attack. 

That’s where Online Brand Protection comes in. As a comprehensive solution, it helps medium and large organisations defend against counterfeiters, fraudsters, and domain squatters by safeguarding your brand’s digital identity. Digital Risk Protection adds another layer of defence—tracking phishing campaigns, leaked credentials, and executive impersonation across dark web forums, social platforms, and rogue websites. 

Together, these tools form a smarter, more proactive digital strategy—keeping your brand and revenue safer than relying on traditional cybersecurity alone. 

Cyber Threat Security in the AI Boom

Emerging technologies like AI and IoT present both opportunities and new vulnerabilities. Forward-looking organisations now practice «premortem» security planning, anticipating potential threats before deploying new technologies. This proactive approach requires integrating cybersecurity considerations across all business units – from marketing to HR to operations – rather than treating it as solely an IT responsibility. In today’s environment, effective security demands organisation-wide engagement and executive leadership. 

While cybercrime operates across international borders, effective defence begins at the organisational level. Though initiatives like Interpol’s cybercrime units and national cybersecurity programs help establish global standards, individual businesses must take primary responsibility for their protection. Companies that prioritise comprehensive cyber threat security strategies often discover an unexpected benefit – robust cybersecurity has become a competitive differentiator that builds trust with customers and partners. 

The New Security Imperative 

The most resilient organisations move beyond reactive security postures. They now maintain complete visibility of their digital footprint, monitor for threats in real-time, and take proactive measures to disrupt attackers before they can execute their plans. These companies understand that brand protection and cybersecurity must work in concert, and they recognise security investments as business enablers rather than just cost centres. 

In our interconnected digital economy, comprehensive protection of brand assets and digital infrastructure has become fundamental to business continuity. OBP and DRP solutions are no longer optional enhancements – they’re critical components of any modern business strategy. Organisations that fail to prioritise these protections risk more than just data breaches; they jeopardise customer trust, brand reputation, and ultimately, their viability in the marketplace. 

Take the First Step Towards Comprehensive Cyber Threat Security 

Discover your organisation’s exposure to digital threats with our Free Threat Exposure Audit. We’ll scan the surface web, social media, and dark web channels to identify potential risks targeting your business. 

Let’s discuss how integrated Digital Risk Protection and Online Brand Protection solutions can safeguard your organisation before attackers strike with proactive cyber threat security. Now’s the time to act, before the next security breach makes headlines.  

The post How to build proactive cyber threat security for my business  appeared first on EBRAND.

As Ayrton Senna, one of the greatest drivers in Formula 1 history, famously said: “You cannot overtake 15 cars in sunny weather… but you can when it’s raining.”

Right now, we’re in the rain. From geopolitical instability and inflation to shifting trade rules and tariffs, supply chain bottlenecks, and rising cyber threats, the global business climate is anything but stable. Due to economic pressures, consumers make an effort to look for best bargains and more often consider buying counterfeits or look-alikes. And in that instability lies opportunity – for brands that stay visible, vigilant, and protected.

The high cost of doing nothing – or of doing too little

When counterfeiters, scammers, and bad actors become more active during downturns, the greatest risk isn’t action – it’s inaction. And that risk is no longer theoretical.

According to the EUIPO, counterfeit spirits and wine alone account for more than €1.3 billion in lost annual sales across the EU. That’s 3.3% of the sector’s entire revenue base – without even considering imports or losses from counterfeiting in non – EU markets. Add in broader impacts on the economy and government revenue, and the total climbs to €3 billion in losses and over 23,000 jobs affected. And this is just one industry.

Across sectors – from electronics to fashion, from pharmaceuticals to cosmetics – the share of counterfeits can reach up to or sometimes more than 10% of the total market. These aren’t isolated incidents. They’re part of vast, coordinated criminal networks operating across marketplaces, social media, and private messaging platforms.

Doing nothing doesn’t protect your brand. It invites erosion  –  of revenue, reputation, and trust.

How protecting brands helps grow your business

In uncertain times, the best brands don’t just hold the line – they double down on clarity, control, and customer trust. At EBRAND, we help companies take that step forward with an integrated approach to brand protection, digital risk monitoring, and domain management.

It’s not about reaction. It’s about strategy.

Our Online Brand Protection platform, powered by ARGOS, goes far beyond simple takedowns. We conduct deep – dive investigations into large – scale infringement operations – identifying clusters of counterfeit sellers, uncovering patterns, and connecting the dots across websites, seller accounts, and even logistics networks. This lets our clients target the source, not just the symptoms.

Rather than chasing thousands of low-level sellers, we’re protecting brands by focusing on the real damage: the repeat offenders, the large – scale counterfeit networks, and the organized operators behind global revenue loss.

We work closely with legal teams, platforms, and local enforcement authorities to bring meaningful enforcement action – not just delisting, but sustained disruption.

Digital risk is business risk

Meanwhile, the digital threat landscape is becoming increasingly aggressive – and increasingly invisible.

With our Digital Risk Protection solution X-RAY, EBRAND scans the surface web, deep web, and dark web for threats that impact brand reputation, consumer safety, and executive security. That includes phishing sites, impersonation attacks, leaked credentials, and fraud rings operating across encrypted platforms like Telegram or private Discord servers.

What sets our approach apart is contextual intelligence. Instead of flagging isolated threats, we identify relationships – clusters of phishing campaigns, coordinated misinformation attacks, or impersonation activity that spans channels. You get real – time alerts, clear attribution, and the ability to prioritize threats that matter most to your business and your customers.

Owning the digital front line

It’s easy to overlook your domain portfolio when budgets are tight. But for many brands, their domain strategy is the first line of defense – and a critical asset that underpins global operations.

Our Corporate Domain Management service gives businesses the structure and oversight needed to secure digital perimeters. That means consolidating domain holdings across markets, protecting against DNS hijacking, and monitoring for abuse at scale. In an environment where impersonation and cybersquatting can spark brand and legal crises overnight, these aren’t IT tasks – they’re business – critical.

We also support clients during M&A, product launches, and geographic expansion to ensure their digital assets reflect their strategy – securely and efficiently.

Overtaking in the rain: Protecting brands in market turmoil

The real opportunity of tough times isn’t in playing defense – it’s in playing smarter. While others hesitate, resilient brands invest in visibility, resilience, and control. And when the market rebounds, they’re already in front.

At EBRAND, we help businesses take the lead in protecting brands when others are just trying to stay on track:

• By monitoring risk across the visible and invisible web with real – time intelligence
• By investigating complex infringement networks and removing them at the root
• By defending digital territory with comprehensive, global solutions, supported by local experts

The brands that will grow in the next decade are those who protect what matters – not when the skies clear, but while the storm is still overhead.

The post «You can when it’s raining» – Protecting brands in market turmoil appeared first on EBRAND.

Here, we’ll explore the evolving threat landscape facing online banks, from phishing scams to social media fraud and fake apps. We’ll also show how a smart Digital Risk Protection (DRP) solution can help organizations, leadership teams, and consumers stay safe by proactively identifying and mitigating risks across hundreds of online channels.  

In brief: How to chase banking cyberattackers away from your assets

In short, the answer lies in a Digital Risk Protection solution that scours all relevant online threat channels to detect and neutralize risks. This includes: 

• Suspicious domains with active mail servers sending phishing emails. 
• Fake apps on platforms like the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. 
• Dark web paste bins where hackers share stolen credit card details. 
• Social media impersonations and fraudulent ads targeting your customers. 

By compiling these insights into a single source of truth, DRP solutions empower banks to stay ahead of cybercriminals. Detecting threats as soon as they arise also helps you unleash effective takedown and enforcement tools to enforce your digital perimeter. However, before we get into that, let’s explore the most common types of cyberattacks facing modern banks and finance companies online.  

What’s driving the rise in cyberattacks against online banks? 

Cybercriminals chase banking firms across the internet with unprecedented ease thanks to the democratization of AI tools. Where once it took advanced coding skills to create a fake landing page or configure an MX server, now even a child can do it with a smartphone. Similarly, scammers no longer need fluent native English to impersonate a CEO or customer support agent—AI-powered chatbots and large language models (LLMs) enable flawless text, voice, and even video impersonations.  

This accessibility, and the money at play, fuels surge in attacks against online banks. These attacks often fall into one of the five categories below.

1. Phishing: The gateway to financial fraud 

Phishing remains one of the most common and effective attack vectors. Cybercriminals use spear phishing, CEO fraud, and deepfake technology to trick employees and customers into revealing sensitive information.  

In the UK, scammers stole over £1 billion from the banking industry in 2022 alone. One notable case involved a European bank that lost €70 million in a CEO fraud scheme launched from another country. These attacks often start with a single email or message, but their consequences can be devastating.  

Spear phishing, in particular, targets high-level executives with personalized messages, while deepfake technology allows scammers to impersonate CEOs in video calls. The combination of these tactics makes phishing a persistent and evolving threat.  

2. Social media scams: Attackers chase banking consumers with ads 

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn have become hotbeds for banking scams. Cybercriminals create fake profiles, run fraudulent ads, and send direct messages to impersonate banks and their employees.  

Fake investment ads on Facebook and Instagram have duped countless users into handing over their savings. Scammers use stolen logos, images, and credentials to make their campaigns appear legitimate. These tactics erode consumer trust and damage brand reputation, making social media monitoring a critical component of any cybersecurity strategy.  

For example, a recent investigation revealed that fraudulent investment ads on Facebook and Instagram targeted vulnerable users, promising high returns on fake schemes. Without proper monitoring, these scams can go unnoticed for months, causing significant financial and reputational harm.  

3. Deceptive login page scams

Once upon a time, it was easy to tell when you click on a fake login page for your banking provider. Typos, website imagery, and dodgy internal links all presented dead giveaways, but nowadays, that’s no longer the case. Scammers create and mass-produce picture-perfect banking and investment websites, mirroring legitimate brands of all shapes and sizes. They host these pages on lookalike domains and unused domain extensions, hiding them from authorities and deploying devious distribution tactics to chase banking consumers across the internet.

Using the aforementioned social media and email campaigns to spread their malicious login pages to customers and colleagues, they also use unique hosting tactics to avoid detection. Scammers exploit the fact that banks operate across international markets, and the fact that users prefer different devices to access financial services online, including computers, mobile phones, and even tablets. If a cybercriminal configures a fake login page that only materializes on mobile, and only when the mobile operates in the country of Luxembourg, for example, how is a CISO or SOC team working on computers in a head office in New York, London, or Munich going to detect it? And how can they take it down. Thankfully, as we’ll continue to explore in this guide, well-protected organizations leverage Digital Risk Protection services to keep themselves and their users safe. 

4. Fake Apps: A growing threat on app stores 

Fake banking apps pose another major concern for finance industry CISOs. Cybercriminals upload these apps to official platforms like the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, where they can easily deceive unsuspecting users.  

In one case, two Irish men were arrested for creating a fake banking app that stole user credentials. These apps often mimic the branding and functionality of legitimate banking apps, making them difficult to detect. Without proper monitoring, fake apps can lead to significant financial losses and reputational damage.  

The challenge lies in the sheer volume of apps uploaded daily, making it difficult for app stores to catch every fraudulent submission. This underscores the need for proactive monitoring by banks themselves.  

5. Smear Campaigns: Reputational damage and legal risks 

Growing online banks and new players are particularly vulnerable to smear campaigns. Cybercriminals and competitors alike can exploit social media, forums, and other platforms to spread false information and damage reputations.  

Revolut, for example, faced legal challenges and reputational damage due to a so-called “de-banking” case. Proactive monitoring and takedown of malicious content are essential to safeguarding your brand’s integrity.  

Smear campaigns can take many forms, from fake reviews to coordinated attacks on social media. Their damage often sticks in the memories of peers and the public, affecting subconscious perceptions and conscious actions alike. Ultimately, these kinds of tactics dislodge customer trust and knock investor confidence.  

Conclusions: How to chase banking cyberattackers away

The threat landscape for online banks is evolving rapidly, but with the right tools, you can stay one step ahead. A Digital Risk Protection solution provides the visibility and control needed to identify and neutralize threats before they escalate.  

If you want to see what’s out there, and identify cyberattackers impersonating your banking firm, you can also use a free audit. This tool shines a spotlight on any relevant digital channels around your organization, from domains to app stores to social media and beyond. The insights help you identify any scammers lurking in the digital darkness, waiting to strike. In a world where compliance regulations and market competition tighten every quarter, the proactive approach proves safer, more strategic, and more cost-effective for banks and financial institutions. 

The post New waves of cyberattacks chase banking firms and their clients appeared first on EBRAND.