Brand Monitoring Tools
In the context of cybersecurity, brand monitoring tools are software applications that organizations use to track and analyze their brand's presence and reputation across various digital channels. Incorporating cybersecurity-focused capabilities, these tools go beyond traditional marketing and public relations monitoring.
Here's a detailed explanation:
Core Functions and Cybersecurity Focus
While traditional brand monitoring focuses on tracking mentions, sentiment, and reach for marketing purposes, brand monitoring tools with a cybersecurity context include these additional functions:
Detection of Brand Impersonation: These tools monitor for fake websites, social media accounts, and other online assets that impersonate an organization's brand. This is critical for identifying and taking action against phishing attacks, fraud, and other malicious activities that exploit brand trust.
Identification of Data Leaks and Exposed Credentials: Brand monitoring tools scan online sources, including the dark web, for leaked credentials or sensitive data associated with the organization. This allows for proactive measures to secure compromised accounts and data.
Monitoring for Malicious Use of Brand: These tools detect instances where the brand is being used in association with illegal or harmful activities, such as the sale of counterfeit goods, illicit services, or the spread of misinformation.
Analysis of Social Media for Threats: In addition to tracking brand sentiment, these tools analyze social media for potential cybersecurity threats, such as coordinated disinformation campaigns, threats of violence, or cyberattack planning.
Domain Monitoring: Brand monitoring tools track the registration of new domain names similar to the organization's brand. This helps identify and prevent typosquatting, a technique attackers use to trick users into visiting malicious websites.
To explain how ThreatNG helps with brand monitoring in cybersecurity, let’s highlight ThreatNG’s capabilities,:
ThreatNG performs purely external unauthenticated discovery without connectors.
This capability is fundamental to brand monitoring as it identifies all external-facing assets that could be used to impersonate a brand or otherwise harm its reputation.
ThreatNG provides several external assessment capabilities that are highly relevant to brand monitoring:
Brand Damage Susceptibility: ThreatNG derives this from attack surface intelligence, digital risk intelligence, ESG Violations, Sentiment and Financials (Lawsuits, SEC filings, SEC Form 8-Ks, and Negative News), and Domain Intelligence (Domain Name Permutations and Web3 Domains that are available and taken).
This is a direct assessment of factors that can contribute to brand damage.
For example, the tool analyzes negative news and social sentiment, which is crucial for understanding how the brand is perceived.
Domain Intelligence: ThreatNG's domain intelligence capabilities are critical for detecting and preventing brand impersonation tactics like typosquatting.
It includes Domain Name Permutations (Taken and Available) and Web3 Domains (Taken and Available).
This helps identify potentially malicious domains similar to the legitimate brand domain.
Mobile App Exposure: ThreatNG discovers mobile apps related to the organization in marketplaces.
This is important because malicious actors may create fake mobile apps to impersonate a brand, distribute malware, or steal user data.
For example, ThreatNG can identify apps containing access or security credentials, which could indicate a risk.
3. Reporting
ThreatNG provides reporting capabilities, including reports on security ratings.
These reports can help organizations track their brand's security posture over time and demonstrate the effectiveness of brand monitoring efforts.
ThreatNG continuously monitors external attack surface, digital risk, and security ratings.
This is essential for brand monitoring because it allows organizations to detect and respond to brand-related threats in real time.
ThreatNG's investigation modules provide detailed information that is valuable for investigating brand-related incidents:
Domain Intelligence: This module provides critical information for investigating potential brand impersonation through domain name variations.
Social Media: ThreatNG analyzes posts from the organization under investigation, which can help understand brand sentiment and detect potential threats on social media platforms.
Dark Web Presence: ThreatNG monitors the dark web for mentions of the organization, associated ransomware events, and compromised credentials.
This is crucial for detecting potential brand abuse and data leaks. For example, discovering compromised credentials associated with a brand can indicate a higher risk of account takeover and brand impersonation.
ThreatNG uses intelligence repositories, including dark web data, compromised credentials, and ESG violations.
These repositories provide valuable context for assessing brand-related risks. For example, information on compromised credentials can help understand the potential for account takeover attacks that damage brand reputation.
7. Working with Complementary Solutions
While the document doesn't provide explicit details on ThreatNG's integrations, its capabilities suggest it could work with other solutions:
ThreatNG's brand monitoring data, such as social media analysis and dark web mentions, could be integrated into a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system to provide a more comprehensive view of brand-related threats.
ThreatNG’s API could feed data into other brand management platforms for a unified approach to brand protection.
