Brand infringement is any unauthorized use of a brand’s identity, assets, or reputation in a way that misleads consumers or supports fraudulent activity. It includes fake sites, counterfeit products, copied content, spoofed emails, fraudulent social media accounts, malicious apps, and broader scam operations, with the goal of exploiting trust in a legitimate brand for financial gain.
As brands expanded their digital presence, infringement expanded with it. This activity now happens at a scale that pushes it out of the legal department’s traditional orbit and into the realm of cybersecurity.
Brand Infringement as a Security Issue
Attackers operate fast and in high volume. Global phishing and scam pages increased from 10.5 million to 13.4 million in 2023, a 27.8 percent rise compared to 2022, according to Bolster’s Phishing and Online Fraud Report. ZDNet reported three billion phishing emails sent each day—and that was in 2021!
Criminals know security teams are overloaded and use volume as a tactic, often flooding brands with new incidents overnight, and manual brand protection workflows cannot keep up. Legal review cycles and case-by-case investigations were never designed for an environment where new impersonation pages can appear seconds after a takedown.
Modern programs require speed, automation, and continuous monitoring, which is exactly why brand protection has become a core component of external cybersecurity.
The Most Common Types of Brand Infringement
Brand infringement covers a wide range of tactics. Many map directly to threats a security operations center already handles.
Counterfeit products: Online marketplaces make it easy for criminals to list knockoff goods while impersonating the original brand.
Fake websites: Fraudulent sites can sell counterfeits, collect credentials, or act as infrastructure for larger phishing campaigns.
Copyright abuse: Images, videos, product photos, artwork, and text are copied and repurposed to make scams appear legitimate.
Phishing: Phishing remains one of the top attack vectors in cybersecurity and one of the most frequent forms of brand impersonation. Fake emails or pages lure victims into entering sensitive information.
Business email compromise: Attackers spoof corporate identities, trick employees, and push fraudulent requests using lookalike domains or stolen credentials.
Social media fraud: Infringement is significantly more common on social platforms. Fake accounts, impersonation profiles, and fraudulent promotions spread quickly.
Account takeovers: Stolen credentials lead to compromised accounts, which attackers use for data theft, malware installation, or further impersonation.
Fraud and scam campaigns: Some campaigns run long-term operations with coordinated infrastructure, multiple impersonation pages, and repeated victim targeting.
Typosquatting: Attackers register near-identical domains using small character changes.
Malicious apps: Fake mobile apps harvest information, serve intrusive ads, or push counterfeit goods.
Effective Protection Against Brand Infringement
Because attackers rely on scale, brand protection programs must roll out the following:
Automation: Automated detection and classification reduce response time.
Accuracy: False positives overwhelm teams. AI and machine learning help filter noise and reveal real threats.
Proactive remediation: Blacklists fall behind active attackers. Continuous detection and rapid takedowns limit the window of exploitation.
Real-time response: Faster decision-making narrows the opportunity for scammers to reach customers.
Continuous monitoring: Threats appear at all hours. Effective programs watch the web, social networks, app stores, and other channels around the clock.
Trusted partnerships: Strong vendors understand both cybersecurity and brand protection and can support large-scale monitoring and enforcement.
Where Brand Protection and Cybersecurity Converge
Brand infringement affects both legal enforcement and security risk. Legal teams handle takedowns. Security teams manage digital detection, monitoring, and response at scale. Together, supported by automation and AI, they form a unified defense strategy.
Modern infringement moves fast and targets every digital touchpoint. With the right approach, brands can match attacker speed, reduce exposure, and protect customers before fraud spreads.
