ZeroFox Releases Brand Protection Trends Report, Finds 164% Increase in Cyber Threats Targeting Brands Quarter-Over-Quarter

ZeroFox unveils new generative AI tools to address spike in domain and executive impersonations noted in intelligence report

In our increasingly interconnected digital world, brands face a growing array of external cybersecurity threats that can jeopardize their reputation, customers’ trust, and financial bottom line. According to the latest trend report from ZeroFox, an enterprise software-as-a-service leader in external cybersecurity, digital threats targeting brands increased by 164% between the first and second quarters of 2023 – a significant jump that underscores the cruciality of securing an organization’s brand against digital risks such as impersonations and fraud.

In the 2023 Brand Protection Trend Report, ZeroFox Intelligence analyzed threat actor behavior targeting organizations’ brands in the second quarter of 2023. The report highlights a concerning quarter-over-quarter spike in both domain and executive impersonations seeking to exploit the trust that brands have built with their customers, causing significant damage to brand reputation and customer loyalty. Brands are a lucrative pawn for threat actors, as hijacking an already-established brand makes it easier to deceive victims in various fraud, scam, and otherwise malicious campaigns.

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Key Findings

Among the key findings in the report, ZeroFox Intelligence observed:

• A 35% increase in verified alerts for brand threats related to fraud, scams, and piracy quarter-over-quarter across the ZeroFox customer base, and a nearly 20% increase in brand-related impersonations.
• A 26% increase in fraudulent activity tied to brands observed in this quarter; more specifically, fraudulent job postings identified rose by over 50%.
• A nearly 20% increase in spoofed domains increased in the second quarter of 2023 versus the first quarter, with just over one-third tied to phishing campaigns.
• A 22% increase in key personnel and corporate social media impersonation accounts with a biography, name and image to legitimize these profiles; those that used a biography with a name only increased 35%.

“Because job seekers and consumers often blame targeted organizations for scams that abuse their brand, these organizations must proactively protect against domain and social media-based threats to preserve customer trust and maintain a positive brand reputation,” said AJ Nash, VP & Distinguished Fellow of Intelligence at ZeroFox. “These external cyber threats are not going away, particularly with the rise of synthetic media technologies – like deepfakes – that empower bad actors to easily create very convincing impersonations that threaten brand reputations every day.

Generative AI Capabilities to Better Detect the Rise in Impersonations

Earlier this year, ZeroFox announced new generative AI capabilities to augment intelligence workflows. In response to the rise in impersonation-based attacks facing brands and executives, ZeroFox created the external cybersecurity industry’s first generative AI deployment to improve impersonation alert explainability and context. Leveraging large language models, these new features make alerts clearer by including AI-generated text to explain why each alert represents an impersonation. The additional alert explainability and context will help deliver alerts faster by helping to determine if the alert is relevant for the customer.

Learn More

ZeroFox’s trend report includes recommendations to help companies better protect their brand online, including monitoring suspicious domain registrations, using AI-driven analytics to identify and alert on suspicious activities, and leveraging social media monitoring solutions to detect, analyze, and respond to threats targeting organizations.

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