Press Releases

Luxury Brands, Cheap Domains: Why Retailers Are Losing The Fight Against Online Counterfeiting

Infosecurity Europe, London, England, June 6th, 2017 – Today Farsight Security, Inc. and DomainTools, the leaders in DNS-based cyber threat intelligence, will unveil a new report,Luxury Brands, Cheap Domains: Why Retailers Are Losing the Fight Against Online Counterfeiting at Infosecurity Europe. Europe’s no.1 information security event, taking place from June 6-8, 2017 at the Olympia Conference Centre located in London.

Retailers, specifically luxury brands, remain a lucrative target for cybercriminals. To reveal the enormous scope of this risk, Farsight Security and DomainTools examined the domains of four international luxury brands known for their sought-after designer watches, clothing, handbags and accessories. By using Farsight historical Passive DNS and DomainTools Whois and domain profile data, Farsight and DomainTools security researchers reveal how cybercriminals are exploiting the Domain Name System (DNS) to commit fraud – using cheap domains and other techniques to lure unsuspecting consumers to buy knock-off luxury goods.

Among the findings of the report:

  • A given brand could have 100,000 or more possible domain names for each of its properties
  • Thousands of domains exist using a company’s trademark names
  • Counterfeiting risk is high – hundreds of domains found with terms such as “cheap and “fake,” as well as domains purporting to be retail outlets, but whose registration records showed no connection to the brand or related operations
  • Brand infringement domains have wide distribution across TLDs, but .com predominates
  • Brand infringement domains appear to have relatively low rates of malware, phishing and spam
  • Brand holders don’t use Whois privacy, but imitators do

Infosecurity Europe conference attendees can pick up a copy of the report at Farsight Security Stand K30 or DomainTools Stand S69. The report is also available for download.

Earlier this year, Farsight Security and DomainTools announced a new partnership to integrate Farsight DNSDB into DomainTools Iris Investigation platform. To learn more about the report, including the methodology and how their solutions can protect retail brands, conference registrants are invited to attend a special lively, fun networking event hosted by Farsight Security and DomainTools, “Unwind & Relax,” to be held at a traditional British pub on Wednesday, June 7th. To register, please visit here.

About Farsight Security, Inc.

Farsight Security, Inc. provides the world’s largest real-time threat intelligence on changes to the Internet. Leveraging proprietary technology with over 200,000 DNS resolutions/second, Farsight provides the Internet’s view of an organization and how it is changing purposely, inadvertently or maliciously. For more information on Farsight Security, Inc., please visit https://farsightsecurity.com.

About DomainTools

DomainTools helps security analysts turn threat data into threat intelligence. We take indicators from your network, including domains and IPs, and connect them with nearly every active domain on the Internet. Those connections inform risk assessments, help profile attackers, guide online fraud investigations, and map cyber activity to attacker infrastructure. Fortune 1000 companies, global government agencies, and leading security solution vendors use the DomainTools platform as a critical ingredient in their threat investigation and mitigation work. Learn more about how to connect the dots on malicious activity at https://www.domaintools.com or follow us on Twitter:@domaintools