Summary
Monitoring unauthorized brand use in email marketing involves a multifaceted approach, combining technical solutions, monitoring tools, and crowdsourced methods. Implementing DMARC, SPF, and DKIM is fundamental for preventing email spoofing, complemented by analyzing DMARC reports. Brand monitoring services, like those from Mark Monitor, RiskIQ, BrandVerity, ZeroFox, Bolster, Proofpoint, Red Sift, and Mimecast, scan for trademark infringement, phishing attacks, and brand mentions across the internet, social media, and dark web. Google Safe Browsing and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 also provide protection by identifying malicious websites and blocking impersonation attempts. Furthermore, setting up Google Alerts and actively monitoring social media channels helps in early detection. A crowdsourced approach, using well-managed abuse and support aliases, along with feedback loops and complaint management, aids in identifying and mitigating brand abuse. Overall, a layered strategy that integrates both automated tools and proactive manual monitoring is essential for comprehensive brand protection.
Key findings
- DMARC Implementation: Implementing DMARC, SPF, and DKIM is crucial for preventing email spoofing and protecting your brand.
- Brand Monitoring Services: Dedicated brand monitoring services scan for trademark infringement, phishing attempts, and unauthorized brand mentions.
- Social Media & Dark Web Monitoring: Monitoring social media channels and dark web forums helps identify potential threats and unauthorized brand use.
- AI-Powered Solutions: AI-powered solutions can automatically detect and remove fraudulent content impersonating your brand.
- Crowdsourced Approach: Using abuse and support aliases, feedback loops, and complaint management facilitates identifying and addressing brand abuse issues.
Key considerations
- Resource Allocation: Consider the costs and benefits of different tools and services, balancing automated solutions with manual monitoring.
- Proactive vs. Reactive: Focus on both proactive measures (like DMARC) to prevent abuse and reactive measures (like monitoring) to detect and mitigate incidents.
- Technical Expertise: Implementing and managing DMARC and other technical solutions requires specialized knowledge.
- Holistic Approach: Combine technical measures, monitoring services, and crowdsourced feedback for a comprehensive brand protection strategy.
- Evolving Threats: Stay informed about evolving threats and adapt your monitoring strategy accordingly.
What email marketers say
11 marketer opinions
Monitoring unauthorized brand use in email marketing involves a multi-faceted approach, combining automated tools with manual methods. Solutions range from trademark monitoring services analyzing domain registrations and link shorteners, to AI-powered platforms detecting fraudulent content and phishing attempts. Social media and dark web monitoring, along with setting up Google Alerts, help identify brand mentions and potential threats. Implementing email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and analyzing DMARC reports are also critical. A combination of these strategies offers comprehensive brand protection.
Key opinions
- Trademark Monitoring: Services like Mark Monitor and RiskIQ track trademark infringement by monitoring domain registrations and link shorteners.
- AI-Powered Protection: Platforms like Bolster and Proofpoint use AI to identify and remove fraudulent content and block phishing attacks.
- Social Media Monitoring: Monitoring social media, dark web forums, and online channels helps detect unauthorized brand use and potential threats.
- Google Alerts: Setting up Google Alerts helps quickly identify websites and social media posts using your brand without permission.
- Email Authentication: Implementing SPF, DKIM, and DMARC and monitoring DMARC reports helps prevent email spoofing and identify unauthorized email sources.
Key considerations
- Comprehensive Approach: A combination of automated tools and manual monitoring is crucial for comprehensive brand protection.
- Beyond Email: Brand monitoring should extend beyond email to include social media, dark web, and other online channels.
- Proactive Measures: Implementing email authentication protocols (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) proactively helps prevent brand abuse.
- Early Detection: Using Google Alerts and social media monitoring helps detect unauthorized brand use early.
- Resource Allocation: Consider the resources required for manual monitoring and choose automated tools that fit your budget and needs.
Marketer view
Email marketer from Proofpoint shares that their Email Fraud Defense solution identifies and blocks fraudulent emails that impersonate your brand. It uses machine learning to detect anomalies and prevent phishing attacks.
27 Jun 2021 - Proofpoint
Marketer view
Email marketer from Reddit suggests setting up Google Alerts for your brand name, common misspellings, and variations. This can help you quickly identify websites or social media posts that are using your brand without permission, which might indicate unauthorized email campaigns.
5 Dec 2022 - Reddit
What the experts say
4 expert opinions
Monitoring unauthorized brand use in email involves implementing DMARC policies for authentication and exploring crowdsourced methods like abuse/support aliases. Feedback loops and complaint management are crucial for mitigation.
Key opinions
- DMARC Implementation: DMARC policies are essential for brand protection by specifying how receiving mail servers handle unauthenticated emails.
- Crowdsourced Approach: Managed abuse and support aliases can help discover brand impersonations through user reports.
- Feedback Loops: Feedback loops provide data on email deliverability and recipient complaints.
- Complaint Management: Complaint management assists in identifying and addressing issues related to brand abuse.
Key considerations
- Commercial Service Availability: The availability and effectiveness of commercial brand monitoring services should be evaluated.
- Resource Allocation: Allocating resources for managing abuse and support aliases is crucial for a crowdsourced approach.
- Technical Expertise: Implementing and maintaining DMARC policies requires technical expertise.
- Holistic Approach: Combining technical measures (DMARC) with user feedback and active management is recommended.
Expert view
Expert from Email Geeks shares that he had plans to implement a brand monitoring system but didn't find any commercial services when he looked a couple of years ago.
12 Mar 2024 - Email Geeks
Expert view
Expert from Spam Resource explains that implementing DMARC policies is essential for brand protection, allowing domain owners to specify how receiving mail servers should handle unauthenticated email appearing to come from their domains.
2 Jul 2021 - Spam Resource
What the documentation says
5 technical articles
Tools and methods to monitor unauthorized brand use in email marketing heavily rely on DMARC and anti-phishing solutions. DMARC, as detailed by DMARC.org and implemented through services like Red Sift's OnDMARC, authenticates email sources to prevent spoofing. Google Safe Browsing helps identify malicious websites impersonating brands. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Mimecast's Brand Exploit Protect offer anti-phishing protection, using machine learning to detect and block brand impersonation attempts and unauthorized email campaigns.
Key findings
- DMARC Authentication: DMARC is a key standard for authenticating email sources and preventing domain spoofing.
- Phishing Protection: Solutions like Microsoft Defender and Mimecast's Brand Exploit Protect use machine learning to block brand impersonation and phishing attacks.
- Website Monitoring: Google Safe Browsing identifies malicious websites that may be impersonating brands for fraudulent email campaigns.
Key considerations
- Implementation Complexity: Implementing DMARC effectively requires technical expertise and ongoing monitoring of reports.
- Service Integration: Integrating anti-phishing solutions like Microsoft Defender or Mimecast requires consideration of existing email infrastructure.
- Proactive Defense: These tools offer proactive defense against brand abuse rather than solely reactive monitoring.
- Layered Approach: Combining DMARC implementation with website and email monitoring tools provides a layered approach to brand protection.
Technical article
Documentation from Red Sift shares that OnDMARC helps protect against domain impersonation and phishing attacks, which are forms of unauthorized brand use in email. It uses DMARC to authenticate email sources and prevent fraudulent emails from reaching recipients.
2 Jun 2025 - Red Sift
Technical article
Documentation from Microsoft explains that Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers anti-phishing protection by detecting and blocking email attacks that impersonate your brand. It uses machine learning to identify suspicious emails and prevent them from reaching users.
24 Jan 2024 - Microsoft
How can a phishing email pass SPF and DKIM authentication checks?
How can I prevent brand and sender profile impersonation in emails and what actions can I take?
How can I protect my domain from being spoofed and blacklisted?
How to identify and handle email forging and replay attacks?
How to identify and handle spoofed emails violating DMARC policies?
What actions should I take if my inbox is spoofed and how will it impact my sender reputation?
