Proxies are usually associated with online activities such as access to geo-blocked content and web scraping. A proxy server, commonly known as a proxy, is an application that acts as a gateway to the internet, enabling the veiling of computer IP addresses.
Proxy servers, therefore, are ideal online anonymity agents. They ensure that all information requested by your browser, first passes through their server, before it reaches the website requested. This chain of activity veils your IP address and displays the proxy server’s address instead.
Proxy servers have become useful tools in the war against brand infringement. Your brand protection strategy will fall short of its fulfillment if you leave out the cybercrime deterrent benefits of the proxy server.
What is Brand Protection?
Data shows that over half of all brands lose their revenue to pirated or counterfeit goods. One in every three businesses loses at least 10% of their expected income to fake goods producers. More data shows that close to 60% of companies say that brand protection and safety is going to become difficult as e-commerce businesses take over from brick and mortar store sales.
Piracy, counterfeiting, brand abuse, and cybersquatting have become key brand protection loopholes that are pushing many a business’s revenues down. Brand protection is the process of preventing these cases of brand infringement. This process also involves the security of a business’s customers from online crime and the dangers of counterfeits.
Additionally, brand protection helps to maintain customer trust and ensure their safety. Brand infringement can trigger very undesirable emotions in your customers that will not only adversely affect your sales but your reputation as well. Proxy servers can help alleviate these problems and help you to reign in cases of phishing scams, social media breaches, and impersonators that could put your business in the wrong light.
The high costs of cybercrime
Cybercrime is snowballing and is set to cost businesses $5.2 trillion in the next five years. Most of these attacks are aimed at small businesses, with 43% of all high tech villains’ targets being startups that have little defense mechanisms. Unfortunately, data shows that only a paltry 14% of small businesses have in place measures to deter these criminals.
The cost and the frequency of these attacks are going to keep rising and will force businesses to shut down after victimization. Most of these attacks exploit computer network vulnerabilities, which cause intangible damage to company assets and their brand reputation. A good case in point is the case of Miracle, whose client’s data was placed on the market and advertised as for sale by cybercriminals.
The brand protection capabilities of proxy servers
With a proxy server acting as protection between your business’s network and the internet, your IPs will be completely masked. For example, you can click here to learn more about how the proxy works. However, The server will also unlink your accounts to mitigate multiple losses of business accounts at the same time. Proxy servers can provide potent brand protection features such as;
- Enhancing corporate security by installing a security layer between your business’s network and the internet. The proxy server can then help to monitor and filter all outgoing and incoming web traffic. Consequently, any malicious actor tracking your online activity will only access the proxy server’s data and not your valuable business servers. This feature will protect your client’s data and ensure that your brand does not lose its credibility and public reputation.
- Increased anonymity will make your business’s actions harder to track or monitor. This feature will prevent corporate espionage and access to private and sensitive business data. As an illustration, any corporate spy trying to work out what your brand is developing will find it challenging to keep up with your web requests if they are channeled through a proxy server.
- A proxy server can create one web address that serves as an access point for your visitors. Your users will, therefore, encounter a fast and reliable internet service due to the balancing traffic features of the proxy server.
- You can use proxy networks to verify geo-targeted ads to prevent counterfeiting and copyright infringement. You can additionally set your proxy server to crawl eCommerce shops, auction sites, and other platforms to dig up any nefarious activity.
- Proxy servers can also monitor distributors and retailers in various geographical locations to ensure that they are not selling counterfeits products.
- One way of ensuring that your internal computer networks are safe is to reduce external threats. You can use a proxy server to monitor internet usage and block any website that might undermine your business’s security. By allowing you internal networks to run on a proxy server, the network administrator will be in a better position to control online traffic. They will also block access to insecure or unauthorized external connections.
Conclusion
Your brand is one of the most critical assets that your business has, and its safety is paramount to your success. Maintain a healthy and vibrant brand, and your value will increase as more investors and customers come to it. Use a proxy server to ensure that your brand is safe online.
