ONLINE BRAND PROTECTION & BRAND MONITORING
Online brand protection for SMEs: know when a domain or website is using your brand
A website can look like your business without your own website or IT systems ever being compromised.
AXOUND monitors suspicious domains and websites around your brand, verifies what they are actually doing and helps you decide what to watch, review or act on.
The useful question is not only what exists. It is what deserves your attention.
Already dealing with a suspicious domain or website? Talk to us.
Your brand can be misused outside your own website
Someone does not need access to your systems to create a lookalike domain, copy parts of your website or publish a site that appears connected to your company.
Your own website can remain secure while the confusion happens somewhere else.
Customers can mistake it for you
A similar domain, familiar design or copied product information can make an unrelated website appear connected to your business.
Your identity can be used in someone else’s interaction
Your name, logo, contact details or offers can be reused in a context you do not control.
You may discover it after someone else does
Sometimes the first signal is a customer or partner asking whether a website, offer or message is really yours.
The problem exists outside the systems you control
Online brand protection starts with knowing what is appearing around your business, not only protecting the website you already own.
Similar domains do not all mean the same thing
Domain monitoring can surface registrations that resemble your company or brand. Some may be inactive, unrelated or harmless. Others deserve a closer look.
Terms such as cybersquatting and fake domains describe part of the problem, but the domain name alone does not tell you what is actually happening.
A signal
Something looks similar.
A domain resembles your name, contains a relevant term or becomes reachable. That is enough to check it, but not enough to conclude that it is impersonating your business.
A case that deserves attention
Something is using your identity in a way that may mislead.
The domain, content, branding or behaviour of the website gives a visitor a reason to believe it is connected to your business.
A signal should trigger verification, not an automatic takedown.
A similar domain is not automatically an incident. It needs to be understood in context.
WHAT AXOUND CHECKS
What AXOUND checks when something looks suspicious
When a domain or website deserves a closer look, AXOUND checks several signals separately. One may be present without the others.
01
Copy detection
Does the website reuse text, images, product information or other material from the official website?
02
Trademark use
Does it use the company name, brand or trademark in a way that needs to be understood in context?
03
Brand impersonation
Does the website present itself in a way that could make a visitor believe it is operated by, or connected to, the real business?
04
Phishing
Does the website try to persuade visitors to provide credentials, personal information, payment details or other information under a misleading identity?
These checks are observations, not automatic legal conclusions. A finding in one area does not by itself determine whether action is justified.
HOW BRAND MONITORING WORKS
From a signal to a decision
The value is not in producing the longest possible list of similar domains. It is in reducing those signals to decisions a business can actually use.
01
Detect
Surface domains and websites that resemble, reference or appear around the monitored brand.
02
Verify
Check whether they are reachable, what they display and whether the activity is current.
03
Assess
Review copy detection, trademark use, brand impersonation and phishing signals in context.
04
Decide
Determine what the current evidence justifies and place the case in Watch, Review or Act.
OUTCOME
WATCH
No current evidence requires action. Keep the domain or website under observation.
REVIEW
Something remains uncertain or deserves additional checking before a decision is made.
ACT
The current evidence justifies a response, such as a takedown request or escalation.
Detection produces signals. Assessment produces decisions
WHEN ACTION IS JUSTIFIED
A takedown request should follow the evidence
When a case moves to Act, the objective is to use the right evidence and the right channel rather than send a generic complaint.
01
Preserve what matters
Record the relevant domain, website content and supporting information before it changes or disappears.
02
Use the right channel
Identify the relevant registrar, hosting provider, platform or other intermediary, then prepare and submit the appropriate abuse or takedown request.
03
Follow the case
Track responses and provide reasonable follow-up when additional information or action is required.
AXOUND supports the operational takedown process. When formal legal analysis or enforcement is required, the appropriate legal adviser should be involved.
BRAND MONITORING
Ongoing monitoring, with action when it is justified
AXOUND Brand Monitoring checks for suspicious domains and websites around the brand names and domains being monitored, reviews meaningful findings and keeps each case in Watch, Review or Act according to the current evidence.
Monitoring
Regular monitoring for lookalike domains and suspicious websites around the brand names and domains being monitored.
Verification & assessment
Relevant findings are checked and assessed before they become recommendations for action.
Included takedown
1 standard takedown case per month when the evidence justifies action.
Monthly fee
CHF 400
Know what needs action and what does not.
AXOUND works directly with business leaders and, when needed, alongside their IT provider, hosting provider or legal adviser. The objective is not to generate more alerts, but to make sure the cases that matter are understood and followed.
Based in Geneva, AXOUND works with SMEs in Geneva, Vaud and across French-speaking Switzerland.
Prepared to keep operating and ready to recover
Geneva, Switzerland