Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Barry Adika, CEO of Brandefender (Part 2)

Barry Adika: We didn’t just look for seller information on Amazon. We looked for counterfeit products, quantities that people post online that can raise a red flag for brands.

We’ve created an algorithm that protects the domain of the brand. Let me explain a little bit about that. 70% to 80% of businesses are shifting online. We have a lot of people doing business online. Most of the hacks and attacks on online platforms also grew.

In order for somebody trying to do any kind of attack online, they buy domains that associate with big brands. For example, somebody buys a domain ray.ban.com. He targets clients by buying ads on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. He targets them and sends them a link to enter into the website.

The link is going to show up with a Ray-Ban logo and it’s going to say, “80% off. Limited only for 24 hours.” 90% of the people would open this link without looking at the full domain name. The moment they click on the domain, they’re shown products for $13.

Some of them understand that it’s fake. Some start buying online. The moment that this individual collects the first $50,000, he will shut it down and move to another domain. Now he buys Ray-Bann with two n’s. They usually move from domain to another domain.

No other company today is penetrating the domain protection the way we are. We understand how to find counterfeit websites and enforce them. Let’s say I buy a domain barry.com. We put up our information. This host has to obey a specific cyber security law for this specific region. They’re going to give us an IP address. We’re going to create a website and host it. We have to host it with somebody that has to comply with cyber security laws.

After we do that, in order for us to claim a fraud for one of our clients, we go directly to the host saying, “This IP number is using Ray-Ban logo and violating the IP of our client. This is the proof.” We send it to the host address. Automatically they have to take the website down in 24 to 48 hours.

We found a way to find an average of 30 to 50 counterfeit websites for an individual brand a month. We found a way to enforce it. The enforcing part is very important. Most of the companies will charge you a fee or will get you an IP lawyer. The people who are stealing are very smart in changing domains.

Some people buy a host in California for example, or Ontario. Why? Because the cyber security laws in every country are different. It makes it more complex to find them. What I’m telling you about right now is a business that is almost $86 billion a year in counterfeit products. Domain protection is only one of the tools that we offer. 

This segment is part 2 in the series : Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Barry Adika, CEO of Brandefender
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