With the increased use of social tools for business communications, social media security is more important than ever. While the benefits of social are clear, there are risks to be wary of. According to the EY Global Information Security Survey, 59% of organizations had a “material or significant incident” in the past 12 months.

Among many digital risks in social media space, Brand Impersonation and Executive Impersonation are on the top list for business.

Brand Impersonation

Sometimes called brandjacking, it usually takes the form of fake social media accounts. Cybercrinials normally create fake accounts in the name of a target organization that claim to be official. Once setup, they do everything possible to make the account seem legitimate, including copying banner images and account descriptions from the target organization’s official social media accounts. The goal of  bad actor is to gather information on the people that follow or like the social media account, or to run fake promotions that will generate activity around the account and help it increase the number of followers.

VIP Impersonation

Although this can happen to anyone, executives in business are more valuable to the attackers. Executive impersonation is also called VIP impersonation, bad actors normally setup account to impersonate an executive or board member of a business. These accounts are used to connect with other people within the business, or with other businesses to then gather sensitive information on the business or people within the business. Executive Impersonation can sometimes lead to BEC fraud/CEO fraud which will damage the business both financially  and reputationally.

What Can Brands Do About It?

Brand impersonation on social media isn’t going anywhere. The best practice is actively monitor the web for brand abuse and impersonation and take immediate action to have them removed wherever they arise.