Preventive measures: getting in early in the fight against counterfeiting

01-05-2012

Andy Churley

The internet has never experienced such a sophisticated and globally-integrated technological crime network as the one it faces today. Online criminals have new tools at their disposal and are more adaptable than ever.

Piracy and counterfeit goods continue to be some of the fastest growing types of online fraud. Each month, thousands of pirated e-books, software applications, licence keys, music albums and movies are made available over the Internet to download for free, or to purchase as hard goods or from publicly available hosting sites and file-sharing networks.

Most anti-piracy and counterfeit measures are reactive rather than preventive, often relying on customer reports or eagle-eyed employees to police these diverse and rapidly changing networks informally.

The driving requirement of services in this new world is rapidity of detection and successful takedown in order to minimise the effect of the counterfeit goods or pirated media being offered. However, much like in medicine, the ultimate goal is prevention rather than cure. Organisations are increasingly turning to early detection methods and intelligence gathering services to identify pirated media on websites rapidly and to tackle counterfeits before they are even offered for sale.


anti-counterfeiting, online piracy, domain names, ISPs, cyberlockers

WIPR