Learn why prevention is becoming the better investment. Here are lessons from her Q&A with Brand Safety Alliance (GlobalBlock).
Key takeaways:
- Preventing threats often costs less than recovering from them.
- Your biggest brand risks may come from the domains you don’t own.
- A proactive brand protection strategy helps reduce risk before problems arise.
The cost of brand protection goes beyond the initial investment. Recovery from phishing, impersonation, and other threats can add significant time, expense, and effort. Network Solutions Senior Product Manager Caroline Kay wants businesses to get ahead of that. In her recent Q&A with Brand Safety Alliance (GlobalBlock), she made the case for building protection early and adjusting it as new risks emerge, rather than reacting after the fact.
Here are her key lessons, starting with why waiting costs more.
Lesson #1: Prevention costs less than recovery
For many businesses, the first question is, “What does brand protection cost?” Kay believes there’s a better question to ask: “What’s the cost of being exposed?” The upfront cost is only part of the picture. Responding after an attack often costs far more than many businesses expect.
Taking a proactive approach can help reduce those risks before they turn into costly problems. Instead of responding to incidents one by one, businesses can focus on protecting their brand before bad actors have the chance to exploit it.
Lesson #2: The biggest risk isn’t the domains you own, it’s the ones you don’t
Your .com domain is an important piece of your online presence, but it isn’t the only one. Today, there are hundreds of domain extensions where your brand name could be registered, and bad actors are more likely to go after the ones you haven’t secured.
Kay pointed out that it only takes one overlooked domain to open the door to phishing or impersonation. As a business grows, so does its digital footprint. That’s why protecting a brand doesn’t end with securing a few key domains. Finding the gaps before someone else does matters just as much.
Lesson #3: Buying more domains isn’t a long-term strategy
Registering more domains isn’t always the answer. As the number of domain extensions continues to grow, managing every variation becomes harder, costlier, and more time-consuming. Businesses also need to keep track of renewals, monitor larger portfolios, and adapt as new opportunities for abuse emerge.
Kay believes businesses don’t need to keep adding domains one at a time. The better approach is to extend protection without adding more work. That’s where GlobalBlock can help. It expands protection across hundreds of domain extensions without requiring you to manage each one separately.
If you’d like to learn more about how it works, check out our guide on What is GlobalBlock.
Lesson #4: Brand protection has to keep up with change
The internet doesn’t stay the same for long, and neither do the tactics bad actors use. New domain extensions, AI, and emerging technologies like Web3 have created new opportunities for brand abuse. That said, a strategy that worked yesterday may no longer be effective against every risk today.
Kay’s advice is simple: Don’t build your strategy around today’s threats alone. The online world will keep changing, and your approach to brand protection should change with it. That’s why planning can help you stay prepared without having to start over every time something new comes along.
Lesson #5: Protecting your brand starts with the right mindset
Each business approaches brand protection differently, but Kay believes the goal is the same: reduce risk before it turns into a problem. That means thinking beyond today’s needs and making protection part of your long-term strategy instead of treating it as a one-time task.
As she puts it, “It’s not about how many domains you own. It’s about how many you’re leaving exposed.“ It’s a simple reminder that protecting your brand isn’t about checking a box. It’s about understanding where you’re vulnerable and taking steps to close those gaps.
So, where does that leave businesses? If there’s one lesson to take away from her advice, it’s this: brand protection works best when it’s part of your strategy, not your response to a problem. If you’d like to learn more, read Kay’s full interview on the GlobalBlock blog or check out our GlobalBlock webinar recap for more insights into proactive brand protection.
Rethink how you protect your brand.
Prevention often costs less than recovery. GlobalBlock helps reduce brand exposure by blocking brand-matching domains across hundreds of domain extensions.
