Secure communications specialist VeriSign has launched a new suite of services designed to alert firms when their brand is being abused by third parties and phishers, allowing the firm to prioritise incidents and take rapid action.

The company's Digital Brand and Fraud Protection Services include an anti-phishing component that monitors email spam, malware, bot nets and domain names, and uses honey traps to detect and stop attempted phishing activity before it has a chance to spread, according to VeriSign's Tobias Wann.

"A lot of our customers know about security within their networks but they need to extend this beyond the firewall and be more proactive," he explained. " While phishers have targeted the big banks in the past, smaller organisations are being hit now."

The Counterfeit Goods service, meanwhile, will monitor online auction sites and other areas of the internet, detecting patterns that might indicate that products from an organisation are being sold on the black or grey market. An alert will then be sent to that firm for it to act on or disregard.

The suite also includes an affiliate monitoring service that tracks partners claiming to have a relationship with the firm, ensuring that they are using logos and other content in an agreed manner. This could also lead to revenue-generating opportunities, added Wann, if a firm finds other organisations are using its content or brand without paying for it.

Reputation management is the final service. It scans blog content and internet activity for unauthorised use of company logos, copyright violations and even negative comments, which can affect sales.

"Looking at the internet [in this way] can be like drinking from a firehose – you find millions of potential incidents – so we've put a lot of effort into prioritising them for the customer," said Wann.

Andy Kellet, of analyst firm Butler Group, said that the importance of brand and reputation in today's economic climate meant that many firms would be interested in such a suite of services.

"Brand is being hyped heavily at the moment and you can't afford your brand image to be hijacked [by phishers] because of what the shareholders might then do," he added.