The "Brandjacking Index," a four-week survey by MarkMonitor, found that cybersquatting, in which illegal sites pirate popular trademarks via phishing, clickfraud and similar tactics, runs rampant online.

The study tracked the world's 25 top brands on 134 million public Web records during the month of March, according to Reuters. Results yielded 286,000 examples of cybersquatting over the course of four weeks.

Brands abusers serve as dangers not merely for consumers, but also for the brands themselves. They are often better web marketers, with media and Internet companies the most attractive targets, accounting for 31 percent of the abuse.

Phishing in March 2007 has grown 104 percent from the same time last year. Financial companies were only able to account for about 41 percent of all phishing attacks during the first quarter of 2007.