Consumers often judge an organization through the websites, emails, links and digital services they encounter, but a new study suggests that the identity landscape surrounding a brand can extend far beyond the digital assets it directly controls.

The inaugural ONESECURE State of Digital Trust in Singapore 2026 report found that each reference organization domain was associated with a median of 151 similar-looking domains across the public internet. The study analyzed 120,702 distinct lookalike domains connected to 448 reference organization domains, with 82% showing observable internet or email infrastructure, or both.

The findings do not establish that these domains are malicious. Instead, they highlight a broader digital trust challenge: organizations may control their official domains and systems while customers and employees make trust decisions based on external identities that appear familiar or connected.

Market Landscape

Digital identity has become increasingly important to customer experience. Consumers routinely interact with organizations through email addresses, websites, payment journeys, online portals and links, often without examining technical ownership information.

That creates a gap between organizational asset visibility and consumer-facing trust. A customer may recognize a brand name or domain pattern without knowing whether the digital identity belongs to the organization.

ONESECURE's research identified this external identity exposure across financial services, healthcare, education, public services, transportation and information services. The breadth of sectors suggests that digital identity exposure is not exclusively a cybersecurity issue affecting a particular industry.

For marketers, the issue intersects directly with brand reputation and customer confidence. A confusing or misleading digital identity can potentially affect whether a user considers an interaction legitimate, even when the organization's core systems remain secure.

Strategic Outlook

The findings point toward a broader approach to digital trust in which organizations monitor not only assets they own but also identities that could influence how customers perceive the brand.

This expands the role of digital governance from traditional website and account management toward external identity monitoring. Marketing, security, IT and customer experience teams may increasingly need shared processes for determining which external identities warrant investigation or action.

The Singapore findings also provide a useful benchmark, although they should not automatically be generalized to organizations in other countries or industries. The 151-domain median reflects the report's specific dataset and methodology.

For brands, the strategic question is therefore less about the absolute number of lookalike domains and more about whether they have the visibility and governance processes needed to understand the digital environment surrounding their identity.

Top Insights

1. 151 lookalike domains was the median associated with each reference organization domain in ONESECURE's study.
2. 120,702 domains were analyzed across 448 reference organization domains.
3. 82% had observable internet or email infrastructure, although this does not indicate malicious activity.
4. Digital trust extends beyond owned assets, because consumers evaluate what they encounter online.
5. Cross-functional governance may become increasingly important as brand identity and cybersecurity overlap.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.