In-House Counsel Guidebook: How to Handle Internet Defamation and Online Reputation Attacks August 2014 | Page 10

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information could spread at some point in the future and, if not dealt
with, it could leave the harmed party without legal recourse.

Identifying Anonymous Persons
Many online reputation attacks are executed anonymously, so the
first step that must be undertaken is identifying the source of the
attack. Some attackers
go to great lengths
to try to mask their
identities and, if you
to
Some attackers go
cannot figure out who
to
great lengths to try
is behind an attack, it
es and,
becomes very difficult
mask their identiti
out
to stop the attack or
if you cannot figure
remove the damaging
ttack, it
who is behind an a
content. In many cases
cult to
we have handled, there
becomes very diffi
move
is no question that the
stop the attack or re
attack was illegal, so the
nt.
the damaging conte
real issue – rather than
proving the person(s)
violated the law – was to identify who is behind the attack. Of
course, many anonymous attackers assume their identities have
been shielded, but are ignorant of the fact that through the subpoena
process or with the aid of a cyber investigator, it is typically possible
to identify attackers.
A. Cyber investigators can successfully obtain the Internet
Protocol (IP) addresses of anonymous posters which, in

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