In-House Counsel Guidebook: How to Handle Internet Defamation and Online Reputation Attacks August 2014 | Page 8

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When a multi-disciplinary team analyzes how to respond to an
online attack, there are a host of factors that experts must consider,
including the potential impact of the attack, the cost of potential
solutions, the culture of the business,
and the risk of making the situation
even worse. Further, each attack is
Each attack is
unique, and so is the resulting harm.
unique, and so Some online attacks may be just minor
is the resulting concerns to businesses, whereas others
harm.
can be extremely detrimental. Thus,
when determining the best approach for
handing such attacks, it often boils down
to a balancing of the potential harm of the online attacks against the
costs and risks of responding in a particular manner, as well as the
overall likelihood of success of a potential solution.
A business can certainly tell if and to what extent the online attack
is damaging its profits. For instance, a business can look at whether
there has been a drop in profits since the defamatory posting; it can
examine whether other factors have changed which could have
caused a decrease in profits; or it can examine if the negative online
information was the cause. Aside from traditional financial data,
there is other specific information in-house counsel and the business
should gather to get a suitable handle on the potential harm of the
reputation attack.

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