An online attack that taints a company’s brand or defames its executives’ reputations may not get the national attention that hack attacks leading to huge data breaches do, but the results can be devastating to the individuals and companies involved. Businesses are often unprepared to respond, and shocked to learn when they do that it can be extraordinarily difficult to get negative comments wiped from the Web, even when the statements are factually false or pure fabrications.
Adding to the confusion are the panoply of service providers seeking to sell solutions. These include lawyers, public relations firms, private investigators and some firms that bill themselves as “reputation defenders.” What kind of service a company needs can depend a great deal on what it hopes to achieve. But the first thing that most companies need is unbiased information.
