david 
It is a real struggle having to deal with justified reproaches once in a while as a person. Having to deal with unfair and uncalled for online attacks on the other hand is devastating and heartbreaking. Dealing with cyber bullies who use the online platforms to tarnish people’s reputations is not easy.
To deal with an online attack, there are two ways one can apply, the legal approach and the non-legal one. The impact intended for both kinds of approaches is the same except the legal way conveys a tough message while the non-legal way is a laid back. The legal approach is guaranteed to work and shall definitely cost you in legal fees. Usually the legal approach sometimes may seem a little heavy handed ending up in garnering sympathizers for your attacker.
The non-legal approach requires you to get into contact with the attacker and ask them to pull down false information about you. The attacker may pull down the content and thus restore your reputation. However if the attacker is hiding behind a fake identity or is anonymously posting this damaging content, the non-legal approach might not be all that helpful.
It is no problem for the attorney if the hate speech is being made by anonymous people because their identities will be found by the attorney and they will be taken to court if that is what you want. Well, more often than not, a stern legal letter from your lawyer will work wonders and the case may never get to court but it is very important to take that into consideration. To determine if there is a just case against an attacker, the best way is to gauge based on the motive, if it has affected you financially or there is plain malice so as to get an upper hand at something, then there definitely is a case. In this instance, you can let your attorney find the proof and let him do his job.
The other way as the lawyers are working towards finding a ground to pull the plug on the false information, is to report them. Start by reporting the domain to the domain registrar, then to the hosting companies, then onto the social media platforms and finally onto Google. There is a big chance one or all of them may shut the attacker down. Reporting the attackers in this way however may be construed by observers and stakeholders alike that it is more retaliatory and therefore may not be the best approach and therefore should really be used as a last resort. Involve your stakeholders before taking this step even though the same is legal. The results of pulling this stunt may be very tough so you need to be prepared.