cyber and online control

At its core, cyber control is about mastering the intangible battlefield.

The digital battlefield is unforgiving. False narratives spread faster than facts. Anonymous attackers can damage reputations, disrupt operations, and poison legal proceedings in a matter of hours, even minutes in some cases. Left unchecked, a single viral post, leak, or coordinated campaign can destabilize a corporation, derail a case, cancel a public figure or endanger a person’s safety.

Merrell Strategy neutralizes digital threats before they dictate outcomes. We do not treat the internet as background noise. We treat it as contested ground, and we move to dominate it. Our goal is simple: ensure that digital environments reinforce, rather than undermine, stakeholder trust and public confidence.

Crisis Pain Points

  • Online harassment, doxxing, or extortion campaigns that put people at risk

  • Anonymous smear sites or social accounts designed to destroy reputations or disrupt business

  • Viral misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories gaining traction before facts are heard

  • Coordinated adversary campaigns funded by competitors, activists, or political actors

  • Leaked documents, manipulated media, or hacked communications used as “evidence” in the court of public opinion

  • Regulatory or government investigations where digital chatter fuels scrutiny and heightens exposure

Our Response

  • Contain online harassment and extortion campaigns through rapid takedowns, legal escalation, and digital countermeasures

  • Intervene directly with social platforms to remove defamatory or dangerous content and shut down hostile accounts

  • Conduct digital forensics and attribution to identify hostile actors, trace activity, and deliver court-ready evidentiary reporting

  • Monitor, disrupt, and neutralize viral misinformation before it can destabilize market confidence or contaminate jury pools

  • Restore reputation across search engines, media outlets, and digital ecosystems by replacing false narratives with verified information

  • Deploy blue team and red team cyber analysis to identify vulnerabilities, test defenses, and harden against future attacks

  • Coordinate digital strategy during regulatory or government inquiries to control the narrative and protect enterprise value

  • Run pre-crisis digital audits and resilience protocols so clients are fortified before escalation occurs

Experience

  • Assisted in creating policy with social media platforms designed to protect victims and family members of victims of crime

  • Exposed and shut down a coordinated network of anonymous accounts targeting a Fortune 500 executive with defamatory content and threats

  • Identified and traced the digital footprint of an online extortion ring, enabling law enforcement to act and ending harassment of a high-profile client

  • Neutralized a viral disinformation campaign aimed at influencing jury selection in a criminal case, ensuring fair trial conditions

  • Conducted forensic analysis of hacked emails and manipulated video evidence, discrediting fabricated “proof” used by adversaries in litigation

  • Coordinated with social platforms to remove dangerous content and dismantle smear sites attacking both corporate and celebrity clients

  • Rebuilt online reputation for a public figure targeted by conspiracy groups, restoring search visibility with verified facts and credible third-party coverage

  • Performed red team cyber simulations for a multinational corporation, identifying vulnerabilities and closing gaps before adversaries could exploit them

  • Assisted in the identification and removal of tens of thousands of pieces of harassing and doxxing content across multiple social media platforms