Doxing
What is doxing?
Doxing is when someone shares another person's personal information on the internet without their permission. This can include things like their name, address, phone number, and other types of identifying details. The goal is often to intimidate or harass the person being doxed. It's a type of online bullying and can have serious consequences. It's also against the law in many places.
How can doxing be used against you?
If a malicious actor had the negative intent to dox you, it means they may have shared your personal information online without your permission. This can include things like your name, address, phone number, and other types of identifying details. The goal is often to harass or intimidate you. For example, if your phone number is made public, you may receive threatening or harassing phone calls. If your home address is made public, you may have unwanted visitors, face physical threats, receive written threats in the mail, or even be signed up for unwanted advertising. Doxing can also be used to damage your reputation by spreading false or misleading information about you.
What about cancel culture?
In the realm of cancel culture, doxing can be used as a way to try to ruin your reputation or pressure you into being held accountable for certain beliefs or behaviors displayed. For example, if you say or do something that is deemed controversial or offensive, you may be "cancelled" by a group of people on social media. This might involve sharing your personal information in order to intimidate or harass you. In many cases when it comes to regular everyday people, the goal might be to get you fired from your job or damage your reputation in some other way.
What about swatting?
If a malicious actor had the negative intention of swatting you, it means that they can make a false report to law enforcement, pretending to be in an emergency and using your personal information, such as your name and address. The goal is often to get a SWAT team or other law enforcement to respond to your location being on high alert and, in some situations, may involve breaking down your front door. You may have heard of rival gamers going to this extent. All in all, swatting can really just be motivated by revenge, trolling, or simply a desire to cause chaos. “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Alfred
Swatting can be considered a form of doxing because the malicious actor is sharing your personal information without your permission and with the intention of causing you harm or inconvenience. Keep in mind that swatting is a serious crime that can have serious consequences, including injury or even death.
Continue reading below and learn what steps you can take to better protect yourself from doxing.
How can you protect yourself from doxing?
Before reading that juicy list below, you must first understand that doxing really can only begin when malicious actors find your personal information. From now on, you need to feel just a tad bit paranoid about yourself and how you put your information out there for the world to see. It’s not like you’re putting a bright neon sign that spells out your full name on your front door, right? So why give out your information so easily online?
Consider your online activity, websites/applications or advertisements you may have signed up for, information you put on forms, information you put on social media, information you give out to others (checks, business cards), how you communicate (email, text, messaging platforms), how visible is your information to others (Does your computer screen face the window? Do you use your phone in public for peering eyes to see?), and the list really does go on and on. Again, you have to consider how you interact with the world and that once information is out there, it can always lead back to you.
Here are 20 steps you can take to protect yourself from doxing:
Be careful about what personal information you share online, and consider whether you are comfortable with that information being made public. Avoid sharing sensitive information, such as your home address, phone number, and financial information, unless absolutely necessary.
Make sure to use the privacy settings on your social media accounts to control who can see your posts and personal information. This can help reduce the risk of your information being shared without your permission.
Use strong and unique passwords for all of your accounts, and consider using a password manager to keep track of them. This can help protect your accounts from being hacked, which could potentially lead to doxing. Remember, the keyword here is unique! Do not be a victim of password reuse. Password reuse occurs when people use the same exact password for multiple sites/applications.
Use two-factor authentication. Many online accounts offer two-factor authentication, also known as 2FA, which requires you to provide an additional form of verification, such as a code sent to your phone or email, before you can access your account. This can help protect your accounts from being hacked and your personal information from being accessed without your permission.
Don't engage with trolls! If you're being harassed or targeted online, it can be tempting to try to defend yourself or engage with your attackers. I know, I know it can be very tempting at times. However, this can often make the situation worse. It's usually best to ignore trolls and block them if possible. Remember, when you respond to trolls, you’re giving them the upper hand, because they now have a better idea on how to trigger you.
Use multiple email addresses. Consider creating multiple email addresses for different purposes, such as work, personal, and shopping. This can help you keep your personal and professional lives separate, and make it more difficult for someone to compile all of your personal information in one place.
Keep your personal and professional lives separate online. Adding to the previous point, you might use one email address and social media accounts for personal use and an entirely different email address and social media accounts for professional use. Make a clear distinction between those accounts and still review those privacy settings. You can set your personal accounts to private with a unique username that doesn’t use your real name or tie any identifying details to your offline self.
Use multiple phone numbers. If you have multiple phone numbers for different purposes, it can make it more difficult for someone to track you down or harass you. For example, you might use one phone number for work, another for personal use, and maybe another for online activity like social media.
Use a PO box. Instead of using your home address, consider getting a PO box or using a mail forwarding service. This can help protect your privacy and reduce the risk of someone showing up at your home uninvited.
Don't write checks! If you're concerned about protecting your personal information, consider not writing checks. Checks contain your name, address, and other personal information that could potentially be used for doxing or other forms of online abuse. If you have no choice in the matter or simply prefer writing checks, then the least you can do is order checks without your address or phone number written on it.
Consider using cash. This can help protect your personal information when you are out and about and reduce the risk of it being used for doxing or other forms of online abuse since there is no identifying information attached to cash. However, if you choose to use a credit card, you may be able to use it under a preferred name, even if your preferred name is not on your ID. Call your credit card company to see if they are willing to work with you.
Use a VPN. A virtual private network can help protect your online activity and personal information by encrypting your internet connection and routing it through a secure server. This can make it more difficult for someone to track your online activity or obtain your personal information.
Be cautious when clicking links, especially in emails or messages from unfamiliar sources. These links could potentially be phishing attacks, which could lead to your personal information being compromised. You can learn a little more about phishing attacks here. Remember, it’s best practice to hover over a link or hypertext (but do not click it yet!) to see where you will be redirected to.
Use encrypted messaging apps, such as Signal or WhatsApp, to communicate with others. These apps use end-to-end encryption to protect your messages from being intercepted or accessed without your permission.
Use an alias online instead of your real name. This can make it more difficult for someone to track down your personal information or connect your online activity to your offline identity. Does Netflix really need to know your real name? How about the Pizza Hut account that you use to order pizzas down the road?
Use privacy focused browsers, such as Brave or Tor, which prioritizes your privacy and does not track your online activity.
Use privacy focused search engines, such as DuckDuckGo or StartPage, which do not track your online activity or store your search history. Worst case scenario, if you’re not getting the results you want from time to time, you can consider using Google.
Use a firewall! You didn’t turn off that annoying firewall, did you? A firewall can help protect your personal information and prevent it from being accessed without your permission by blocking unauthorized access to your computer or network.
This may be a little unconventional, but use a privacy screen. A privacy screen can help protect your personal information by making it more difficult for others to see your screen when you are using a computer or phone in public. I know there are people out there that make fun of others for using a privacy screen, but little do they know how much information they may have given out as a result of shoulder surfing. Also, consider if your computer at home or work is facing an exposed window where people could possibly use binoculars to see everything on your screen.
Educate yourself further about online privacy. The more you know about online privacy, the better equipped you will be to protect your personal information. Consider setting time aside every month or so to research and learn about best practices for protecting your privacy online. These times are changing faster than ever and certain items on this list may render useless, so it’s important to know what steps you’ll need to take with new issues unveiled in the future.
By taking these precautions, you can help better protect yourself from doxing. Remember, it's important to be mindful of the risks of sharing personal information online and to seek help if you're being targeted by this harmful and abusive practice.