We all need to be careful what we say online. You may think the online world gives you the freedom to say – or type – whatever you want. Not so at all. Doxing can take that freedom from you, and with great consequences.
You may think that creating fake identities gives you the ability to express any opinion no matter how controversial. However, this is without anyone ever being able to trace it back to you.
But doxing attacks are real. And it’s hard to completely hide your identity online. The best defense against doxing is to be careful what you post online. In addition, never share private information on forums, message boards, or social media sites.
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What is Doxing
Doxing, short for “Dropping Dox”, is an online attack in which hackers dig up personal information and documents. Therefore, the “Dox” part of “Dropping Dox”. It implies an action with the aim to reveal the true identity of people who hope to be anonymous.
It means to search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the internet. This action is typically with malicious intent.
The goal is often to shame or harass a victim. For example, hackers could reveal the identity of an anonymous message board troll in order to embarrass that person. You may hope that the person will lose their job or be shunned by colleagues or friends.
“Hackers and online vigilantes routinely dox both public and private figures. it is also written as doxxing.
What Does It Mean To Dox Someone?
Doxing a person is a form of cyberbullying that entails using sensitive or secret information. It also includes exposing statements, or records for the harassment, exposure, financial harm, or other exploitation of an intended person.
This involves taking specific information about someone and then spreading it around the internet or via some other means.
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When Did Doxing Start?
This practice has been fervent for many years, simply because documents contain permanent records of facts about people and things. This may include things they have done and said, which can be powerful weapons against them.
However, the term “doxing” first gained popularity in the 1990s when hackers began dropping docs on people who had hidden identities. In this way, hackers could expose other attackers with whom they had competed.
Removing their anonymity left them exposed to authorities and others trying to track them down.
Doxing can be used negatively, positively it can be a means of tracking down criminals or armed robbers using data and facts about them, by so doing they are disarmed in a way.
Negatively the perpetrator may use this fear to gain power over the victim to extort or coerce the victim.
Is It Illegal To Dox Someone?
It could be illegal but In many cases, doxing is not illegal, particularly because the information that is being exposed is already publicly available online.
This means that, at some point, the target granted an entity the right to publish it. However, the way the information is used may make the overall act illegal, particularly if it involves stalking, threatening, or harassing the target.
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Is Thereatening To Dox Illegal?
First of all, threats are not acceptable in society as you are seen to be putting a person’s life in danger, therefore threatening to release vital information of a person is illegal.
What Hapens When You Get Doxxed?
When a person gets doxed a lot happens, first the person is devastated, ashamed, and barely can face the public, because his or her private information is exposed.
Is Doxing Illegal in the USA?
The answer is usually no: doxing tends not to be illegal if the information exposed lies within the public domain, and it was obtained using legal methods. However, in the US, doxing a government employee falls under federal conspiracy laws and is seen as a federal offense.
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How To Dox Someone
The first thing I’m going to point out is Truecaller. Truecaller is an iPhone/iPod application that can get people’s addresses just with a phone number! Very few people know about this, and it’s amazing.
If you acquire somebody’s phone number, you can type it into Truecaller on your iPhone/iPod touch device, and It will give you the city they live in, and even possibly the address.
It doesn’t guarantee an address, but it will at least always give you their city! Another amazing way to get people’s addresses from their phone numbers is a website. It’s ISearch.
All you have to do is put their phone number, and there you go! It gives you an address, property info, their age, their neighbors, and area info! All with just a phone number!
Family Search
FamilySearch is a website where you can get birth, marriage, death, probate, land, military, IGI records, and more! This website also allows you to find the SSN (social security number) of a deceased person.
This site is amazing and isn’t that known. You can get addresses, and so much more information from it.
Also, if you want to scare somebody, you can find a deceased family member, find their social security number from the site, and include it in your dox.
Most people don’t know you can get the SSNs of deceased people and will be scared and curious as to how you did it. Secondly, Social engineering can be a big factor in a dox. It can also easily be done.
One of the best methods that you can use for social engineering, is using a fake phone number. Let’s say you get your target’s phone number, or his mom/dad’s.
You can call your target with your mom or dad’s phone number, and they’ll think that you’re their son! It means you need to know what your target sounds like and think of a story or strategy to get something out of him or her.CallerIDFaker is the app for this purpose.
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How Does Doxing Work?
You will be surprised how easy it is to dig up information about you. It might be easier if you spend a lot of time posting on message boards and forums.
Doxing is based on the fact that nearly everyone has data about them floating around on the internet, protected by varying levels of security—and in some cases, barely any at all.
Once this data has been found, it is weaponized and used against the target.
Tracking Usernames
People often use the same or similar usernames on different accounts for a variety of websites and web applications.
It is relatively easy therefore for cybercriminals, activists, or others to use the usernames you have to pinpoint data that belongs to you
Running a WHOIS Search On a Domain Name
If you own a domain name, you have information regarding you stored within a registry.
Phishing
If you either fall for a phishing scam or someone can infiltrate your email, they can either grab sensitive details about you or go through your account and use your emails for a doxing attack. With a phishing scam, you are prompted to click on it.
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Stalking Social Media
If you make your social media accounts available to the public, any information you post about yourself or have in your profile can be seen by everyone.
Sifting Through Government Records
Government websites like the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and those that hold county records, business licenses, marriage licenses, and voter registration information all have data that could be used in a doxing attack.
Tracking IP Address
Doxers can figure out your Internet Protocol (IP) address and then use the fact that it is linked to where you are physically to execute an attack.
For example, they could reach out to your internet service provider (ISP) and pretend to be you, asking them questions that provide them with more information about you.
Reverse Mobile Phone Lookup
As soon as a hacker knows your mobile phone number, they can dig to find more information about you.
Packet Sniffing
When doxing someone, attackers can use packet sniffing to their advantage. Data is organized in packets as it travels across the internet. When a packet is sniffed, the attacker can tell what kind of information is within it.
Data Brokers
As the name suggests, data brokers collect information and then sell it to others for a profit. A data broker will gather information about potential targets by going to several websites that house public records.
This may include loyalty card websites, which keep track of your online habits or your search history, to obtain the data they need about you.
In some cases, a data broker will purchase data from another data broker and then sell it to a buyer on the dark web.
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How Can I Avoid Getting Doxed?
While there is no way to guarantee that you will never be doxed. However, there are some strategies you can follow to reduce the chances.
The key is to be careful about what you post on social media sites and message boards. Here are some tips that you should follow:
Safeguard Your Privacy
Don’t Share Too Much: Don’t share too much on social media or online forums and message boards. Sharing personal information could easily give Doxern too much to work with.
Change your privacy settings: make your posts on social media sites private so only selected people can see them.
Don’t Provide Personal Information: When signing up for social media platforms, do not provide any personal information such as date of birth, hometown, high school, or employer information.
Use a VPN: Signing into a virtual private network, or VPN, helps protect your private information from doxers. When you connect to the internet by signing into a VPN first, your real IP address is hidden.
This means that hackers cannot determine this address for your location or any other identifying information.
Don’t use the same username on Facebook that you use on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Why? It’s easier for people to keep track of your social media posting history when all they have to do is follow a username on the internet.
Strong Passwords Are Key: Keep snoops away from your most personal information by using strong passwords on sites like your online bank account, credit card portals, and the work dashboard.
Strong passwords can also prevent spies from accessing your social media sites, changing your personal information on these sites, getting your account information, or posting their own messages under your name.
The best passwords contain a mixture of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
Certain information should never be shared: Promise to never publish certain information online, such as your social security number, home address, driver’s license number, and information about bank accounts or credit card numbers.
Remember, hackers can intercept email messages, so do not include any private information in yours.
Leverage Email Address
Use more than one email address: You can improve your privacy by creating separate email accounts for different types of correspondence.
For example, you can create an account that you only use to sign up for streaming services, music sites, forums, message boards, and other services.
You can then use a second email address that you use in your professional life. Use this email address to network with industry peers, communicate with your peers, and send reports to your supervisors.
Use a third email address for personal communication with your friends and family members: Do not give this e-mail address to anyone who is not part of your family or friends.
Be vigilant of phishing emails: Doxers can use phishing scams to trick you into giving up your home address, social security number, or even passwords.
Be careful if you receive a message claiming to be from a bank or credit card company asking for your personal information. Financial institutions will never request this information via email.
Use different usernames on different social media platforms: If you visit different social media sites, don’t use the same username on each one.
Conclusion
Well, giving an estimate of time spent by these people to search out information, it’s worth it for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
if someone uses illegal means to capture information or if they use the information to threaten the victim then yes it is a criminal activity.
In some major cases, the victim may make an argument that the release information is untrue and this could involve a libel suit which may result in jail term.
Yes, it is another way of spelling the word boxing just like color can be spelled color.
Doxing is scary because it involves exposure of potentially sensitive information to the public in a way that could damage the victim’s reputation.
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