Doxing, The Threat Of Revealing Your Personal Data

Doxing is a term that comes from the English word  documents. For the composition of the term, the abbreviation of  doc (dox) is taken and the suffix -ing is added  .

Currently, in the 21st century, it was the Internet era, there is no person who does not manage a Facebook account, a company via a website, shop online … Technology and computers have made life much easier for us. However, with new facilities also come new problems, dangers or threats. Unfortunately, and despite the good use that we can give to things, there will always be a double side of the coin. A dark side, which certain people are going to take advantage of.

How does doxing work ?

The doxing consists primarily in creating a complete profile of a particular person or company through the collection of personal information. We can think:  that information is already public on our social media profiles, then?

Yes, but that profile created by doxing contains much more personal information that is not public on the web, but that, nevertheless, has been obtained by linking different data that are freely available. In fact, there are references of ours that, although we believe they are “hidden”, are actually easily accessible.

Doxing simply consists of using the Internet to search for details of a certain person. The danger of this method is that it starts with a simple name, a  “username” , age, telephone number, e-mail, photos, etc. Basic personal information that constitutes the beginning of this type of investigation. That is, doxing is not based only on collecting information that is already public, but from it, more personal data can be obtained.

In itself, this practice is not a crime. After all, we are only collecting information from one subject. However, what is going to constitute a crime is the purpose for which we use that information or the method in which we obtain it.

• The first case will be defined by the clear intention to harm the victim. Use that information to scam her, impersonate her, harass her, threaten her, etc.
• In the second case we are going to refer to the use of computer tricks (in which a somewhat deeper knowledge is required) to obtain the information. For example, causing the person to download a document that contains a hidden  malware  (malicious document)  to obtain bank account numbers, medical information, etc.

Some doxing instruments

• Google and other search engines like Yahoo, Bing, etc. They are tools available to everyone and that allows you to quickly and easily obtain photos posted of the person, the social sites in which they appear, telephone numbers, the ID of the email account, etc.

• Social networks. Facebook is the most used, along with LinkedIn since it is where we post more information about our life. The labor use that we give it sometimes forces us to put truthful information that exposes us to this type of attack.
• “Whois search”. Used to obtain information about the owner of a domain or an IP address.

What effects can it have?

The damages that a victim of doxing can suffer can be both material and personal. It will depend above all on the objective with which they have wanted to obtain the information, although there will always be an overlap of the effects.

In the personal section, the most important damage is the feeling of lack of security that it induces. Obtaining the address of the place where you live is a clear demonstration that “even at home you are not safe.” Likewise, all this can lead to anxiety attacks and moral damage, since this information is sometimes used to humiliate, harass and harass the victim. Fear, of course, is another effect.

On a material level, it may involve the loss of bank accounts or passwords that give access to sensitive personal information, for example. All this is related to the possible loss of money, having to re-set up a new company, change of address, etc.

Likewise, the consequences of doxing do not only affect the victim himself. Your close friends and family can also be affected. Let’s think that at the moment in which so much data about a person is exposed, the close environment of the same is also exposed. In this way, a kind of snowball is created that is very difficult to brake.

Can it be prevented?

Once we are on the Internet it is very difficult, practically impossible, to get out of that world and go back to being “anonymous”. The only thing left for us is to follow a series of guidelines that make it difficult to obtain that information.

The main thing is to try to reduce and minimize the amount of information that we publish on our social profiles. Sometimes it is unavoidable, in that case, we will have to reinforce security.

• Privatize certain information, such as photos, e-mail, phone number on social networks. Do not allow free access to this type of data and, if it is not completely necessary, not even put it.
• Use strong passwords. Combine number, uppercase, lowercase, etc. it may not be foolproof for hackers. Currently there are programs that break down those security barriers, but even so, that will make it more difficult for you. Likewise, do not use the same password for several domains and pages.

• Avoid as much as possible to permanently indicate in our posts the exact place where we are in real time. 
• Use different email accounts for each case : work, social networks, personal email, bank accounts, etc.

As an example…

In Brussels (Belgium) a tent was set up offering to read the minds of volunteers. Some accepted and the fortune teller left them totally impressed. He knew all kinds of information about them, information that they had not even confided to people around him. How do I knew it?

Once you are on the Internet, you are already signed. Even if we do not have any type of social profile, the administrations work via the network, storing customer data (medical records, account movements, addresses, purchases made, etc.). It is inevitable, but if we heed the warnings and take care of everything we publish on our own, we can at least minimize the chances of becoming a potential victim of this type of malicious practice at some point. 

Bibliographic references

Schreibman, E. (2015). 

Andress, J. (2013). Doxing and anti-doxing information reconnaissance for the stalker and the stalked