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Hello one and all. Today on a lifestyle post I thought I would talk about something that can be very worrying for people who use the internet quite extensively in their life, especially for social needs and it is the problem of doxing. I will talk about what doxing is, why you should never do it to anybody and how scary it can be for the person on the receiving end and as well as ways to make yourself less susceptible to it.
Doxing is when somebody uses information they have accessed or gained from you, such as usernames or emails, in an attempt to research personal information on you. The internet is a large place but the ability to search something up is often underestimated or overlooked and how easily things can connect together. For example, let’s say you have a username, let’s call it bob123 and it is the username you use exclusively for everything you use, searching up this username, alongside various terms or social medias or other websites can end up yielding other accounts you have out there, could be anything from a Discord account to an account on Roblox and this then in turn can reveal further information on you of which the doxer can use to further their research.
What is even worse is if you have mentioned your username on your personal social media profiles and the such, even more so if these accounts neglect privacy options, you could very well end up with the doxer finding out your real name and from there they can easily find much more with that information, such as your address, your friends and family, your place of work and what you look like and so on so forth they can then use that information against you, for example, blackmail or to make threats of finding you in real life and doing bad things to you or the people you know. Although keep in mind that most people won’t follow through with actually coming to you in real life, they can still spread your information out into the wider world if they decide to, for example, if you don’t do what they want.
But it isn’t just a username this can be done with, many bits of information that someone can get from you can lead to them finding out personal information on you. It is a very intimidating thing to do to somebody and can severely hurt someone mentally as well as, emotional trauma, paranoia and so on can result, you should never do it, even if you just want to find out more about someone without malicious intent it is still very disrespectful because if they have not directly provided you with said information, then most likely they want it separate, for example, from their online anonymous social life/persona.
Since more and more people are coming online and more and more things in our world such as business, daily functions, social life, dating is being integrated into the internet, the problem is getting worse, more so because many people don’t understand how easy it can be to have personal information found on them from something as insignificant as a username. But there are many common sense things people can do to make doxxing them much more difficult or even nearly impossible.
Such precautions can include making sure your email to your accounts is hidden and not handing out your email address to anonymous people on the internet you do not know, you could make a separate email address even for your non-serious life to be even more safe, in fact this is something you should almost certainly do. Make sure you take full advantage of all privacy options on your serious accounts and even your non-serious ones as well, you’ll be surprised how many people neglect these options not thinking they are important, but they are extremely important. Also make sure to check a website and businesses Privacy Policies to see how they handle your private information and credentials, if they don’t have a Privacy Policy you should steer clear and also make sure any website you use is encrypted (with a green lock beside the website https link), this way you can be as confident as possible that your information is as safely secured as is possible.
Also make sure to use different usernames between different accounts, never give out your real name to people you don’t know personally, don’t openly post about your usernames or personas on your personal social media profiles, even if you have good privacy it is still best to be safe, use private messages on your social media instead to tell your in-real-life friends and your family about that sort of stuff and also make sure that you trust they can handle it responsibly. Don’t post pictures of yourself or of your surroundings to random/anonymous people as this can be used to easily determine your location and by knowing what you look like they can use that to find other personal information by revealing personal online accounts with photos of you. Don’t click on links posted on to anonymous social media as many could have embedded phishing malware that can reveal personal information on you, they can use and this is also where I say that you should have a reliable antivirus software, I suggest Malwarebytes.
It is a lot to take in, I know, but it is very important that you do all of the above to make it as hard as possible for you to be doxed as it can be very scary to go through and can ruin your personal ambitions, for example, you could end up losing your job over someone who doxed you phoning your employer and giving them details on your anonymous online activities. For some reason, some people online just get a kick out of doxing people on the internet and sadly even if you take the best of precautions you can still end up becoming a victim to doxing. If this does happen it is important to just remain calm, most people who do dox you will lose interest and move on, it is important you contact support on a website against these people, it is important to ignore any of their messages towards you and you should not risk egging them on further, if information on you is released into a wider space you should again contact support about it and cease using your account, wipe your information off of it and take a step back.
If things begin to get really serious, such as threats of physical violence or worse against you or ones you know and love, getting the authorities involved is the next step, if it goes that far. Sadly though, doxing is widely not illegal and so in many cases the authorities are unable to do anything until it gets serious and even then, the doxer is likely to be safely away in another country. So, with these people, just block and report them. Make sure to also seek support from your family and close friends, you should not have to go through the emotional trauma yourself and it isn’t anything to feel ashamed about, you are the victim and you matter.
The world of online can be a fun and exciting place full of opportunity but it can also be a dark and scary place, just make sure to play smart and use common sense when interacting with anonymous people online or when around them online.
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