Doxing means to analyse information posted online by someone in order to identify and later harass that person. It is typically used to shame or punish people who would rather stay anonymous, because of their controversial beliefs or because they are making trouble in some way.
Doxing can be called a cyber attack involving uncovering the real-world identity of an Internet user. The attacker then reveals that person’s details online. This can then lead to other people attacking the ‘victim’ online and this can be malicious.
However much we may wish to hide out r identity online, we all leave a trail of breadcrumbs that the determined investigator can use to try to find out our real identity.
Typical methods used to determine someone’s identity may include:–
- searching publicly available databases
- searching social media websites
- hacking
- social engineering.
The key point of doxing is to find and publish personal information about the victim but it can be done for a wide range of reasons, including: harassment, online shaming, extortion or vigilantism.
Examples
- Newsweek writer Leah McGrath Goodman revealed the identity of the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto although she was heavily criticized by some for her actions.
Some believe a journalist using doxing is crossing the legal line into harassment, by publishing information about an individual’s private life against their wishes.
- The Des Moines Register published racist tweets made by a 24-year-old Iowa man whose beer sign on ESPN College GameDay resulted in over $1 million in contributions to a children’s hospital, readers retaliated by sharing social media comments previously made by the reporter, Aaron Calvin, which contained racial slurs and condemnation of law enforcement.
The newspaper later announced that Calvin was no longer an employee.
3. In July 2016, WikiLeaks released 300,000 e-mails called the Erdoğan emails (named after the Turkish leader). However, Included in the leak was a lot of personal information about Turkish citizens. The files were removed due to privacy concerns, as they included spreadsheets of private, sensitive information of voters.
If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email
