Doxing or doxxing is a term that comes from English and is used to describe the practice on the Internet of investigation and publication of private information about an individual or an organization with the purpose of threatening or intimidating. It is evident that it is a violation of the privacy of the individual, whose objective is to damage the image of people, since it is a method used to acquire information in the database in public media and social networks, defaming the image of the people publishing photographs and compromising the privacy of the individual.
Whoever carries out this Doxing activity has a precise goal: to intimidate the person and damage their image on social networks. Victims can be private and public persons.
 Doxing is divided into three broad categories:
- Publish information online about the person at the moment
- Publication of information from the past on the individual’s social networks
- Publication of information of the individual’s data with the aim of damaging not only the personal image, but also those close to them, such as their family and friends.
Doxing is carried out for different reasons, in itself, it is not an illegal practice since the same individual publishes images and sensitive data on social networks, from which this information is easily collected. The problem begins when the main objective is to damage the individual’s image with the intention of generating substantial damage.
All information published in the internet media can be used for doxing:
- Websites: Many companies have the published personal data of their directors, which can easily be vulnerable to these attacks.
- Social Networks: most private and public people publish extremely sensitive information that can be used to damage the person’s image.
How to avoid doxing
There is no proper method of protection to avoid this type of practice, the actors of these illegal practices have the objective of acquiring the information in any way to intimidate people. To avoid being a victim of this illegal practice, information must always be protected, especially when posting on websites and social networks. How to do it? Act in advance, that is, do not publish personal data that can be used against you, only make publications that are strictly necessary. The precautions that people should take into account are: omit your home address and phone number when you sign up for some internet services and when updating them.
