By now most of us already know there are plenty of potential dangers when you use the internet. Along with this, most of us are relatively familiar with identity theft, but few have heard the term “doxing.” Doxing is the term used to describe researching personally identifying information about an individual and then posting it online without that person’s permission.
Where Does this Information Come From?
The person who is “doxing” can gather the personal information from a number of locations such as legitimate websites and social media sites that are legally posting a wide range of this type of information. This includes the person’s name, address., phone number, email addresses, and many other personal details. They gather up the information and then post it on information sharing websites along with their particular reason why you should be targeted.
Members of law enforcement have found themselves to be popular targets these days for either personal attacks or cyber-attacks and hacking of their personal accounts. If you post photos of yourself online in your uniform, or you list your police department or agency, you only increase your risks as well as put your family at risk.
Take Steps to Protect Yourself
There are a number of steps you can take to protect yourself and your family, starting with removing your personal information from virtually every online site you frequent. While completely eliminating your online presence is impossible, these steps can help to minimize your risk if you are in fact being targeted.
• Know who is trying to get ahold of you, be suspicious of text messages, emails, or phone calls from anyone who is asking you for personal information. These are amongst the most common forms of information phishing and the most successful.
• If you frequent social media sites, be sure you have the privacy settings turned on and avoid posting pictures of yourself in uniform or those that show your affiliation with law enforcement.
• Be sure your home computers and wireless networks are properly secured with strong passwords.
• Call you state DMV to have them restrict access to your driver’s license and vehicle registration information.
• Call your county registrar’s office and have access to your real estate and personal property information restricted.
Taking these steps is only the beginning, but the more you can do to eliminate the presence of your personal information online and who can see it, the better off you will. The internet has changed the way we search for information and how it is distributed. It has made it easier for people with ill intent to succeed, it is up to you to do your part to protect yourself and your family from these types of predators.