Doxing

Doxing is the process of finding personal information about a person, group, organization, or corporation for the purpose of publishing it online. The result of doxing is called a dox.

A fictional example of doxing. The victim's name and home address is shown.

Doxing is usually done with the intent to harm someone, often as revenge. It is frequently an attempt to humiliate, expose, and/or punish an individual. Doxing is illegal in many countries.

History

Doxing dates back to the 1980s and 1990s. Black-hat hackers and penetration testers of the time used it to silence and/or intimate their hacker rivals in the Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and Internet communities.

Effects

Doxing is a form of vigilantism. There have been many instances where people who were doxed experienced years of harassment, were victims of swatting, had to change their phone numbers, and/or had to move out of their homes.

In the present day, specifically in the United States, doxing is used as a method of political attack.

Being doxed makes a person more vulnerable to identity theft.