The internet is one place in modern times where new words and concepts are being developed. Every day, you will see a new trend gaining popularity on social media, and these trends result in the creation of new words and concepts. Well, one word that you might come across these days on social media and chatting platforms is ‘Doxxing’, and if you are looking for the meaning of this term, then this guide will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the same. 

Understanding the Meaning of Doxxing

The term “doxing” (also spelled "doxxing") seems to come from the phrase “dropping dox,” or just documents. In plain terms, doxing is a type of cyberbullying where someone takes sensitive, private, or hidden information, then uses it for harassment, public exposure, financial trouble, or some other kind of exploitation aimed at a specific person.

In basic terms, what is doxxing refers to the process of grabbing particular details about someone and then tossing them around online, or by another channel, until they end up out in the open. It’s been a thing for quite a while, partly because documents are basically permanent, like ongoing records of what people have done or said, and that can turn into a pretty weighty tool against them. 

Still, the word “doxing” didn’t really get traction until the 1990s, when hackers started dropping docs on people who were hiding behind fake names. In that scenario, hackers were also trying to spotlight other attackers who were in the same competition with them. Once anonymity got removed, well then, they were left vulnerable to authorities and to everyone else who might be hunting them down.

Nowadays, doxing has also become tied to modern culture wars, where people go after others who back a cause or hold a belief that’s opposite to what the other side is trying to push forward.

What is the working process of Doxxing?

As we have already mentioned, Doxxing relies on the fact that almost every individual these days has data lying around on the internet. While this data is protected on several fronts, it can be accessed by scammers and hackers, and once it has been accessed, it can easily be turned into a weapon and used against the target. 

Tracking usernames  

A lot of people reuse the same username, or something pretty close, across different accounts for a bunch of websites and web apps. Because of that, it’s fairly straightforward for cyber criminals, activists, or other bad-faith actors to use those identifiers to narrow down which accounts are actually yours. Then they can collect data from each account and stitch it into a bigger collection of documents that shows more about you than any single account would.

Running a WHOIS search on a domain name  

If you control a domain name, then there’s information about you stored in a registry. That registry is often viewable with a simple WHOIS search. You do have the option to hide this information, but if you do not, anyone can access your name, address, phone number, email, and business address without effort. 

Source: Saferloop