What is Doxxing? Definition and Examples

What Is Doxxing?

Doxxing is when someone reveals your private or identifying information like your full name, address, phone number, or workplace publicly without getting your consent first. The act is done with malicious intent where the exposer tries to harass and endanger you. With technology developing rapidly and the frequent usage of social media, personal details both can be found and shared easily. This makes doxxing a real and serious privacy and security threat, and we’ll be exploring the subject further in this blog post.

The Evolution of Doxxing

Doxxing first started in hacker circles that were using this technique. With the emergence of search engines and social media, it has become easier to find personal information about individuals. It was first a niche practice intended to shame or unmask people, but not it’s evolved into a more frequently used tactic especially within online culture. The motives for doxxing have evolved as well, activism and whistleblowing are two of the more innocent reasons, whereas revenge, harassment, or intimidation involves more malicious intent. There are several ways of doxxing individuals which have evolved with the developments in technology and social media popularity, and we’ll mention them at a later part of our blog post in order to warn you against them.

Commonly Exposed Information in Doxxing

With doxxing, you don’t know what information you might get exposed; it might be basic information or more sensitive data which is more dangerous to have out there. Attackers can publish information like your full name, address, workplace, phone number, email, and IP address. More serious information these people target are Social Security numbers, banking details and other financial records of similar nature. Social media handles, and workplace contact details are included in information exposed as well. These can lead to identity theft or targeted harassment.

In September 2024, a classmate of the Detroit Lions’ Coach Dan Campbell’s daughter posted the family’s home address on Snapchat, which led to harassment and the family relocating for safety. The classmate said he and his friends were “distraught” by the Lions’ loss to the 49ers and that he “found humor” in the Snapchat post. 

Legal Implications of Doxxing

The motive and the laws of the country where the case is affects the penalties attackers may get. Most cases are seen as serious violations of privacy and cybercrime. Some examples for motives are retaliation, where it is done to punish the targeted person in a dispute. Similarly, harassment or extortion are popular motives as well, using the sensitive information for manipulation or financial gain. Political pressure is another motive, where people can expose information to influence public opinion, or to simply silence their opponents. So called cancel culture is another motive, where you can get targeted for social or moral transgressions.  All of these motives create the crime, and the crime can lead to charges of identity theft, stalking, and online harassment. Doxxing is seen as a criminal offense in many jurisdictions, and victims can seek damages through civil law as well. 

How Does Doxxing Happen?

Doxxing can be made easier the ever-evolving technologies and the mistakes of the person. If you’re oversharing your personal details on social media, you might be the easy victim of doxxing. WHOIS and domian/DNS records are used to reveal registrant contact details, including historical leaks. Data brokers sell compiled dossiers like addresses, phone numbers, and relatives that make profiling you easier. Large breaches or leaked databases of companies expose emails, IDs, and passwords of online accounts. 

Is Doxing Illegal?

We’ve talked about the severity of doxxing above, but let’s now examine whether countries treat it as a violation. In the U.S., doxxing is often treated as harassment or cyberstalking. In the UK, the act has the risk of violating the Data Protection Act or harassment laws. Canada treats the act as a breach of privacy, harassment, or identity theft. When it comes to Australia, cyberbullying and stalking laws can apply when it comes to doxxing cases. In Europe, Germany and France use General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforcement while also using anti-defamation measures, in France’s case, to deal with doxxing. India relies on it’s the IT act and criminal intimidation laws to make decisions regarding doxxing cases. In Japan, the act can be prosecuted under defamation and privacy reasons. South Korea enforces the Personal Information Protection Act to deal with doxxing. Finally, in Brazil, the misuse of personal data is governed by the LGPD. 

Examples of Doxxing

Let’s discuss some of the most well-known cases of doxxing. The first example is Gamergate. The controversy started as a harassment campaign in 2014 and 2015, which targeted specifically women in the video games industry. Developers like Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu, and critic Anita Sarkeesian were targeted. For the campaign, attackers shared personal information of women, as well as adding up to their harassment with threats and online abuse. The second example is the Capitol Riots, which occurred on January 6th, 2021. During the Capitol insurrection, the people who participated in the riot were identified through their social media posts and online videos. Personal information of these people were shared, leading to job losses for some.

Our third example is a broader issue involving politicians. Politicians’ personal information gets leaked, especially during election periods. Politicians’ privacy and security is risked to mostly sway the public’s opinion of them. One of the most recent cases of this is the podcaster Nick Fuentes’ home address getting leaked after his comments regarding women’s bodies went viral.  The podcaster’s comment of “Your body, my choice,” led to backlash, and resulted in his home address being revealed. The last example we’ll give involves journalists getting targeted by extremist groups. Since these journalists are tasked with reporting on sensitive topics, the backlash they receive might involve doxxing, threats, and harassment. One case we can detail further is the journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani facing doxxing and threats after posting about the Israel-Hamas conflict.  

Consequences of Doxxing

The exposed can face serious consequences because of doxxing. The person having their banking details or credit card numbers exposed may suffer from financial loss, since these lead to theft, fraud, and identity misuse. Physical threats the person faces as a result of their address getting leaked is also another serious concern. Reputational damage is another consequence, since doxxing affects careers, professional relationships, as well as social standing. 

The psychological affects of the act is important as well,  with studies showing heightened levels of anxiety, depression, and stress in people who were doxxed and harassed online. Florida judge Jennifer Johnson said that an AI video depicting her death terrified her children and highlighted security gaps for state judges.  The threat of the man who made the video wasn’t taken seriously at first, leading to more discomfort for the judge. The man was convicted in November 2024, receiving the maximum sentencing of 15 years in prison. Finally, since the individual may get their family members’ and relatives’ information revealed as well, they are not exempt from the risks and emotional strain of doxxing.

How to Prevent and Protect Yourself Against Doxxing

There are several ways of protecting yourself against doxxing, as well as preventing it as a whole. Our Sanction Scanner experts say that around 4% of U.S. reported being doxxed in 2025, meaning that 11.7 million individuals were affected of the act. Since social media is heavily involved in doxxing cases, using aliases when creating accounts online and setting your profiles to private will benefit you in the long run. Using two-factor authentication (2FA) for your accounts is also recommended since it adds another layer of security. VPNs can mask your IP address and location, and using them lowers your chances of exposure. Self-searching your personal information is another way of seeing what is visible about you on the internet. You can then take action to remove or secure the information. The final advice we have for you is avoiding the public use of personal emails. Using these emails for sign-ups or forums can lead to more exposure.

Recommended Privacy Tools and Services

We’ll list some of the tools and services you can use to make sure your personal details are safe and you’re not an easy target for doxxing. VPN services like NordVPN and ExpressVPN can help by encrypting your internet connection and masking your IP address. Attackers, therefore, won’t be able to easily reach your private details. Another area where you can benefit from is identity monitoring services, Aura and LifeLock are great examples for these services. They can alert you if your private details are exposed in data breaches or on suspicious websites. Password managers also help greatly, where examples like Bitwarden and 1Password both create strong and unique passwords for your accounts and helping reduce the risk of credential theft. Privacy tools like DeleteMe and Privacy Bee can help you remove your private details from data broker sites and public directories. These tools combined will give you the privacy and protection you need.

What to Do If You’ve Been Doxxed?

So, even though you’ve prepared against it, you might’ve gotten doxxed. Our Sanction Scanner experts have a few recommendations for what to do next. The first thing you should start with is taking screenshots of the information that’s been exposed. Including URLs and timestamps will help immensely and will preserve evidence. Reporting the content where your information gets exposed to the platforms where they were posted will most likely lead to the content getting deleted, since many of the most used social media sites and forums have policies against doxxing. 

You can also check your financial and online accounts frequently to make sure there is no signs of fraud or unauthorized access. Google’s removal request tool is another recommendation from us. The tool can be used to delete the sensitive information from search results. We also recommend contacting law enforcement or seeking legal assistance using the evidence you have. This is especially important if the doxxing case involves threats and harassment.

Related Concepts of Doxxing

Doxxing is not the only act where individuals try to harm others and target their safety and privacy through online actions. Swatting is the first example for acts similar to doxxing. It involves attackers making fake emergency calls to the police, hoping that they then take action and raid the house or workplace of the victim. Cyberstalking is used for situations where someone repeatedly harasses you online and monitors your accounts constantly. A study from 2017 revealed that people who experience cyberstalking report feelings of fear, anxiety, depression, and helplessness.  Revenge porn is another dangerous act involving the non-consensual sharing of explicit images or videos. This is done to embarrass or punish the victim and can have severe consequences as well as affecting the person’s reputation. Cyberbullying is also another serious issue that affects the victim greatly. The situation involves constant online abuse, as well as threats, insults, and even harassment. 

Is It Illegal to Share Someone’s Public Info?

No, the act of sharing public information isn’t automatically counted as illegal. But if it is done with malicious intent, looking to harm others, it can be counted as a criminal offense. Posting information to harass and defraud someone is most likely what will get you in trouble. The legal consequences of these malicious acts can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Can I Remove My Personal Data From the Web?

Yes, you can use the help of several services to remove your personal information from the internet. Services like DeleteMe and Privacy Bee can help you get your information off data broker sites. You can also submit direct takedown requests to these websites, search engines, or social media platforms.