How to prevent doxxing incidents

Key takeaways:

• Doxxing usually starts with public information, not hacking.
• Reducing your digital footprint is the most effective defense, including tightening privacy settings and securing websites and online accounts.
• Website owners and small businesses face a higher risk, but strong website security and proactive monitoring can greatly reduce it.

Doxxing often starts with information available online: social media profiles, public records, registered domain names, or unsecured accounts. Such details can be shared publicly, putting your privacy and safety at risk. For website owners and small businesses, that exposure can quickly move from online harassment to real-world consequences.

Learning how to prevent doxxing means reducing your digital footprint and locking down the places where personally identifiable information tends to leak. This guide walks through how doxxing works, the common ways attackers collect data, and the practical steps you can take to protect yourself and your business before your data is misused.

What is doxxing? 

Doxxing is the act of gathering and publishing confidential information without consent, often to harass or intimidate them. It affects individuals and businesses alike, especially website owners, bloggers, freelancers, and small teams with a public online presence.

Unlike a data breach, which involves unauthorized access, doxxing usually relies on publicly available information, though in some cases, attackers may use hacking or unauthorized access. Attackers often collect information from public sources such as social media profiles, public records, domain registration information, or unsecured accounts.

Each year, thousands of people in the US experience doxxing, with a higher risk for those who publish content or list personal details online. In fact, a 2025 study found that more than 11.7 million Americans have been doxxed, with a higher risk for those who publish content or list personal details online.

For individuals, doxxing can lead to harassment, stalking, or safety threats. For businesses, it can expose owners or employees, trigger fake complaints, and disrupt daily operations. During a doxxing incident, attackers may release the following information

• Full name
• Home address
• Contact details
• Names of family members
• Banking or financial information
• Workplace or business details
• Social media accounts

How does doxxing work? 

Doxxing usually isn’t the result of a single mistake. It happens when attackers collect small pieces of information from different places and combine them to identify a real person. Below are some of the most common ways attackers gather that information.

Common doxxing techniques include:

• Cyberstalking
• Packet sniffing
• IP logging
• Phishing
• Reverse phone lookup

Cyberstalking 

Cyberstalking involves closely monitoring someone’s online activity over time. Attackers may review social media posts, blog comments, forum replies, and old profiles to find patterns. It’s important to avoid discussing personal information in public threads; a photo with a street sign or a casual mention of a workplace can reveal specific locations without the person realizing it.

Packet sniffing 

Packet sniffing happens when attackers intercept data sent over unsecured networks. By exploiting public network-sharing functionality (e.g., public Wi-Fi), attackers may capture your unencrypted data and sensitive information, such as passwords. They can use this data to access personal accounts or uncover confidential information.

IP logging 

IP logging is used to identify a person’s approximate location. Attackers may trick someone into clicking a link, loading an image, or visiting a webpage that records their IP address. Be extra wary of shortened URLs; a quick refresher on URIs vs. URLs can help you inspect links.

Once an IP address is collected, it can reveal the general geographic region and, in some cases, be linked to other online activity. Understanding the difference between your hostname and domain name also helps when reviewing logs.

Phishing  

Phishing uses fake emails, messages, or websites to trick people into sharing private information. These messages often appear to come from trusted sources like banks, hosting providers, or social platforms. Once credentials or personal details are entered, attackers can access accounts and gather more data.

You can learn more about this tactic here: What Is Phishing? Everything You Need to Know.

Social engineering

Social engineering is a psychological tactic used to trick people into revealing a user’s private information. Unlike a technical hack, this involves an attacker posing as a customer, a tech support agent, or even a friend to gain trust. By this, they convince victims to hand over confidential information or reset unique passwords without any coding.

Reverse phone lookup 

Reverse phone lookup tools allow attackers to enter a phone number and retrieve associated details, such as a full name, address, or social profiles. If a personal phone number is listed on a website or social account, it can quickly connect an online identity to a real person.

How to prevent doxxing 

Preventing doxxing starts with limiting the personal information you publicly share and closing the common paths attackers use to collect it. Here are key steps we’ll cover to help reduce your risk of being doxxed:

• Set your social media accounts to private
• Clean up your online footprint
• Practice strong password management
• Strengthen your website’s security
• Avoid using public Wi-Fi
• Be cautious of phishing attempts

Set your social media accounts to private 

The first line of defense is to audit your social media settings to ensure you aren’t oversharing with the public. Locking down your accounts limits what strangers can see and reduces how much information can be pieced together about you.

Here are practical ways to protect your privacy across social platforms:

• Switch personal accounts to private so only approved followers can see your posts, profile details, and activity
• Hide personal information on your profile, including your phone number, email address, birthday, hometown, workplace, and school
• Remove photos that reveal your location, such as images showing your house number, street signs, nearby landmarks, or frequent hangout spots
• Turn off location tagging for posts, stories, and photos, and disable automatic location sharing in your device settings
• Limit who can search for you using your email address or phone number in platform privacy settings
• Review tagged photos and posts, and require approval before anything appears on your profile
• Separate personal and business accounts so your private life is not tied to your brand or website presence

For site owners and small business operators, keeping personal profiles private is especially important when your name is already visible in public-facing content.

Clean up your online footprint 

Cleaning up your online footprint helps reduce what’s publicly available and limits how much personal data can be collected without your consent. Here are areas worth reviewing and cleaning up:

• Close inactive or forgotten accounts on forums, social networks, and tools you no longer use, especially ones tied to your real name or email address.
• Remove personal details from old profiles, including bios, contact info, and profile photos that no longer reflect how you want to be identified online.
• Update or remove public forms on your website that expose email addresses, phone numbers, or admin contact details. If you don’t need user accounts, forms, or backend functionality, a static site generally reduces your attack surface compared to a dynamic site.
• Replace personal contact info with role-based emails, such as [email protected] or [email protected], for business inquiries.
• Opt out of data brokers and people-search sites that collect and resell personal information (this is often a paid service, but can be especially helpful for small businesses and solo site owners).
• Check public records tied to your business, including registrations and directories, to confirm you’re not listing a home address or personal phone number.
• Search your name, business name, and email address regularly to catch new listings or exposures early.

Make it a routine review to stay ahead of new listings and reduce your chances of getting doxxed.

Practice strong password management 

Strong password habits help strengthen cybersecurity and make it much harder for attackers to access sensitive data. Start by using complex, unique passwords for each account and avoid reusing the same credentials across platforms.

Adding multi-factor authentication (MFA) provides an extra layer of protection by requiring a second step to sign in, even if a password is exposed. Password managers can help generate and securely store strong passwords, removing the need to remember or write them down.

Strengthen your website’s security 

This step is especially important for site owners and business owners, since websites often expose contact details and backend access points that can be used for doxxing.

Here are practical ways to reduce that risk:

• Use SSL certificates on your website to encrypt data sent through forms and logins. Knowing how your cipher suites affect compatibility and security helps, too.
• Add CAPTCHA to forms and login pages to block automated scraping and abuse.
• Use a dedicated PO box instead of your home address for business registrations, contact pages, and directories.
• Developers can also deploy honeypots to detect automated scraping and credential‑stuffing attempts.
• Avoid publicly listing your personal phone number and use business-only or role-based contact details instead.
• Choose a secure hosting provider that offers built-in protections, regular updates, and monitoring to help prevent unauthorized access. If visitors report warnings, start by checking for an SSL certificate error.
• For WordPress, review what plugins do and remove unused ones to reduce the attack surface.
• Hide domain registration information by using WHOIS privacy services to mask your personal details.

Tools like Wordfence security for WordPress help block brute‑force attempts and malware.

Avoid using public Wi-Fi 

When you connect to unsecured networks in places like cafés, airports, or hotels, your traffic can be exposed to others on the same network. This can reveal IP addresses, login details, or browsing behavior that may be used to identify you or link your online activity to a real-world location.

This can even be used by hackers to abuse your IP address. Abuse originating from your IP address can get you added to an IP blacklist, affecting email deliverability.

If you need to access accounts or manage a website while away from home or the office, use a virtual private network (VPN) for an extra layer of protection.

A VPN encrypts your internet connection and masks your IP address, making it harder for others on the network to see what you’re doing or trace activity back to you. Advanced users sometimes route traffic through an HTTPS proxy server for added control.

Be cautious of phishing attempts 

Phishing is one of the most common ways attackers gather personal information that can later be used for doxxing. These attacks are designed to look legitimate, often posing as messages from banks, social media platforms, domain registrars, or hosting providers. Once someone clicks a link or enters their details, attackers can gain access to accounts that contain private information.

When in doubt, review the signs of fake websites before submitting info.

Common phishing attempts often create a sense of urgency. These messages may claim there’s a problem with your account, a missed payment, or a security alert that needs immediate action. They usually pressure you to act quickly by:

• Clicking a link to “verify” or “secure” your account
• Downloading an attachment related to a supposed issue
• Replying with personal or account details before you have time to double-check

Malware like spyware can also capture passwords entered on spoofed pages.

Phishing messages also often come from unfamiliar senders, use links that don’t match the official website, or ask for sensitive information like passwords or verification codes. When in doubt, avoid clicking links and access accounts directly through the official website instead.

What to do if you get doxxed? 

If you’ve already been doxxed, act quickly to limit further exposure and protect your safety. Focus on securing your accounts, preserving evidence, and reducing what others can access.

Start by documenting everything related to the incident. If any accounts or databases were exposed, follow a data breach response plan to coordinate next steps.

Save screenshots of posts, messages, usernames, URLs, and timestamps showing where your information was shared or where threats were made. This documentation is important if you need to report the situation later.

If the doxxing involves threats, harassment, or safety concerns, file a police report. Having an official report can help when working with platforms, service providers, or legal support.

Lastly, take these immediate steps to secure your accounts and phone number:

• Call your phone provider and ask about protections to prevent SIM swapping
• Avoid clicking password reset emails or security alerts you didn’t request
• Do not click links, download attachments, or share private information sent by unknown contacts
• Set personal social media accounts to private
• Review account privacy settings and remove public contact details
• Change passwords and enable multi-factor authentication on key accounts

Frequently asked questions

Protect your information before it’s exposed

Doxxing can affect anyone with an online presence, but the risk increases when personal details are easy to find. Taking steps to lock down social accounts, clean up public information, and secure your website helps reduce what attackers can access and how much damage they can cause.

If you own a website or run a business, website security is key to protecting your business. Our website security solutions at Network Solutions, such as SiteLock and SSL certificates, help safeguard your site and information; you can focus on growing your online presence without privacy risks.