When creating a social media presence online in today’s world, you should do your best to avoid key information that may allow people to determine who you are. Some people don’t tend to care about this, others of you may place a high priority on it. So I wanted to give you a few tips to stay safe from doxxing by curtailing your social media presence.
Often the thing that gets people caught is using the same username on multiple services. This is something that is easily searching via Google which allows them to link two accounts together.
Many instances in which a user will post something that is disagreeable, so he becomes the target of these sociopaths.
They search the username, and come across with a Facebook account that has the same username associated with it. Even if they can’t find a particular Facebook, they can find other types of accounts. These other accounts could be linked with something that may somehow give relation to an individual’s Facebook (or other noteworthy social media such as Instagram/Twitter).
This is where social engineering is used to break past people’s privacy filters. Such as spoofing a friend’s account. “Hey, my account was hacked, here is my new one”, which is often created by stealing that friend’s public information.
The steps you take to ensure your information remains your information is up to you.
Stay Safe From Doxxing Recommendations
Some great things to do are to keep accounts separate.
For example, services like ProtonMail can provide you a secure email address to use in associate with your account online. We have been proven right in many cases, in which higher up programmers on certain websites will release users’ private information by considering it their own personal witch hunt.
Your objective should ALWAYS be dead ends.
Generic names such as “John Smith” will make it next to impossible to reverse search people, compared to “Peter Skibinski”.
Common tips when creating an account:
• use common names like “John Smith” in situations that require you to fill that information out.
• use programs like 1Password, associated with a unique email, to remember your account information & auto sign you in.
• use unique usernames for every account you create.
• use unique email address for these accounts, like ProtonMail’s numerous username option.
• use unique passwords that can be auto generated via password programs, like 1Password, LastPass or Dashline.
• NEVER duplicate comments between multiple accounts. This includes accounts like Facebook.
• NEVER move someone from one account (Reddit) to another (Steam). Isolation is key.
• VPN’s should always be your friend. IPVanish is one very useful tool to use across multiple services. Another step further would be to use TOR.
• Never allude to information that may give away the city, state or country that you live in, as this makes it a lot easier to narrow down the search for a doxxer.
Birthday Information
Another quick (but important) update is to never give your real birth-date on any online account that requires it. Perfect example being Facebook.
Make up a fake internet birthday for all your accounts and stick with it (even if you have used your real one previously).
Trust me, getting some happy birthday greetings on Facebook isn’t worth getting doxxed.
Recommended to read next: Getting Started on The Deep Web – How To Use TOR