How Doxxing Threatens Your Small Business

Every day, as the Internet deepens, the lexicon also deepens. That is how Doxxing is suddenly becoming very popular even though it has been around for quite some time. As gleaned from the Internet, “The term Dox or Doxxing is derived from the word “Document.” It originates from the practice of researching information about an individual. Doxxing is often defined as an Internet-based practice of researching and broadcasting personally identifiable information (such as names, addresses, phone numbers, spouse, children, relatives, financial history and much more) about an individual.”

In fact, such information usually forms a total very sensitive package online about any individual. If it gets stolen or falls into wrong hands, such information can be used for real time impersonation or even identity theft. If you own a small business online and somebody steals your identity through Dox packages, that business could easily be taken over (even if temporarily) and misused by using it to perpetrate fraud or scams. That is how dangerous Doxxing can be to your business.

Very commonly online, when it comes to privacy issues, people focus much more on companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and suchlike social media sites. Quite often, that focus often ends up overlooking the real culprits. Many of these social media sites claim to be self censored and boast of being able to secure the personal information of their users. Even if we accept that to be true, many of their users may not be that careful with their personal information. In addition, other persons who post on their sites freely could be reckless with sensitive information when they take full advantage of the fact that many of such social media sites are interactive and very free to use. These careless postings could actually serve as sources which feed the practice of Doxxing and can lead to many different types of assaults on your business.

Now wait for it! Some companies using people-finder websites even now specialize in collecting sensitive information online and selling it to other companies. I bet you can you see the danger in that. Even though Doxxing in its earliest form was meant to gather marketing intelligence information for businesses, criminals have since latched on to it to perpetrate various forms of cyber crimes. That is why it is now a real threat to many small businesses online. Many of such businesses can easily be wiped out completely when hit real hard by cyber criminals.

Any viable remedy? Yes indeed! What to do is simple as ABC. Just protect your personal information online like never before. If you can help it, don’t allow your sensitive personal information online unless you have absolute guarantee that it will be securely protected from predators.