Doxxed: what to do when your personal info is posted online

1. Safety first: if specific threats were made against you, your family, or your home, call local police non-emergency now (911 if immediate). A filed report also unlocks faster removal at many data brokers.

2. If your home address was posted, tell anyone living with you — including kids — what to do if someone unexpected comes to the door.

3. If your employer was named, send a short heads-up to security or HR. Most companies have a protocol; you don't need to manage it alone.

1. Screenshot everything before it disappears — the post, comments, platform, timestamps, the username doxxing you, and accounts amplifying it.

2. Report the original post under the platform's specific 'personal information / doxxing / private information' category — generic harassment reports route slower.

3. If the dox is on a small forum or paste site (Pastebin, Doxbin, a Telegram channel), email the host's abuse address — hosting providers often act faster than the platform itself.

4. Search yourself: full name, username, phone, address (in quotes) on Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo. Note every page — that is your takedown list.

5. Lock down what's still in your control: make socials private, hide friend/follower lists, remove photos showing your home, license plate, workplace, or kids' school; strip GPS metadata before reposting.

1. Begin data-broker removal — Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, FastPeopleSearch, Radaris, ZabaSearch. Free DIY via inteltechniques.com/workbook, or paid via DeleteMe / Optery / Kanary / Privacy Bee.

   IntelTechniques workbook

2. Reverse-image-search your profile photos — if you used the same picture on LinkedIn and a hobby forum five years ago, that's the thread doxxers follow. Replace it.

3. 🇺🇸 US

   Check voter rolls (US) and provincial directories (Canada). If you qualify, apply for an Address Confidentiality Program in your state.

1. Operational habits beat tools: don't post in real time, use a virtual mailing address (UPS Store, iPostal1, Canada Post PO Box) for accounts that display addresses publicly, and consider a credit freeze — addresses get used to open new accounts.

2. Avoid the Streisand effect — quietly remove content rather than publicly responding; doxxers thrive on visible reactivity.

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