Doxing

Categories: Tech, Ethics/Morals

An online initiative aimed at shaming people who cover up the true identities of their irritating, ankle biting, little purse dogs as dachshunds so they don’t get beat up at doggy daycare.

Ah, if only this were true. But take heart, you can rely on this fantasy to help you recall the true meaning of the term, which is short-hand for "document dropping."

Doxing happens when hackers steal information that can reveal the identity of a person (such as a dachshund fraud) or business, either on its own (e.g., passport) or when combined with other information (e.g., birthdate, gender, or race) and sell or release the information on the internet without the permission of the person or business to which the information relates.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What are Phishing Scams?8 Views

00:00

Finance a la shmoop what are phishing scams? all right you know when you're out [Woman on fishing boat with Dad]

00:08

on the lake with dad just the two of you trying to haul in some trout when one of

00:13

the fish pulls a fast one on you and hangs one of these things on your line [Fishing line with boot attached]

00:18

yeah total scam we're telling you you cannot trust anything that breathes

00:24

through the side of its face anymore these days really okay so that's a not

00:28

quite a phishing scam although the general idea is similar it's someone

00:33

trying to make you believe something that isn't exactly true with a phishing

00:38

scam the venue switches from the great outdoors to cyberspace never gotten an [A wooden hut appears]

00:44

email from a Nigerian prince who's temporarily down on his luck and if

00:48

you'll just wire him three hundred bucks in cash immediately well immeasurable

00:54

riches await you it sounds like a little good to be true there right yeah and it [Man gives thumbs up in room]

00:59

is well usually that Nigerian prince is an overweight balding guy named Jerry

01:04

living in his mom's basement in a suburb just outside of Cleveland he'd love

01:09

nothing more than to hook a sucker you and take that 300 bucks [Jerry on his computer]

01:13

off your hands but many times the scam is much more intricate than that often

01:18

its identity thieves who are trying to con you into releasing private

01:23

information such as your social security number or credit card information mm-hmm

01:28

that's out there well they might try to convince you that

01:30

their Amazon support or your bank or your long-lost uncle Yusuf who just [Person flicking through e-mails]

01:36

needs a few personal details before he can FedEx you your large inheritance

01:41

don't fall for any of it anytime you're randomly asked to divulge any sensitive

01:46

information or pop a wad of cash in an envelope stop for a second and ask

01:51

yourself whatever you might be well a fish and then ask yourself whether you'd [Cash burning]

01:55

like all your hard-earned money to be sauteed or flame-broiled good stuff...

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)