What parents should know to protect their children from doxxing

The digital world offers countless opportunities for self-expression, learning and personal development, but it’s also a place where grudges are easily harbored, disagreements can often spiral, and intimidation, harassment and revenge are never far away.

Often, doxxing is the primary way online retaliation manifests. It sounds innocuous enough, but could have a significant impact especially on your child’s mental health and physical safety. Minimizing the chances of it happening may require a change in online behavior – for you and your kids.

What is doxxing?

Doxxing (doxing) is what happens when a malicious third party deliberately exposes the personal information of someone else online. It could be their name and email/home address, employment details, financial and health records, or even information on family members. Anything is fair game in the world of doxxing.

Why do they do it? Usually as some form of retribution against the victim. It ...