On Defending Against Doxxing by Benjamin Brown
•
2 likes•1,192 views
Doxxing is the Internet-based practice of researching and broadcasting personally identifiable information about an individual. It is also a scourge on our internet lives that can quickly boil over into the physical realm. Often wielded as a weapon of hate or manipulation and a tactic for intimidation doxxing easily leads to real-world threats of violence, financial harm, sexual assault, career damage, or even murder. Examples of these impacts can be seen surrounding the recent events of 'GamerGate' through the targeting of Anita Sarkeesian, Felicia Day, Tara Long, and Brianna Wu. Doxxing also often leads to another tragic outcome; that of targets for hate being misidentified leading to unaffiliated individuals becoming the subjects of attack. Occurrences of this can be found in such online sagas as Anonymous vs. Scientology, the Amanda Todd case, and the incorrect fingering of Sunil Tripathi as the Boston Bomber. Given the real world impacts of being doxxed what can we do to protect ourselves, our friends, and our loved ones? In this talk I will highlight common methods employed by doxxers as well as methods to safeguard the information they seek. I will move from the easy wins and low-hanging fruit, with an eye for practicality, to the more complex and long-term defenses employed by professionals.
More Related Content
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (16)
Similar to On Defending Against Doxxing by Benjamin Brown
Similar to On Defending Against Doxxing by Benjamin Brown (20)
More from EC-Council
More from EC-Council (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
On Defending Against Doxxing by Benjamin Brown
- 1. On Defending Against Doxxing Benjamin Brown
- 2. Who Am I? Benjamin Brown Akamai Technologies - Incident Response - Threat Research - Actor Profiling - System Architecture Reviews - Security Training and Workshops
- 3. Overview of Terms - Doxxing: “Publicly releasing a person’s idenCfying informaCon including [but not limited to] full name, date of birth, address, phone number, and pictures” - SWATing: “To cause a SWAT team to be deployed on (an unsuspecCng vicCm) by falsifying a threat”
- 4. Why Should We Care? Pranking, MarkeCng SensiCve InformaCon Leaks Harassment, Bullying, Stalking Iden:ty The= SWATing Targe:ng For Physical ABack
- 5. Why Should We Care?
- 6. Why Should We Care?
- 7. Why Should We Care?
- 8. Why Should We Care?
- 9. Why Should We Care?
- 10. From: Tim Oblivious Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 3:55PM To: Paul Bossman Subject: Family Emergency Paul, I just wanted to let you know that I will not be able to come into work tomorrow. Something came up at home and I had to go to New York this morning for the next couple of days. I apologize for the delayed noCce. Kind Regards, Tim Real Cases
- 11. From: Paul Bossman Sent: Thursday, November 1, 4:54PM To: Tim Oblivious CC: Jill Director Subject: RE: Family Emergency Tim, Thanks for le_ng us know – hope everything is ok in New York. (cool wand) Cheers, PB Real Cases
- 12. Real Cases
- 13. Sunil Tripathi -‐ Missing Since March 16th 2013 -‐ MisidenCfied as Boston Bomber -‐ Doxxed on Reddit & 4chan -‐ Family Death Threats, Harrasment -‐ Body Found in Providence River Real Cases
- 14. Amanda Todd’s Bully -‐ Commifed Suicide Following Cyberstalking and Blackmail -‐ Anonymous Doxxed Wrong Man -‐ Had to Quit Job, Move Across Country, Legally Change Name Real Cases
- 15. Michael Brown Shooter -‐ Anonymous Doxxed Wrong Man and His Mother -‐ Never Part of Ferguson Police -‐ Death Threats, Thrown Items -‐ Both Financial VicCms of ID Thei Real Cases
- 16. SWATTing
- 17. • Live Recordings of Various Online Gamers • MulCple Gamergate Targets • Ashton Kutcher • Brian Krebs SWATTing
- 18. Chinese "Human Flesh Search Engine" (人肉搜索, Rénròu sōusuǒ) -‐ CollaboraCve, Distributed Human Research on a Mass Scale Russian Celeb Doxxing -‐ Eastern Bloc, Europe, Americas -‐ Kim Kardashian, Mel Gibson, Ashton Kutcher, Jay Z, Beyonce, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears Global
- 19. The Googles - Search Operators (“Google-‐Fu”) - Usernames <-‐> Email Addresses - Cached Websites - (Way Back Machine) - VariaCons of Usernames and Email Addresses Resources and Methods
- 20. Tools -‐ theHarvester -‐ Maltego -‐ Cree.py -‐ Recon-‐NG Resources and Methods
- 21. Social Media - FB, Twifer, LinkedIn, etc. - Contact Info, Family Members, Friends, Acquaintances - Interests, Haunts, Paferns - Skillsets, Jobs, Colleagues - Answers to Security Ques:ons Resources and Methods
- 23. Social Media - Forums, Groups, Mailinglists - Birthdate, Age, LocaCon - Hobbies, FeCshes - Trusted Usernames - Breaches Resources and Methods
- 25. Resources and Methods Yahoo Groups -‐ Freecycle
- 26. - Whois - Full Name - Phone Number - Fax Number - Email Address(es) - Physical Address Resources and Methods
- 28. Data Brokers - Spokeo, Intelius, pipl, peekyou, etc. - Free - Full Name (Incl. Maiden Name), Age - Current and Former Addresses - Family Members / Ages / Addresses - Paid - Criminal Records - Schools - Retail AcCvity InformaCon Resources and Methods
- 31. Public Records - Business IncorporaCon, Deeds, etc. - Business Partners - Addresses - Histories - Mappings to Other Business Resources and Methods
- 36. Public Records - PoliCcal ContribuCons - Name, Address, PoliCcal AffiliaCon, DonaCon Amounts - PeCCons - Name, Geographic LocaCon, Fuel For Social Engineering Resources and Methods
- 37. EXIF Data - Photos, Videos, Audio - Device / Computer InformaCon - Soiware InformaCon - Times and Dates - GPS Coordinates Resources and Methods
- 39. Social Engineering - ISP / Phone Company as Spouse or Delegate - Current/Former Place of Work - Family as Friends - Friends as Family Resources and Methods
- 40. Social Media Mindfulness - Tighten Security and Privacy Se_ngs - Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, etc. - Restrict Personal InformaCon - Vet ConnecCon Requests - Untag Judiciously - Block, Uninstall 3rd Party Apps Defense Methods
- 41. Secure Your Accounts -‐ Use Strong Passphrases -‐ Use Two-‐Factor Auth -‐ Do Not Reuse Passwords -‐ Shutdown and Clean-‐out Old, Disused Accounts -‐ Don’t Let Retail Sites Save Data Defense Methods
- 42. Defense Methods
- 43. Data Clearinghouse Opt-‐Outs - Spokeo: - hfp://www.spokeo.com/opt_out/new - VerificaCon needed: Email address - Pipl - hfps://pipl.com/directory/remove/ - VerificaCon needed: Email address - ZoomInfo - hfp://www.zoominfo.com/lookupEmail - VerificaCon needed: Email address Defense Methods More: hfp://www.computerworld.com/arCcle/2849263/doxxing-‐defense-‐remove-‐your-‐personal-‐info-‐from-‐data-‐brokers.html
- 44. Data Clearinghouse Opt-‐Outs - Whitepages: - hfps://support.whitepages.com/hc/en-‐us/ arCcles/203263794-‐How-‐do-‐I-‐remove-‐my-‐ people-‐search-‐profile-‐ - VerificaCon needed: Email address and Phone Number - Intellius (and subsidiaries) - hfps://www.intelius.com/optout.php - VerificaCon needed: Government ID Defense Methods More: hfp://www.computerworld.com/arCcle/2849263/doxxing-‐defense-‐remove-‐your-‐personal-‐info-‐from-‐data-‐brokers.html
- 45. Registering a Fic::ous or “Doing Business As” (DBA) name -‐ Protect Your Name, Your Partners, Your LLC or CorporaCon -‐ County Clerk’s Office or State Government Website or Office Defense Methods
- 46. Land Trusts / Holding Corpora:ons -‐ Protect Your Name, Address, Etc. -‐ Keep Sales Price Private -‐ Consult a Real Estate Lawyer Defense Methods
- 47. Wiping EXIF Data From Media -‐ ExifTool by Phil Harvey (Win/Mac/Nix) hfp://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiiool/ -‐ Windows: Property Details Turn off Loca:on Tagging on Devices Defense Methods
- 49. -‐ Use different and ‘Meaningless’ Email Accounts, Usernames, and Passwords -‐ Employ Pseudonyms -‐ Be Wary of Cloud Services -‐ Rotate Phone Numbers and Passwords Oien -‐ Shred All IdenCfying Paper / Mail Маскировка (Maskirovka)
- 50. -‐ DifferenCated InformaCon Release -‐ False InformaCon -‐ Pics of Places You Haven’t Been -‐ “Evidence” of Hobbies You Don’t Have -‐ Early InformaCon -‐ Late InformaCon -‐ Don’t Post Photos Right Away -‐ Family / Friends Corroborate Маскировка (Maskirovka)
- 51. -‐ Always Use (No-‐Split) VPN -‐ Watch for DNS / IP Leaks -‐ Consider TOR -‐ Don’t Use Skype -‐ Start Building Other IdenCCes -‐ Encrypt All The Things -‐ OTR, PGP, Etc. Маскировка (Maskirovka)
- 52. - MiCgate Immediate Danger - Call 911, File a Police Report - Fully Document - Shreenshots, Printouts, etc. - Clean-‐up - Close Down Accounts I’ve Been Doxxed!
- 53. - Credit Watch Services - ID Thei Watch Services - ID Thei or Blackmail Afempts = Contact FBI - Inform Local Police About any SWATing Concerns I’ve Been Doxxed!