Doxing is the process of finding personal information about a person, group, organization, or corporation for the purpose of publishing it online. The result of doxing is called a dox.^[1] Doxing is usually done with the intent to harm someone, often as revenge. It is frequently an attempt to humiliate, expose, and/or punish an individual. Doxing is illegal in many countries.^[1][2]

Doxing dates back to the 1980s and 1990s. Black-hat hackers and penetration testers of the time used it to silence and/or intimate their hacker rivals in the Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and Internet communities.^[2]

Doxing is a form of vigilantism. There have been many instances where people who were doxed experienced years of harassment, were victims of swatting, had to change their phone numbers, and/or had to move out of their homes. At present, specifically in the United States, doxing is used as a method of political attack. Being doxed makes a person more vulnerable to identity theft.^[2]