Doxxing in the Domain Industry: What It Is and How to Protect Yourself

• Jan 29 2026
• by Ilona K.

Cybersquatting, phishing, and other forms of DNS abuse are a real threat to your domain names. However, there is also a threat to your personal information as a domain owner, a threat known as doxxing.

What Is Doxxing?

The term ‘doxxing’ originated from the phrase ‘dropping dox,’ used by hackers. Initially, it was used exclusively by them to spread malicious information about individuals. But in recent years, it has become a serious cybersecurity threat for everyone.

Doxxing is the intentional disclosure of private or confidential information about a person without their consent. In the domain industry, it’s the practice of disclosing the personal information of a domain owner. This can include publishing addresses, phone numbers, financial data, and other private information.

The legal status of doxxing varies depending on jurisdiction and circumstances. However, in most countries, it’s illegal. In some countries, such as China and the Netherlands, doxxing is expressly prohibited by law. In other countries that don’t have a specific law on doxxing, such actions may be classed as ‘invasion of privacy’ or similar offenses.

In the domain industry, doxxing typically involves the use of publicly available or semi-public information that may appear innocuous individually, but when combined, allows for the precise identification of a domain owner. The most common sources of such data include:

• WHOIS data (special network protocol with data) such as name, address, phone number, and email address;
• information fraudulently obtained from registrars, hosting providers, and intermediaries conducting during domain maintenance;
• leaked correspondence, contracts, and payment details that have become publicly available;
• judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings, including the UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy) which involve the disclosure of personal data;
• correlating domain activity with social media profiles and business registries, allowing for the association of technical data with a specific person or company.

Often, doxxing is not a one-off action, instead being a systematic process of compiling, comparing, and refining data. Collecting this information typically doesn’t require sophisticated technical attacks and is based on a consistent analysis of digital footprints. The following methods are used in practice:

• social media activity analysis, which examines the domain owner’s profiles and those around them, comments, connections, and mentions, gradually building a coherent picture;
• use of public databases related to business, real estate, or vehicle registration, which, in some jurisdictions, contain personal information;
• searching for personal data leaks resulting from hacks of companies and online services that store contact and payment information.

The Risks of Doxxing

When your personal information falls into the wrong hands, it can lead to:

1. Threats and spam. When your contacts become available to scammers, they can inundate you with spam and threats via phone, email, or even mail to your physical address.

Personalized messages, calls, or emails are used as a tool of psychological pressure, an attempt to intimidate or coerce you into making decisions such as giving up a domain, changing the terms of a deal, or ceasing operations. Over time, such pressure can escalate from digital harassment to real-life stress and a feeling of insecurity, extending far beyond the online conflict.

2. Fake complaints. These may be complaints to the registrar, hosting provider, or payment systems. This is especially dangerous in the domain industry, as even an unfounded complaint can lead to a temporary suspension of a domain or service, depending on the registrar’s policy. Even an outage of just a few days can sometimes result in a significant loss of clients and revenue for a business. In this case, the burden of litigation is effectively shifted to the parties involved, forcing the domain owner to prove the absence of violations, urgently gather documents and engage lawyers or consultants.

The use of procedures such as the UDRP as a means to pressurize or harass deserves special attention. After disclosing personal data, the attacker knows exactly who to target in the complaint, can personalize the accusations and create the appearance of a systemic or deliberate violation. Even a patently weak complaint triggers a formal process that requires financial defense, is conducted publicly and leaves a trail of decisions and materials in public archives. The mere fact of participating in such a proceeding can cause reputational and financial damage to the domain owner, regardless of the final decision.

3. Domain theft. With the owner’s personal information, attackers can impersonate them when communicating with the registrar and support team. This gives them a pretext  to initiate access recovery procedures, reset account passwords, or transfer domain control.

Attacks typically don’t once control of a domain has been gained. Personal information is used to send phishing emails with plausible personalized details to seem more trustworthy. Attackers can also hijack email accounts associated with the domain and secure complete control over the infrastructure, making reclamation a complex and time-consuming process.

4. Damage to business, clients, and partners. Doxxing is rarely limited to one individual. The consequences often extend beyond the personal sphere:

• clients lose trust due to scandals and accusations;
• partners suspend cooperation, unwilling to risk their reputation;
• the brand becomes associated with the conflict rather than the product or service;
• employees or contractors may be subject to secondary pressure.

In the domain industry, where much is built on reputation and trust, even a short-term incident can have long-term consequences.

Doxxing Prevention

While it’s impossible to completely eliminate the risk of doxxing, it can be significantly reduced by taking a systematic approach to personal data protection and digital hygiene. Most attacks are direct  hacking, but instead exploit redundant information that a person leaves publicly available.

Managing Public Information

Regularly audit your online presence. It’s helpful to check search engines and public profiles to understand what data is publicly accessible. After this analysis, it’s recommended to delete or restrict access to sensitive information, especially contacts and addresses. Pay special attention to old and abandoned accounts on forums, review sites, and social media, as these are often the source of personal information leaks.

Before publishing any content online, it’s essential to assess the potential risks and consider how this information could be used against you. For individual domain owners, this includes avoiding sharing exact addresses, phone numbers, or geolocated photos, especially if they allow you to reconstruct your travel routes or familiar locations. For companies, the focus should be on minimizing exposure of employee personal data and internal operational details, while keeping required business contact information publicly available.

Account Security and Contact Separation

Strong account security remains a fundamental element of countering doxxing. To achieve this, it’s recommended to:

• use unique and complex passwords for each service and update them regularly;
• enable multi-factor authentication, especially on platforms related to domains, finance, and email;
• set up backup recovery codes and store them in a secure location separate from your primary passwords.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to separate personal and public contacts. Creating a separate email address and phone number (including a virtual one) for registration on commercial websites, forums, and message boards allows you to isolate personal data and reduce the impact of potential leaks. Personal contacts, meanwhile, should remain accessible only to a limited number of people.

Use WHOIS Privacy

It is recommended to use WHOIS privacy services (also known as Privacy Protection or WHOIS Guard). These are standard registrar services that conceal the domain name owner’s personal information, such as name, address, phone number, and email, replacing them with the service’s own data. Mail and email messages can be redirected to the real owner. While this protection may complicate tracing the domain owner in some cases, it significantly reduces the risk of spam and doxxing.

It’s also important to separate domain activities from personal accounts, avoiding using the same contact information and accounts for domain management and everyday communications.

Additional Recommendations

To reduce secondary risks, it’s helpful to adhere to the following practices:

• regularly check your privacy settings on social media, as platforms periodically change their default settings;
• delete personal information from data broker websites that aggregate and resell user information;
• as a general precaution, consider avoiding logging in through third-party accounts to reduce unnecessary linking between services;
• avoid clicking suspicious links in private messages, as they may lead to pages that log visitors' IP addresses;
• choose registries and registrars that offer strong built-in security measures. A security-focused registrars and registries can serve as an additional barrier between attackers and domain owners, especially when doxxing is used as a stepping stone for domain theft or fraudulent complaints.

Taken together, these measures don’t guarantee complete anonymity, but they significantly complicate the collection and correlation of personal data, making doxxing less effective and more costly for attackers.

FAQs

Is doxxing legal?

The legal status of doxxing varies by country and specific circumstances. In some countries, it’s directly prohibited by law, while in others, it’s classified as a violation of privacy, illegal distribution of personal data, or stalking. Even if individual actions are formally considered legal, their cumulative effect can have legal consequences.

Is it possible to completely protect against doxxing?

It’s impossible to completely eliminate the risk, as some data is public by nature or is disclosed through legal proceedings. However, a systematic approach such as minimizing public information, protecting accounts, separating contacts and using WHOIS privacy makes doxxing significantly more difficult and costly for attackers.

Can doxxing happen if I use WHOIS privacy?

WHOIS privacy significantly reduces the risk, but it doesn’t provide absolute protection. Personal data can still be exposed through old WHOIS records, judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings (such as UDRP), leaks from third-party services, or through correlation with social media and business registries. Therefore, WHOIS privacy should be considered one element of a comprehensive security solution, not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Can I lose my domain due to doxxing, even if I haven’t done anything wrong?

There is a risk of losing the domain. Doxxing itself doesn’t revoke domain rights, but it can trigger a chain of events such as fake complaints, UDRP proceedings, and appeals to the registrar. This can temporarily restrict access to the domain or force the owner to prove their bona fides. Even in a favorable outcome, this requires time, money, and resources.

How does doxxing differ from regular spam or data leaks?

The key difference between doxxing and regular spam is its targeting. This isn’t an accidental leak or mass spam, but the deliberate collection and publication of a specific individual’s personal information for the purpose of pressure, intimidation, or damage.

What should I do if my data has already been compromised?

First, it’s important to document the doxxing: save links, screenshots, and correspondence. Then, it’s essential to promptly limit further dissemination of the data, including closing or deleting the sources of the leak, changing passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and notifying the domain registrar. In cases of threats or serious damage, it’s advisable to contact a lawyer or law enforcement, as doxxing is illegal in many jurisdictions.

Looking for more tips to protect your business online? Visit it.com Domains blog and contact us on social media.

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