Being chronically online has left many kids and teenagers vulnerable to doxing, which is a form of cyberbullying that involves posting or revealing a person’s private information online to incite further harassment. According to recent research, over one in 10 high school students have engaged in doxing. The study also shows that girls are more likely to engage in social doxing, while boys are more likely to conduct hostile doxing to humiliate or scare their victims.

Just like other types of cyberbullying, doxing can have a negative effect on your child’s mental health. In extreme cases, doxing can even put your loved ones at risk for stalking, harassment, or physical danger. To keep your child safe, you’ll need to teach them safety measures to prevent doxing, and you need to know what to do in case they become a victim of this cyberbullying act. Here’s how to prevent and respond to doxing to protect your child from online bullies.

Protect Personal Information

Cultivating a culture of security is a must in professional settings, especially in the healthcare and government sectors since they’re the prime targets for cyber attacks, phishing, and doxing. But since kids are also vulnerable to cybercrime and online bullying, make it a point to teach safe Internet habits at home to protect your children from getting doxed. Once your child is old enough to use social media or gaming apps, help them hide all their personal information on their accounts. You can easily do this on certain platforms like TikTok by setting the account as “private” instead of “public.” It’s also recommended to create a new email account that your child can use to register on apps instead of letting them use their personal email account.

Remind your child not to use their real name when they’re gaming or chatting with someone on social media. They should also never share other sensitive information, such as their school, address, their live location, or their daily routines. Livestreaming should be a no-no since it poses safety risks. Your child may divulge too much personal information, and viewers can record the videos and spread them on other platforms.

Prevent Doxers from Tracking Your Child

Some doxers will do anything to track the location of their victims. Once they have the information, it’s either they go to that place to personally harass their victim, or they encourage other people to terrorize or play cruel pranks on that person. To prevent doxers from finding your address or your child’s current location, turn off location services in apps like Snapchat and Instagram.

If your child plays online games, advise them never to open links sent to them by other gamers. The link could expose your IP address, which reveals your city and zip code. If a doxer gets hold of your IP address, they can find your ISP and get more information about your child and other members of your family. Protect your loved ones by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which can prevent cyberbullies from finding your IP address.

What to Do if Your Child Becomes a Target

A lot of parents think that making their child take a break from the Internet for a couple of days or weeks can make the cyberbullies go away. But some doxers can be persistent, and they can make life difficult for your child in many ways. Doxing can lead to pranks such as getting pizza or other types of food or items delivered to your place several times a day. Since these haven’t been paid, you or your child can end up spending a lot of money on things that you never intended to buy. People can also vandalize your property, or falsely report your family for misdemeanors or crimes. Even worse, the bullies can force your child to harm themselves, do pornographic acts, or they can extort money in exchange for not posting their personal information online.

So what do you do if your child becomes a target of doxing? First, collect evidence by taking a screenshot of the doxing post or threat. Next, get in touch with the app or gaming site’s customer service agents and ask them to take down the post. You may also want to delete your child’s social media profiles and gaming accounts and tell them to stay off the Internet to stay safe. As an added precaution, think about changing their mobile phone number too, and remind them to only give their number to family members or trusted in-real-life friends.

Call the police and let them know about the situation, especially if the doxers are threatening to swat your house. Swatting is another common tactic used by doxers wherein they falsely report an emergency, such as a bomb threat, to send a large number of armed police officers to a residence. Letting your local law enforcers know about the situation may help to keep your family from being swatted.

Being a victim of doxing can be traumatizing, and it leaves a person unable to trust anyone for a long time. Protect your child from cyberbullies by talking about the dangers of doxing and why it’s important to guard their privacy whenever they’re online. If you suspect that your child is being threatened by doxers, encourage them to talk to you so you can provide solutions to the problem. If you feel that your child is in danger, seek help from the police to keep you and your loved ones safe from doxing or swatting.