Security News > 2024 > August > Mega money, unfathomable violence pervade thriving underground doxxing scene

Black Hat Recently published interviews with known doxxers reveal the incredible finances behind the practice and how their extortion tactics are becoming increasingly violent.

Doxxing is the term that's used to describe when an individual purposefully reveals the true identity of someone who was or would otherwise expect to be anonymous by "Dropping documents" - which is where the term doxxing comes from - with information on them.

"[Reiko] deleted everything except for his doxxing gang website Valhal.

"One of the new members of the Valhalla doxxing gang is IntelBroker who was a moderator and data seller on BreachForums. On the Valhalla website, it says 'something big is coming soon,' so we will just have to wait and see."

There is a very real market available to violent criminals that's being exploited by doxxers to physically intimidate and sometimes assault victims until they give into extortion demands.

Unless you live in Alabama or any other region where doxxing is specifically outlawed, there aren't many legal levers that can be pulled to reverse a public identification of an individual who has worked to remain anonymous online.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/12/mega_money_and_unfathomable_violence/