Doxxing: a cyber attack where the perpetrator finds and publicly shares private information about their target with malicious intent.

This Cyber Security Month, I am sharing my top 5 tips for keeping yourself safer online.
These skills may seem basic, but in my experience, when used together they have proven to be a highly effective digital defense protocol- even against the most resourced man on the planet!

1. Avoid hostile online spaces
2. Selective information sharing
3. Data Deletion
4. Encrypted communications
5. Protect biometric data

The current online climate is defined by the unregulated trafficking of our personal data for profit.
The combination of Data Brokers, advertisers, recommendation algorithms, and exploding police surveillance puts us all at a higher risk of cyber-danger. When it comes to keeping my information safe online, as a Black-Indigenous woman who publicly advocates for online privacy and organizes in communities experiencing heightened police surveillance… Let’s just say that the chips are really stacked up against me.

In fact, this year’s Cyber Security Month happened to fall on the one year anniversary of my being doxxed by the world’s wealthiest man, Elon Musk. I wish I were making that up, but that is just how pathetic he is, and how dangerous it can be for marginalized organizers to stand up to Big Tech oligarchs. While my loved ones and I are relieved that my cyber security skills have kept me safe from escalated direct cyberattacks so far, I would be lying if I did not acknowledge the impact that the doxxing has had on me as an individual.

The experience is devastating. Not only is your sense of safety and privacy shattered, but without the proper support, your mental and physical health is at an even greater risk. The cruelty and violation is the point. If me speaking up and sharing what worked for me helps even one person feel less alone in navigating threats while organizing more safely in this online climate, the potential risk is worth it.
With that, here are the online safety skills I use everyday to keep myself and my communities safer.

Avoid infiltrating hostile online spaces

Hostile spaces are where hateful content goes unchecked and even praised. These spaces can be identified by an abundance of content containing, disinformation, racist dog whistles, and slurs. For example: 4Chan, Gettr, Truth Social, Rumble, and more recently Twitter (X) are places I encourage folks to stay far away from. Here’s why-

If your account is not private, the information you share about yourself is readily available to the world wide web. Some people online may attempt to publicize the personal information of anyone who disagrees with them or ‘expose’ anyone they see as infiltrating their community.

If you engage with content in hostile spaces, your viewership data may be used to show you (and those within your social circle) similar hateful content. This steady recommendation of more and more hateful and divisive content is called the Alt-Right Pipeline. Within the Alt-Right pipeline, you risk radicalizing your loved ones, or becoming indoctrinated yourself.

Selective information sharing

I encourage my volunteers, and everyone in general, to limit the personal information you share online. Make sure personal information like your address, your phone number, and your birthday are not available on your profile. Many platforms have privacy options that allow you to hide your full name and profile pictures from people who do not follow you. By taking this step, you give any potential bad actors a lot less information to work with, keeping you and your community safer.

Outside of monitoring, I get really picky about who gets access to my email, phone number, and address. I will give fake names numbers and zip codes on registration forms and use an email mask and a phone number mask. Before sharing these pieces of information, I make sure that the connection is encrypted, so nothing can catch my data in transmission. You may call this “paranoia” but lying on a registration form for a partner organization’s gala is what kept my phone number and email safe after the full registration form was published by malicious actors.

Data Deletion

The information available about you online, also known as your digital footprint, is used by companies for advertising, database building, and lately AI model training. It is used by the police to identify potential suspects and build your profile. To put it short, your data is available and valuable.

Deleting old accounts that you do not use, helps to make that digital footprint even smaller. Meaning that scammers and advertisers will have a more difficult time appealing to your interests or using details about your life to break down your wall of trust.

Believe me I get how time consuming, and sad it can be to delete online data. Especially for those of us who grew up on the internet. Like it took me way too long to delete my old MovieStarPlanet account, RIP. Data deletion is far less painful if you do it a little at a time, and in community. Try searching your name “google dorking” and see what comes up. Or even more fun, search your friend’s name and see what you can find about them. Host a data delete party!

In my case, using a data deletion service like DeleteMe kept my address, pone number, and email off of data aggregator pages where anyone could pay cents to access it, if not for free. The peace of mind this provided for me while experiencing cyber attacks cannot be understated. If you do not have the funds for a data deletion service, you can also individually request removal using this Big Ass Data Broker Opt Out List, but I found that very time consuming and recommend getting a service if you can and the threat is imminent.

Encrypted Communications

As an organizer, I am constantly finding the balance between absolute privacy and ease of volunteer access. Which is why for my more public friendly organizing actions, I tend to use Slack. It is not end to end encrypted, but it does encrypt messages in transit and in storage making it safe from “stingray” technology. Besides, most of my most active volunteers are in multiple Slack workspaces at a time and by keeping my organizing Slack accessible, I am meeting my activists where they are.

When it comes to less public friendly organizing, like the kind I was doing as a perimeter Marshall at the Oct 18 No Kings Day protest in Washington D.C. I use Signal. It is end to end encrypted and you can even host video calls and group chats! I tend to delete communications frequently, in case my devices become compromised by arrest or in travel.

In addition to encrypting my communications, I also encrypt my browsing. Did you know that secure browsing, while not end to end encrypted, provides some protection against communication interception in transmission? On top of ensuring that the URL I visit contains the https:// instead of just http:/ I also utilize browser extensions like Privacy Badger by the EFF, Nord VPN to hide my IP address, and use more privacy oriented browsers like Duck Duck Go and Firefox over Google and Bing *barf*

Protect Biometric Data

Biometric data includes fingerprints, iris patterns, or facial features that can be used for automated recognition. By disabling biometrics on your phone, you are keeping the precious data inside like: messages, photos, and contacts safe from the police if you are stopped and detained. The police need a warrant to access your phone and search for evidence, but they do not need a warrant for your face or your thumbprint.

Depending on your current mask wearing practices you may either hate or love to hear this but.. simply wearing a face mask keeps my biometric data safe from passive surveillance and biometric data collection. Hear me out, by routinely wearing a face mask in places that are known to collect such data, like grocery stores, public transportation, and protests- you limit the availability of your face, giving surveilling actors a lot less to work with. This is especially relevant with the rise of generative AI software that can be used to create convincing deepfake images and footage featuring you! However, to protect yourself from this particular threat, you would have to refrain from posting any images of yourself altogether- aka not an option for most with an online presence.

This is why individual actions can only take us so far in protecting our precious data, we need common sense online privacy protections that keep our communities safer.

This has been my top 5 cyber security tips that I live by as an activist and organizer. For more tips and tutorials for keeping your information safe, visit the EFF website where they post tips daily for “opt out October”. If you are someone who has been affected by a cyber attack I would love to hear your story,