How to Prevent Getting Doxxed on Steam

What is doxing on Steam?

Doxing within the gaming arena, such as on Steam, can have dire consequences for any victim of a doxing attack. Doxing is a personal and intentional attack on a user. It is when an individual collects personal information regarding someone online via different sources scattered across the internet,  in order to infiltrate their account. This could be to expose private or sensitive information about them or to impersonate their identity or manipulate their system.

In the case of doxing another gamer, there could also be some content reasons; such as stealing loot, accessing DLCs or special items within a game. A more serious reason could be for ‘gaming revenge’.

Doxxing becomes especially dangerous in the gaming world in the case of swatting.  There was one particular case in Ohio where a young man felt grievance over a $1.50 lost bet with another player, while playing Call of Duty. An intentional bogus call was made; resulting in the swatting of his home and the fatal death of a police officer. Call of Duty went from virtual to real!

How to prevent Steam doxing?

First, there are certain common knowledge steps that you can take in protecting your identity. Ensure the username that you select cannot be linked to your real-life names or personal information. Remember, simply sharing your birthday with your followers may be used against you eventually.

Make sure you have discrepancies in the usernames you use online. Even create some form of encryption (ranging numbers, different codes) to make it more difficult for doxers to decipher. Also, if you have any other social media profiles which are associated with your username ensure that your usernames or posts do not reveal personal data and are not geo-tagged. If you have any profile images or images in your Steam feed also ensure that there are no clues to personal information or insights to your location. Review your privacy settings on Steam!

Mask your IP with VPN

Masking your IP address is an effective way of preventing doxers from tracing your name and address. Using a VPN is one of the most streamlined ways to make you virtually untraceable and anonymous.

You can also opt to use an antivirus protection software to protect you against vicious malware and help prevent potential hunters from finding personal information stored on your devices or laptop computers.

DDoS attacks and gamers

Online gamers are increasingly facing Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which take down their entire system remotely. In a DDoS attack, hackers take over hundreds or thousands of devices to create a botnet, then use them to overwhelm your network with incoming messages, requests, or fake packages.

How to prevent DDoSing?

The greatest defense mechanism is using a VPN. It will help prevent any doxers or attackers from launching their intended DDoS attacks by concealing the IP address. Without an IP address they have no target and without a target there is no aim to fire at. Stay off their radar.

Divergent links

Enter your Steam credentials only on the Steam website, the Steam client, and the Steam mobile app.

It's at this point that things can start to get trickier, and phishers and hackers have gotten a little more sophisticated in an awful kind of way. You can find links that redirect you to a Steam login page that looks official. They look official because the authenticity can still be verified.

If you don't see "https://" at the beginning of the web address, as well as the lock showing that it is a secure connection, do NOT enter your username or your password. It's not an official Site, and you risk someone else getting their hands on your account but putting any information in there.

If there's an "https://" but something still feels off, just don't log in. If you're looking for information or confirmation about a site, go to the Steam forum and ask the community. The community is always willing to help you.

What you need to know about ‘smart trading in Steam’

Other than earning items or opening crates, there are only two ways to get items in games. You can use the Steam Marketplace or trade with Steam. When you are trying to get those items you want, there are some things to keep an eye out for.

Plus, just because someone has a lot of "+rep" doesn't mean they are trustworthy. It is easy for scammers or fake accounts to comment with a "+rep" on your page. Use sites like SteamRep.com to determine a trader's actual Steam reputation. Don't get involved in a trade if anything feels off. You're better off waiting!

Never use real life money to try and get items unless you're using Steam Marketplace.

While it seems to come up every now and then, it still occurs often enough that people should know what's going on. There are two major problems with exchanging money for items outside of the Marketplace.

Fake staff; A Doxers greatest deception

To fake the identity of someone in authority is the oldest trick in the book. Posing as someone who is legitimate is an old confidence trick, and it lowers the victims defences.

Scammers or trolls posing as support representatives or administrators should be acknowledged. People are often tricked into hopping onto the crazy bandwagon and doing some really illogical things when they believe a person to be official Steam staff.

You’re carelessly  playing a game one minute and then, without warning, your entire system crashes the next. Your perpetrator is usually someone who is holding a grudge against you. It is commonplace and becomes a recurring hazard for Steamers.

An infamous trick is to warn streamers of a system32 virus on their computer. As you may already know, the system32 folder contains Windows OS installation files. Thus,  some of these trolls manage to manipulate the users to delete this folder on their system; exhausting their computer system entirely within the process.

Doxers can also use this impersonation tactic to gain information about the user and eventually hack into their logins.

Live streaming

Live streaming can give you access to meet endless creative and like-minded people and be a way of trying something new. Yet, again it’s full of wolves too. Stay safe, make sure you don't give out your information.

Use VPN software or anti-malware for extra protection.

Be aware there are numerous ways for doxers to utilise special types of software to access identity numbers or IP numbers while live streaming. In order to prevent such cyber attacks, you can use software such as Norton 360 so that you do not encounter any risks.

Whether you are a hard-core gamer or you’re just a streaming newbie. These smart implements can give you layers of protection for your devices, for your digital assets such as DLCs and gaming accounts. That way the only thing you need to focus on is keeping your beloved followers entertained.

Yet another crafty scam is to access the streamer’s IP address. The doxer often fabricates a story that the streamer’s sound is not working and they should enter a certain website to resolve the technical issue. Later once you click on the link; you are caught in their web. They can use this to access your IP address and more than likely use it to conduct a DDoS attack.

The doxers are not always some notorious high-tech geniuses. DDoS kits can reportedly be bought for as little as $10. What makes it disturbing is that doxers are not often whizzkids creating softwares and writing code behind their desks 24/7. It does not take some technical visionary to DDoS someone. All it takes is someone with a grudge. It can get to the point where certain streamers can find themselves being kicked offline.

This can happen multiple times a week or whenever they least expect it. It’s profoundly frustrating; especially because you often do not know who the sharks are and haven’t got a clue where the problem lies. When the culprit is invisible it’s difficult to trace blame; often posing difficult to report. For more information concerning doxing you can visit our anti-doxxing page. Stop those sharks from swarming your waters today!