There may be times when you are carrying out an investigation which contains sensitive information or sources. Dealing with unknowns on the internet comes with certain risks that may compromise your privacy. In these cases, it would be ideal to take some precautions that will protect your personal information from being misused or getting leaked on the internet (often referred to as doxxing).

Protecting your Email/Social Platform:

• Multi-factor authentication for all log-ins.
• Google Authenticator
• Using more secure mail providers like Protonmail and Hushmail.

When browsing the internet, here are some options for you to use/enable:

• Use Incognito mode in your web browser.
• Don't download anything!
• Block your IP from being monitored.
• When you want to be even more secure, the Tor browser for surfing is great, but will reduce browsing speed.

Securing your phone

• To protect your sources, use WhatsApp, Signal and/or Telegram for communications and calls.
• To protect yourself, use the Google Voice app for calls with sources and people you don't know and trust.
• Set up your WhatsApp/Signal with a Google Voice number, so you can keep your own phone number private.

Try to Dox Yourself:

Do what you can to get your personal contact info, phone number, Social Security number, and address off the internet -- Dox yourself and make sure there's nothing out there you don't want out there.

How to Dox yourself:

1. A very comprehensive guide to doxxing yourself. Follow along.
2. Google yourself and look at everything that comes up. If you find information you don't want out there, the next step is to try to opt out of being included.
3. Lock down social media accounts - make sure you don't have sensitive information (like your home address) out there.