The FBI is warning public officials that they are at an increased risk of cyberattack when their personal information is publicly available online.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued an alert late Tuesday urging government leaders and law enforcement officials to beware of hackers that could use their visibility to launch attacks.
{mosads}“Hacking collectives may exploit publicly available information identifying officers or officials, their employers, and their families,” the alert stated. “These target groups should protect their online presence and exposure.”
The alert highlights a growing problem known as “doxing,” the process of targeting someone by publishing their personal information online without their consent.
Due to the high volume of personal information available on search engines, hackers typically do not need to break into computer networks or buy data in order to dox someone.
An instance of doxing might involve a hacker posting a public official’s personal address or phone number, or the same information of the official’s relatives, in order to intimidate or encourage pranks on them. The incidents might lead to phishing attacks that do compromise an official’s computer or online accounts.
Various hacker collectives use doxing as a tool of retaliation, but a recent example points to the potential danger of the process when it is perpetrated by a malicious group.
Hackers purportedly affiliated with ISIS leaked the personal addresses of 100 military personnel online and encouraged followers of the terrorist group to attack them.
While the hackers claimed they had broken into military networks in order to obtain the information, most was already available online, according to reports.
IC3 is a partnership of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, a congressionally funded non-profit corporation.