There’s a peculiar kind of irony that’s been gnawing at me ever since I read about the recent hack targeting hundreds of DHS, ICE, and FBI officials. The headlines scream about doxing, threats to government workers, and the supposed wave of violence against law enforcement families. But buried in the details is something that deserves more attention than the performative outrage typically gets.

Let me be clear upfront: doxing—publishing private information with the intent to incite harassment or violence—is generally wrong. Full stop. It doesn’t matter who the target is. The moment you cross from whistleblowing into targeting people’s home addresses and phone numbers for harassment campaigns, you’ve ventured into ethically murky territory that I’m uncomfortable with, even when I deeply disagree with what those people do.

The internet can be a treacherous place, and just when you think you’re being security-conscious, someone finds a new way to trip you up. I’ve been following a discussion about a particularly sneaky scam that’s been catching people off guard lately, and it’s got me thinking about how sophisticated these attacks are becoming.

It all started with news of another data breach making the rounds. You know how it goes – everyone suddenly remembers they should probably check if their email addresses have been compromised in previous breaches. The go-to tool for this is Troy Hunt’s “Have I Been Pwned” service, which has become the gold standard for checking if your data has appeared in known breaches.