Hey babes! I have only been in this industry for about a month, but like many of you, I’ve listened to Dalma’s podcasts for much longer than that. That being said, I definitely am not the queen of cyber security (and do not plan to project myself as such), but I fucking hate the idea of internet strangers and trolls doxxing sellers. Here’s a compiled list of everything that I do (with attached screenshots to be more useful). I hope this helps!
1. Make up a pseudo name. This probably goes without saying, but if you want to stay anonymous, change your name. If you must use your actual name, drivers license, etc for verification and tax files for OnlyFans, check up on the website’s privacy policy to make sure that your personal data and information is protected.
Only Fans PP: https://onlyfans.com/privacy
Twitter PP: https://twitter.com/en/privacy
Reddit PP: https://www.redditinc.com/policies/privacy-policy-october-15-2020 (they update theirs a lot, so make sure you check if it is the latest)
I Want Clips PP: https://iwantclips.com/privacy/index
2. Use a VPN. It’s like $3 a month and SO worth it. I use this one (http:// privateinternetaccess.com/).
Now why do you need a VPN? Hackers and doxxers can do a lot with your Internet Protocol (or IP) address, like get your location, hack your device, impersonate you online, and much more. It seems scary because it is.
3. Use an encrypted email. I like protonmail.com because it is free. I do not trust Google at all when it comes to this line of work. Any account that you have with twitter, OF, reddit, etc, link it to your encrypted email address!
4. Wipe your EXIF data on ALL of your photos. (If you are not sure what EXIF data is, please follow this link https://www.howtogeek.com/203592/what-is-exif-data-andhow-to-remove-it/). Turning your location off on your phone/ camera is not enough. On the apps that people are able to download photos, they can find the EXIF data.
For my laptop, I use “EXIFpurge”
For my cellphone, I use “Metadata Remover”
5. Be careful with the stickers/ filters over photos! From the research that I’ve done, it looks like if the image is “flat” ie does not have layers, then you should be okay. If you wanted to take an extra precaution, you could screenshot the original image you wanted to post then post as is, but formats such as JPEG and PNGs should be okay.
6. Hard Drive: something I HIGHLY recommend. I hate having photos/ videos on my laptop in general, and I keep all of my content on an external hard drive. It’s kind of a pain sometimes, but it really does help so if you do get hacked, the files are not on your laptop.
7. This is optional, but if you want to be completely anonymous don’t show your face. I choose to stay anonymous, and I tell my subscribers that first hand. This means I don’t show face, anything in my photos that could be tracked (ex. landmarks, vehicle plates, college sweatshirts, etc.). This is my personal opinion, and I completely respect others who choose not to follow that; all the more respect to you even!
8. As you will see on this document, I took screenshots of the word document, converted them into jpegs, then scrubbed the data. This whole process is time consuming, and there really is no guarantee that you won’t be doxxed/ hacked still. But with these tips, it makes it A HELL of a lot harder for people to try and do that.
All the best to you, and stay safe! Dylan💋