Search Engine Hacking
Search engines, by definition, are used to find and locate information on the World Wide Web. In addition to using search engines to search for information, attackers have ways of using search engines to identify and locate vulnerabilities and confidential data.
Using search engines to find vulnerabilities offers a way for attackers to probe a network without the target’s knowledge since the entire search request and response come from the search engine and not the target. The attacker doesn’t leave a footprint since he is not sending information to the target. Attackers also use a cached page to view the information, instead of accessing the site directly, which creates another layer of protection for them.
Google Hacking
Numerous books and presentations discuss how to gather “sensitive” information from Google. Attackers can use Google to gather basic information such as contact lists, internal documents, and top-level organizational structures, as well as locate potential vulnerabilities in an organization’s web application.
Attackers can use a specific type of search query, called a dork, to locate security issues or confidential data. Attackers can use dorks to obtain firewall logs and customer data, and to find ways to access an organization’s database.
Security professionals have developed public databases of dorks. Dork databases exist for several different search engines; the most common dork database is the Google Hacking Database.
Note
The Google Hacking ...