08/21/25
By @BootlegFish
If i were to tell you that the search engine "Google" can be used to hack into companies and steal data, you probably would not believe me. However this acctually is a real thing. It is called google dorking (I know i was surprised when i first heard it). It involves using google search operators to find very specific things.
Google dorking is in fact legal, because it is accessing publicly available data that may have been leaked by accident. This is also known as passive recon or passive reconissaince However if you end up using this information unethically, than it is considered a crime.
An example of one of the most popular google dorks would be "intitle:"webcamxp 5". this google search looks for websites with "webcamxp 5" in the title. this ussually ends up in finding peoples webcams that were accidentally made public. for more great example go to the Google Hacking Database for more examples of this.
Google dorking works entirely by accessing publicly available information, so the most common way to defend yourself is to private files that you do not want the public to see. This includes env files, git logs, admin portals / login pages, php versions and other sensitive data.