Google Hacking Tool

Wednesday February 27, 2008

A tool for "Google hacking"called GoolagScan has been released by a group called the Cult of the Dead Cow. Google hacking in this case is the process of trying to find private, sensitive information that was improperly shielded from Web searches.

It is not Google's fault the files were vulnerable to search, but Google does generally try to block tools that automate Google searches. Google has not blocked this one. Yet.

Basically Goolag uses standard advanced Google searching techniques to search for things like Excel documents with the word "salary" in them or Word documents with the word "password." Anyone could search like that now. GoolagScan just makes it faster.

The group responsible claims that their goal is to "screw a large Internet search engine and make the Web a safer place." By making it less safe, I guess.

This will hopefully get a few companies to make sure their files are better protected. Meanwhile, you might want to try some advanced searches on your own website to check for vulnerabilities.