Company LOGO Search Engine Hacking Steve at SnakeOilLabs dot com

Search Engine Hacking

1. What is SEH? 2. Tools Armoury 3. Exploiting SEH 4. Countermeasures

Search Engine Hacking

What is SEH? Definition: Search Engine Hacking (SEH) Function: noun SEH is the malicious use of indexing technologies in order to identify, fingerprint and exploit at-risk systems, data and people. In other words: Using Search Engines and other indexing facilities to find juicy information and 0wnable b0x3n/w4r3z/d00dz

What is SEH? How much data are we talking about?

Search Engine Hacking

What is SEH? Only now there’s much more to contend with IRC Search Engines Bit Torrent/P2P Search engines FTP Search engines Flickr.com Blogs Your.application.here/search/ Oh, and Google But there’s more… (Whaddya mean you only thought there was Google?)

What is SEH?

Tools Armoury SiteDigger Apollo Wikto Athena

Tools Armoury SiteDigger ( The ‘original’ Google Scanning tool (other than a web browser, of course) Requires a Google API Key Uses FSDB and GHDB Searches deliberately restricted The ‘Internet Scanner’ of SEH tools

Tools Armoury SiteDigger

Tools Armoury SiteDigger

Tools Armoury SiteDigger Pros Slick Reporting Well maintained FSDB sometimes outdated, but well categorized Cons Needs Google API Key Google-Specific Restricted searches means stuff gets missed Overall A good tool, ultimately crippled by restrictions

Tools Armoury Apollo ( Written by Mimi & Spark of the Good Cat Studio. No Google Key required, but still Google only No restrictions on Search Similar functionality to SiteDigger, minus the snazzy reporting

Tools Armoury

Apollo Pros No restrictions No Google API Key needed Auto update GHDB Cons Google-Specific Clunky interface No direct link in results Overall Better than SiteDigger, but needs better reporting interface

Tools Armoury Wikto ( Port of Nikto to Windows with bells and whistles Google Hacking functionality a la GooScan Needs Google API Key Site orientated Requires registration with Foundstone’s portal!!!!

Tools Armoury Wikto Uses a ‘Googler’ to identify directories worth investigating

Tools Armoury Wikto

Tools Armoury Wikto ‘BackEnd’ module imports data from Googler for use in data mining…

Tools Armoury Wikto

Tools Armoury Wikto ‘Wikto’ module functions as Nikto on other systems, with ability to import dirs from Googler and BackEnd

Tools Armoury Wikto

Tools Armoury Wikto ‘GoogleHacks’ Module provides an automated GoogleDork searching facility

Tools Armoury Wikto

Tools Armoury Wikto Pros Directory harvesting via Google Wikto port Cons Google Key required Complicated Google-Specific Overall Feels like several tools bundled into one

Tools Armoury Athena ( The ‘original’ Search Engine Hacking tool (other than a web browser, of course) No API Key required Features GHDB editor and extensive logging functionality Not Google Specific! Manual tool

Tools Armoury Athena

Tools Armoury Athena

Tools Armoury Athena

Tools Armoury Athena

Tools Armoury Athena

Tools Armoury Athena Pros Cool logging/note-taking functionality Can edit GHDB information within Athena Use datagrid or raw XML editing facilities Designed for non-techies as well as power users Suitable for Yahoo, Altavista, Cons No automation Tabbed browsing would be nice Overall Unique … so far.

Exploiting SEH It’s easy as Load the GHDB.xml into Athena Select your query type (and enter any filters) Hit Search

Exploiting SEH

Thinking of buying a digital camera? Load Digicams.xml into Athena Select your camera manufacturer (and enter any filters – e.g wedding, holiday, ‘amateur’) Hit Go!

Exploiting SEH

Exploiting non-Google SEH An example Create a Catalog in Indexing Server for file store Associate the Catalog with the default web site via the catalog properties Use the index server query object in ASP (ixsso.Query) Voila! Instant Search facility!

Exploiting non-Google SEH Indexing Service MMC Snap-in

Exploiting non-Google SEH Example query

Exploiting non-Google SEH What happens when you’re not sure what you’re indexing?

Exploiting non-Google SEH Things to try on your own app.htaccess/.htpasswd stuff GET POST Deny from all IIS Indexing REM (from autoexec.bat) SELECT (from backup.asp and.aspx files) Other stuff <?php #!/usr/bin/perl root:0:.inc,.htm,.txt,.bak (try other html tags)

Countermeasures Google-specific countermeasures Add the following to specific pages to be left out Remove ‘snippets’ but still index link Stop archiving Remove my page NOW!

Countermeasures HTTP Server configuration countermeasures Robots.txt Some indexing systems obey it Some don’t.htaccess/.htpasswd Make sure it’s configured properly! Indexing Services Make sure indexed files are held in a specific directory, not the web root! Figure out what you’re indexing – you’re only indexing files with specific extensions, right?

Countermeasures Procedural countermeasures Newsgroups/Mailing lists Use a hushmail/hotmail account Use X-No-Archive: Yes headers in Usenet postings Don’t post information about your systems, data or people (e.g: specify Solaris rather than specific Solaris patch levels) Check for information leakage periodically Don’t use site: restrictions – you want to find all occurrences that affect you, not just the ones on your site! Web sites Ensure that backups, test data etc. is held outside of the web root.

Countermeasures Further Info/Resources Info Google Hacking for Penetration Testers (Johnny Long) Johnny.ihackstuff.com Tools SiteDigger: Wikto: Apollo: Athena:

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