When hackers utilize search engines to find security flaws, it is known as Google hacking (also known as Google Dorking). A hacker could determine the most effective technique to attack you with some time and research skills.
Removing your website from Google is not a wise move. The majority of your clients will use search engines to discover you when they need to. To ensure that hackers cannot use Google to learn how to target you, you may, nevertheless, take preventive measures.
How Is a Google Hack Accomplished?
A research session using the information you’ve made publicly accessible through a search engine is referred to as a “Google hack.” You must decide what information should be kept secret in order to protect both yourself and your business.
Any website could be used by hackers for research. However, given that Google controls 90% of the market, the brand has come to be associated with search. In contrast to a straightforward search engine hack, we refer to this as a Google hack.
It may seem odd to utilize something like a search engine to identify security flaws. But regrettably, this tactic is really successful.
According to studies, almost 50% of all development teams publish vulnerable code since they had to use all their testing time. Experts look for any weak spot while hacking into Google.
They Could Search For
- Cameras. Do any of your connected devices capture significant movements?
- Directories. Are the names and phone numbers of key employees easily accessible?
- Passwords. Do you index files containing private information? Are you using encryption for that data?
- Portals. Are your login landing pages easily accessible?
- Versions. Do you employ software that has known flaws? Do you hesitate to download security updates?
Hackers speed up and increase the effectiveness of their work by using advanced search operators. When these terms are paired with the name of your website, they produce incredibly specific and simple-to-parse pages or content.
After a Google attack, your adversary knows quite a bit about you and what you’re doing to protect your business. Although the attacker can’t use Google to execute an attack, the research might be used to guide their future actions.
Read More: How to Connect a Windows Computer to A VPN.
Avoiding Google Phishing Attempts
Defend yourself from this kind of assault. Start by encrypting all sensitive data, including payment details, usernames, passwords, and messages.
Use one of three Google tags to instruct search bots to index (or skip) important information in your content.
- Robots.txt: Private content cannot be prevented from indexation by this tag. But if crawling is damaging your server, it can be useful.
- Robots meta: You can choose whether or not a certain HTML page appears in search results.
- X-robots-tag: Limit the visibility of non-HTML pages in search results or prevent them from appearing altogether.
Read More: The Best Way to Backup and Restore Files in Windows.
Which tag is best for you and your business may be something that your web developer feels strongly about. Once you’ve put your selected code in place, keep an eye on your traffic statistics to make sure you’re not discouraging users from visiting important pages.
In order to prevent exposing files or pages that ought to be kept private, you can also utilize a vulnerability scanner. OWASP provides a number of these tools, some of which offer free scans you can use before purchasing.
