Google hacking is the process of using the Google search engine to identify potential security weaknesses in publicly available sources, like an organization's website. Although not necessarily "hacking" in a direct sense, Google's search engine enables you to extract more information than you would be able to from a typical, everyday search.
Google hacking queries almost always include a special search operator in order to cut down on irrelevant results and focus on very specific types of desired information. The following table lists some common special search operators that are often used in Google hacking.
Operator | Searches | Example |
site | A specific site. | site:technoherder.com report to search Techno Herder's website only for results including the text "report". |
link | For pages that link to the specified page. | link:technoherder.com report to search for any pages that link to Techno Herder's website and have the text "report" anywhere on the page. |
filetype | For specific file types. | filetype:pdf report to search for PDFs including the text "report". |
intitle | For page titles. | intitle:Certification report to search for any pages whose titles include the text "Certification" and have the text "report" anywhere on the page. |
inurl | For URLs. | inurl:Certification report to search for any pages whose URLs include the text "Certification" and have the text "report" anywhere on the page. |
inanchor | For anchor text. | inanchor:Certification report to search for any pages whose anchor text includes the text "Certification" and have the text "report" anywhere on the page. |