Industry InsightsHistorical Archive

Hackers use Google to find targets

By Tris Hussey••1 min read
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Archive Notice: This article was published prior to 2017. Some links, product references, and recommendations may be outdated.

I have seen this myself in my own site logs. Repeated requests for files I know don’t exists, but all things that are default pages for server set up, etc. Hopefully if sharp sys admins hadn’t caught these, they do now. And all those people who set up the small office servers themselves and didn’t change default settings…might be time to check your logs and security settings.

Google a favorite among hackers too | CNET News.com

LAS VEGAS–The world’s most popular search engine is one of the handiest tools for hackers, said a security expert on Thursday.

Google’s ability to record Internet sites’ content can be used to pinpoint those with weak security, Johnny Long, a security researcher and computer scientist for Computer Security Corp. told attendees at the Black Hat Security Briefings here. Though the technique is not new, well-crafted searches turned up so many sites with vulnerabilities that even jaded researchers laughed during the session.

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About Tris Hussey

Tris Hussey is an AI Enablement Consultant, Chartered Marketer, author of 3 tech books, and higher education instructor. He helps mid-sized businesses turn AI from a distraction into a practical, revenue-generating engine.

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