🔍 Google Dorking in Real Life
Think like a recon expert. Google indexes everything. You use it to dig up hidden files, forgotten backups, exposed panels, and leaked secrets — all without targeting a specific platform.
📁 Find Exposed Files
site:target.com filetype:log— Log files with potential tokensfiletype:sql intext:"INSERT INTO"— SQL dumpsfiletype:env intext:"DB_PASSWORD"— .env config filesintitle:"index of" backup— Open backup folders
🔐 Credentials & Tokens
intext:"password=" filetype:txt— Passwords in plain text filesfiletype:xml intext:"— API keys or credentials in XML" intext:"Authorization: Bearer"— Bearer tokens in exposed pages
🛠️ Admin/Debug Panels
inurl:admin intitle:login— Admin login pagesinurl:dashboard intitle:"control panel"— Management consolesintitle:"phpmyadmin" inurl:db— phpMyAdmin interfaces
🧠 Sensitive Info Leaks
intext:"confidential" filetype:pdf— Internal documentsintext:"not for distribution" filetype:doc— Restricted docsintext:"internal only" filetype:xls— Private spreadsheets
⚔️ Real Hacker Mindset
- 🎯 Start broad, then narrow by combining operators
- 🕳️ Look for misconfigured directories and forgotten test environments
- 📂 Use file extensions like `.bak`, `.zip`, `.env`, `.log`, `.sql`
- 💡 Use quotes to lock exact phrases:
"Index of /backup" - 🔍 Never just copy dorks — build your own for each target
🎯 Practice: What Can You Find?
Try building dorks for these real-world challenges:
- Find leaked Excel files with emails inside
- Find a public login page for a non-indexed control panel
- Discover open folders titled "backup" or "old_site"
Tip: Use filetype:xls intext:"@domain.com" or intitle:"index of" old