Text file warning! - be sure an secure them.

[aftershock2020]

Just a heads up here folks.

If you use .txt files to store crons, lists, data, etc. ... This is specifically for you, as a security warning. Because all spiders are able to see/read all languages for processing website indexing, there is a major security hole here.

Sure, it could be said of any file within a site that you can get the extension of, however, you can go directly to and download these documents for your own use or for someone to download and use against you.

Here is an example:

http://www.google.com/robots.txt


It isn't anything critical but if you use a cart, journal, even your own control panel's cron jobs. A lot of those systems post records in .txt file format. They are right there for anyone to collect whatever information is on them for their use and abuse.

Search your own ' domainnamehere.com + .txt ' and see what comes up under your domain to see what may be sticking out like a sore thumb for anyone that wants to take that kind of information from you.

For standard security practice, most people know to check their file link extensions but for those that don't, I recommend that you start.

Hope this helps a few of you.

 

[GreyWolf]

Yeah thats a good idea. Most of my sites don't have much to worry about I think, but I'm going to do some google searches as you suggested just to be sure. I think I especially on my wp sites and membership scripts. Who knows what files are being produced by different scripts. lol

 

[ipopbb]

Holy shit! Looks like the gstatic sitemaps can be used to create a mailing list of all gmail accounts with a profile!

http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/profiles-sitemap.xml

sample from url above

http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-000.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-001.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-002.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-003.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-004.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-005.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-006.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-007.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-008.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-009.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-010.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-011.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-012.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-013.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-014.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-015.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-016.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-017.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-018.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-019.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-020.txt 2009-10-08

A sample from each of those

http://www.google.com/profiles/110380198747539293209
http://www.google.com/profiles/102587397845958499690
http://www.google.com/profiles/117411322087358319984
http://www.google.com/profiles/102179076803494681641
http://www.google.com/profiles/100989118311800957108
http://www.google.com/profiles/100333602947571884691
http://www.google.com/profiles/112528851519589172697
http://www.google.com/profiles/118389468746785752547
http://www.google.com/profiles/101567479542690738735
http://www.google.com/profiles/103569355815829414308
http://www.google.com/profiles/111513306839236909626
http://www.google.com/profiles/115939073975077571524
http://www.google.com/profiles/105351841198484404178
http://www.google.com/profiles/106053475961563253086
http://www.google.com/profiles/112928719072226825785
http://www.google.com/profiles/115295714914556431572
http://www.google.com/profiles/115741693014239963778
http://www.google.com/profiles/112697577140171902824
http://www.google.com/profiles/115150714325359326144
http://www.google.com/profiles/100243490364747879181
http://www.google.com/profiles/113216685799163964957
http://www.google.com/profiles/115590855337007319817
http://www.google.com/profiles/110591908147207323382
http://www.google.com/profiles/101583284343346087821
http://www.google.com/profiles/106656067662833985042
http://www.google.com/profiles/110830106930467304447
http://www.google.com/profiles/103711427164919933364
http://www.google.com/profiles/109920132456756510588
http://www.google.com/profiles/106936301215478571931
http://www.google.com/profiles/108422140511719447920
http://www.google.com/profiles/110871605335661341564
http://www.google.com/profiles/103337710285485033498
http://www.google.com/profiles/100215723225674687041
http://www.google.com/profiles/100687052420224652503
http://www.google.com/profiles/105232900091888367137
http://www.google.com/profiles/103030545698066554656
http://www.google.com/profiles/116844691869416520078
http://www.google.com/profiles/109251830863054060119

http://www.google.com/profiles/105617776816027836477

turns into http://www.google.com/profiles/jofreitas

note the account in the URL.... some require you to go as far as the report this profile to decode. Some international ones are encoded... perhaps base 64 or unicode or something...

 

[aftershock2020]

Holy shit! Looks like the gstatic sitemaps can be used to create a mailing list of all gmail accounts with a profile!

http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/profiles-sitemap.xml

sample from url above

http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-000.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-001.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-002.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-003.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-004.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-005.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-006.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-007.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-008.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-009.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-010.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-011.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-012.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-013.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-014.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-015.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-016.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-017.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-018.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-019.txt 2009-10-08 http://www.gstatic.com/s2/sitemaps/sitemap-020.txt 2009-10-08

A sample from each of those

http://www.google.com/profiles/110380198747539293209
http://www.google.com/profiles/102587397845958499690
http://www.google.com/profiles/117411322087358319984
http://www.google.com/profiles/102179076803494681641
http://www.google.com/profiles/100989118311800957108
http://www.google.com/profiles/100333602947571884691
http://www.google.com/profiles/112528851519589172697
http://www.google.com/profiles/118389468746785752547
http://www.google.com/profiles/101567479542690738735
http://www.google.com/profiles/103569355815829414308
http://www.google.com/profiles/111513306839236909626
http://www.google.com/profiles/115939073975077571524
http://www.google.com/profiles/105351841198484404178
http://www.google.com/profiles/106053475961563253086
http://www.google.com/profiles/112928719072226825785
http://www.google.com/profiles/115295714914556431572
http://www.google.com/profiles/115741693014239963778
http://www.google.com/profiles/112697577140171902824
http://www.google.com/profiles/115150714325359326144
http://www.google.com/profiles/100243490364747879181
http://www.google.com/profiles/113216685799163964957
http://www.google.com/profiles/115590855337007319817
http://www.google.com/profiles/110591908147207323382
http://www.google.com/profiles/101583284343346087821
http://www.google.com/profiles/106656067662833985042
http://www.google.com/profiles/110830106930467304447
http://www.google.com/profiles/103711427164919933364
http://www.google.com/profiles/109920132456756510588
http://www.google.com/profiles/106936301215478571931
http://www.google.com/profiles/108422140511719447920
http://www.google.com/profiles/110871605335661341564
http://www.google.com/profiles/103337710285485033498
http://www.google.com/profiles/100215723225674687041
http://www.google.com/profiles/100687052420224652503
http://www.google.com/profiles/105232900091888367137
http://www.google.com/profiles/103030545698066554656
http://www.google.com/profiles/116844691869416520078
http://www.google.com/profiles/109251830863054060119

http://www.google.com/profiles/105617776816027836477

turns into http://www.google.com/profiles/jofreitas

note the account in the URL.... some require you to go as far as the report this profile to decode. Some international ones are encoded... perhaps base 64 or unicode or something...

And that would be my point about the problem...lol.

 

[Deleted member 107938]

Looks like this has been around for awhile.

Found that in the backlinks to the sitemap.

 

[aftershock2020]

Looks like this has been around for awhile.

Found that in the backlinks to the sitemap.

Of course it has, as most of this stuff has. Take note that this is a post for newcomers that may not have this information. The point is to offer the information so that it is used to protect themselves and their site properties.

Keep an open mind, as what is old and known to you once wasn't and is still new and unknown to those just starting out. Anyone that has been working on the internet and working with proper website security knows about this already, or at least they'd better for their own sake.