GPEN · Question #490
Analyze the screenshot below, which of the following sets of results will be retrieved using this search?
The correct answer is A. Pages from the domain sans.edu that have external links.. Google advanced search operators like site: combined with link-based operators return pages from a target domain that reference external links, not filetype-filtered results.
Question
Analyze the screenshot below, which of the following sets of results will be retrieved using this search?
Exhibit
Options
- APages from the domain sans.edu that have external links.
- BFiles of type .php from the domain sans.edu.
- CPages that contain the term ext:php and slte.sans.edu.
- DFiles of type .php that redirect to the sans.edu domain.
How the community answered
(34 responses)- A79% (27)
- B3% (1)
- C12% (4)
- D6% (2)
Why each option
Google advanced search operators like site: combined with link-based operators return pages from a target domain that reference external links, not filetype-filtered results.
The search query shown uses the site:sans.edu operator to scope results to that domain combined with a link-based operator, which returns pages hosted on sans.edu that contain external hyperlinks. This is a passive reconnaissance technique used to map a target organization's web relationships and referenced resources.
Returning .php files requires the filetype:php or ext:php operator explicitly paired with site:sans.edu; the query shown does not use a filetype operator.
ext:php and site:sans.edu are functional Google dork directives interpreted by the search engine, not literal text strings; a dork query would not return pages simply containing those character sequences as plain text.
The link: operator identifies pages that reference a domain via hyperlinks, not HTTP redirect behavior; redirect filtering is not a function of standard Google search operators.
Concept tested: Google dorking with site and link operators for passive reconnaissance
Source: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433
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