Millions of files with potentially sensitive information exposed online, researchers say
27-Sep-23
An investigation released on Wednesday indicated that thousands of PCs and other internet-connected devices are unintentionally or intentionally disclosing millions of files with potentially sensitive data across the internet, making the information discoverable and possibly exploitable in a variety of ways.
Nearly 314,000 unique internet-connected devices and web servers with open directory listings and at least one file were recently indexed by researchers with Censys, a service that indexes connected devices and the services they are running. After that, the scanner recorded file names, paths, sizes, and timestamps of last update, producing what the business refers to as “one of the most comprehensive databases of all open directories on the internet.”
