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AMAZON S3 TREASURE HUNT

How to Find Interesting, Unsecured Amazon S3 Buckets - Then
Empty Their Contents to Your External Hard Drive!

Amazon's Simple Storage Service (or S3) allows content providers to store and serve that content from Amazon's cloud server. Files in S3 servers are organized into "buckets" or containers, each with a URL or web address that can be applied to both the bucket itself and to individual files and directories.

Amazon S3 cloud storage is used for a wide variety of content. Black-hatters look for S3 buckets to get access to everything from ebooks, course materials, videos, audio programs, PowerPoint presentations and more.

In this share, I will touch upon a few methods used to find Amazon S3 buckets and the tools you can use to get the downloads.

There are probably many more methods to find the files than I've shown here but I offer you both simple and complex means to find these files along with easy and more technical tools.

An open (or unsecured) Amazon S3 bucket is one that should be restricted but unbeknownst to the file administrator, it was left unprotected. An open bucket, if the URL is known, will display the entire contents to whomever requests it.

Before we move on, here is a simple demonstration I'd like you to do just to show you what I mean.

Go to a search engine (google.com or duckduckgo.com) and type these keywords:

*.s3.amazonaws.com (keyword)

OR ALTERNATELY:

s3.amazonaws.com* (keyword)

IMPORTANT NOTE: In the two examples above, you are simply placing the asterisk (*) or wildcard either before or after the bucket root name. The wildcard serves to replace anything (which means you can get good results without knowing the actual words that come before or after the root domain).

Instead of typing: (keyword) replace that with a generic keyword to describe whatever you're interested in. Let's say you want to find an Amazon S3 bucket with copywriting materials in it. Then your keyword string will look like this:

*.s3.amazonaws.com copywriting

NOTE: It could help to enclose your keyword in quotation marks like this: "copywriting"

Hit the ENTER key on your keyboard and look at the websites returned on page 1 of your search. You should see a few links with Amazon S3 names that go to files with content for what you're looking for.

Here is the first half of page 1 results I got using the search query above:

That's the absolute easiest way to get started hunting for Amazon S3 buckets. You simply take the actual bucket name (the part that includes s3.amazonaws.com and what comes directly before or after it) but NOT the sub-directory (the actual name of the file attached).

Let's use an example to better show you how to find the actual "bucket name."

In my illustration above, look at item #3 - Copywriting for geeks - Amazon Web Services

The URL is: (http://) macournoyer.s3.amazonaws.com/copywriting_for_geeks.pdf

The actual URL of the "bucket" is this: http://macournoyer.s3.amazonaws.com

This is the URL you will copy and paste into an Amazon S3 ripper tool (more about those in a moment) to see if there are other documents to be downloaded. The rest of the file (copywriting_for_geeks.pdf) is simply a sub-directory at the bucket that goes to a single PDF document titled Copywriting for Geeks.

Okay, so that is the absolute quickest way to find "bucket names" for Amazon S3 links for downloads you are interested in. You could try the search using a specific product or author/guru's name but you're better off going generic. You will find a lot more stuff with a general/generic keyword or keyword phrase and you could possibly come across the very product or guru's stuff you're looking for.

So, here's the rest of the share ...

HOW TO SEARCH FOR OPEN
AMAZON S3 BUCKETS

I found this mini tutorial on a blog post.

READ MORE HERE:

Magic Button :

LAYNA'S DISCLAIMER: I know nothing about this tool the author created and you will need to do your own due diligence in using it. If this tool is a download, save it on your desktop. Then right-click it and select your computer's resident anti-virus program to run a scan to be sure it's safe. Carefully read any instructions he provides for using it because I have neither the time nor the interest in fielding trouble-shooting questions about it.

This information may be over the heads of non-techies but, as I've said, there are other ways and means of doing this. So many, in fact, that I'm including a few articles and blog posts that may help. Please BOOKMARK those you find useful.

READ MORE HERE:

Magic Button :

COOL TOOLS YOU CAN USE
TO FIND AMAZON S3 OPEN BUCKETS

#1
AMAZON S3 RIPPER - ONLINE TOOL (Internet Geeks)

Magic Button :

#1-A
HOW TO USE THE AMAZON S3 RIPPER TOOL

Copy and paste the bucket name into the search field and click the Submit Query button. You will either get results of blue text download links or a blank page. The former means the bucket is open and the links are available to download whereas the latter means that access to the bucket is restricted or otherwise off-limits. In a rare instance, you may actually see download links but on trying to download, you get an error message or no action at all.

#2
DIGI-NINJA BUCKET FINDER TOOL

Magic Button :

#2-A
HOW TO USE THE DIGI-NINJA BUCKET FINDER

This thing looks complex to me but I'm making you aware of it because some of you will not be put off by it as I was. There are download links for 2 versions (I'm thinking version 1.1 is the most current) at the end of the page. I will forego this tool because it looks more involved than I care to get. I recommend you carefully read and follow any instructions because I can't help if you run into a snag.

THE BEST WAY TO DOWNLOAD

I recommend you use a tool like Internet Download Manager or JDownloader2 to download files. Not only is a download accelerator quicker and makes grabbing files hands-off for you, but they're very efficient in splitting the bits for speedier transfer, then rebuilds the files after they are on your computer and they reduce the risk of file corruption during the download. But the one thing that is most important before any of that is, they allow you to "see" if the files are even there (on the server). This can save you time and bother. For example, IDM will parse all the files and then show you either a PDF, rar, zip or other icon (depending on the file format) or the message: Not Found (if the files are dead on the server, have been removed, etc.)

If you have questions please let me know. I prefer you contact me via PM only because I can quickly see and respond to you versus searching for a thread. Also, if you have anything to contribute to the value of this post, I welcome your input. Many people here thirst for knowledge and by sharing what you know, you are strengthening the community.

I hope this helps!

If you're seeing this post anywhere other than bestblackhatforum.com or
being shared by anyone other than Layna61524, then that's where/who
THEY TOOK IT FROM!

for reading!
Layna61524

Buckets of fun! Thank you very much for the informative and in-depth guide! +reps

Hey there, i_Love_Knowledge! Long time no see! Thanks for stopping by and I'm glad you like the share.

Layna61524

Grateful to you, sis, as always! Max reps!

layna61524

i_Love_Knowledge

layna61524

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