The word "best" is the wildcard. Why include it? Attackers use "best" for two reasons:
"But the directory was open! I didn't hack anything!" Courts have consistently ruled that leaving a door unlocked is not an invitation to enter. The CFAA's "exceeds authorized access" clause covers this scenario. i+index+of+password+txt+best
Googlebot crawls the web 24/7. When it hits an open directory (Index of /), it indexes every filename and subfolder. Because the title of the page is "Index of /backup", Google stores that. Because one of the listed files is passwords.txt, Google stores that too. The search engine does not judge content; it simply records what is publicly accessible. The word "best" is the wildcard
It is critical to understand that simply searching for intitle:index.of password.txt is not illegal. Google is a public search engine. On Nginx, ensure your location block does not
However, clicking the result and downloading the password.txt file is illegal in most jurisdictions. Under the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), accessing a computer system "without authorization" includes accessing files you know are not intended for public consumption—even if they are not password-protected.
On Apache servers, edit your .htaccess or httpd.conf file. Add:
Options -Indexes
On Nginx, ensure your location block does not have autoindex on;.