Basic 15 - Spoiler free Walkthrough

Has it been 30 minutes? Still looking for the right answer? Well, if you really just can\'t get this one, here\'s a simple article for you.

Basic 15
http://www.hellboundhackers.org/challenges/basic15/index.php

Mission Clue:
For this mission you will need to find a secret file using a common technique to find hidden directories.



Alright, as the clue says, "use a common technique to find hidden directories." Well, first off: what is a hidden directory?

Scroll on over to Wikipedia and you'll find out a hidden directory is a hidden file (a directory folder) which is not shown to a user by default." Simple enough - now, suppose we visit a website you've "made" that has a working login system. I think it's safe to assume that the majority of the people who login there would like to keep their credentials (username and password) safe from everyone else. So, you decide to store all the usernames and passwords in a directory on your website called "/log&pas/". Now, you don't want everyone knowing that directory is there so you have to make it hidden from the public. BUT, not only do you have to make it hidden from the public, you have to make it hidden from search engines and other tools the public can use to find your website and/or pages on your website.

Lets head on over to Google and see what they have to say when we search for "block a search engine." Oh boy, a plethora of links that we need popped up on how to block a search engine (aka as a spider). Well, I clicked the first link and gathered from it that there's a certain file that is the standard for robot exclusion (basically a file that solely is made for telling a search engine "the directories in this file are NOT to be shown).

So, now that we know what this file is called, why don't we try seeing if basic 15 contains this file by adding it to the end of the URL. If all has gone well, the file should load the contents of which directories are not to be shown to the public.* Why don't we try going to the directorie(s) that we're not suppose to see and find out what's in them. Oh look at that...

Access Granted: Hope this article helped you

*If locating to the file didn't work, here are some tips to make sure you are doing it correctly.
-The file is supposed to seem plural. Don't try to fix it by taking off that last letter.
-Remember, in the URL bar we're going from one directory into another, so we don't need any other junk in the URL bar besides the basic directories
-If you haven't got it by now, keep trying.