Google, Bing, and others do not actively scan for private images, but their crawlers will index any publicly accessible URL they discover. Once indexed, the directory listing becomes searchable. This is why you sometimes see shocking results in Google searches—photographers’ unlisted proof galleries, school security camera snapshots, even scanned passports.
The most effective solution is to turn off directory listing at the server level.
Google, Bing, and others do not actively scan for private images, but their crawlers will index any publicly accessible URL they discover. Once indexed, the directory listing becomes searchable. This is why you sometimes see shocking results in Google searches—photographers’ unlisted proof galleries, school security camera snapshots, even scanned passports.
The most effective solution is to turn off directory listing at the server level.