Information exposure through query strings in URL is when sensitive data is passed to parameters in the URL. This allows attackers to obtain sensitive data such as usernames, passwords, tokens (authX), database details, and any other potentially sensitive data., Encoding the sensitive information is slightly better than not encoding it as the encoded information won't be accidentally viewed by someone. They'll have to intentionally decode before they can view it. There are reasons beyond security for encoding URL parameters., You can use the URL Fuzzer to find hidden files and directories on a web server by fuzzing. This is a discovery activity which allows you to discover resources that were not meant to be publicly accessible (e.g. /backups , /index.php.old , /archive.tgz , /source_code.zip etc.)., One of the violations, based on OWASP's #3 risk, is that sensitive data is present in browser history. This can be both in the query strings (as in "myurl.com/somepage?userid=user123") or in the url segments themselves (as in "myurl.com/users/user123/edit")., By utilizing special search strings (called Google dorks), you can apply operators like site:, filetype:, and intitle: to filter and refine search results. This can sometimes unintentionally expose sensitive information, vulnerabilities, or files that were never meant to be publicly available., .