Technical news mags such as ZDnet report that clickjacking may be a serious threat that affects any Internet browser.
Clickjacking from the Layperson’s Perspective
Briefly, clickjacking is accomplished by a malicious page hiding behind what appears to be a safe page. When you click on an item, your computer is “clickjacked” by the malicious code, which then hijacks various components of your computer.This takes place without your knowledge.
Generally, webcams are hijacked, but clickjacking is not limited to affecting a cam. For instance, your sound system or microphone can be exploited, or your PC can be taken over in other ways.
Adobe’s Flash Player was particularly vulnerable to clickjacking threats; however, Adobe has come out with a fix to address the issue.
What Browsers are Affected?
Clickjacking is a cross-browser threat, meaning that the malicious code can affect Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or any other Internet borwser. It cannot be quickly fixed by disabling javascript.
The only known solution is a “No Script” add-on that works with Firefox.
Problems with the Clickjacking Fix
After using No Script for a week or so, I disabled it because it made web surfing a chore. Virtually every site I visted was blocked to some degree because the page contained common elements such as javascript, affiliate ads or YouTube videos. For instance, the following were all blocked by No Script:
- Google Analytics
- Pepperjam network
- Peelaway Ads
- Voxant’s newsroom
- Chitika
- and many, many more (see the partial list of affiliate programs and other utilities blocked by No Script).
There’s a little bit of good news for Google publishers and advertisers. Adsense is automatically whitelisted by the No Script add-on. Most of the others will need to be approved manually. It is doubtful that the average Internet user will whitelist advertising networks.
If clickjacking is indeed a serious threat and script blocking solutions are the only way to fight back, then I can see online advertising taking a big hit. Adserver Plus and other heavy hitting advertising networks were blocked by the Firefox add-on.
Conclusion: Maybe the Threat is Overrated
My web browsing experience is back up to speed since I’ve disabled No Script and so far I haven’t been hit by any type of clickjacking activities. Perhaps the threat is not as serious as some would claim.
The NotGuru blog has posted some videos that show exactly how clickjacking works and how to install fixes.