ZDnet and other technical news sites have reported that clickjacking — a potentially serious threat — can affect any browser.
A Look at Clickjacking
In a nutshell, clickjacking is accomplished by a malicious page that hides behind a seemingly 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 happens without your knowledge.
Typically, clickjacking will affect webcams, but it can also hijack other areas of your computer. 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.
Is This Only an Explorer or Firefox Problem?
Clickjacking is a malicious code that affects virtually all Internet browsers. Merely disabling javascript will not fix it.
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).
Google’s Adsense is one of the few advertising networks that are automatically whitelisted by the No Script add-on. Most of the others will need to be manually approved, and it is unlikely that the average Internet user will know that an ad is safe enough to whitelist.
If clickjacking is as bad of a problem as some say it is and if No Script and similar “script blocking” solutions are the only ways to fight back, then online advertising could take a major hit. Adserver Plus, Doubleclick and other big ad networks were blocked by the No Script 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. It is possible that the threat is not as bad as some would claim.
The NotGuru blog has posted some videos that show exactly how clickjacking works and how to install fixes.
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