The Latest Threat: Clickjacking

Learn More About Clickjacking

ZDnet and other technical news sites have reported that clickjacking -- a potentially serious threat -- can affect any browser.

Clickjacking in a Nutshell

In laymen's terms, clickjacking happens when a malicious page is hiding behind what appears to be a safe webpage.   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.

Typically, clickjacking will affect webcams, but it can also hijack other areas of your computer. For instance, your microphone or sound system can be exploited, or your computer can be taken over in other ways.

Particularly vulnerable to clickjacking was Adobe's Flash Player, but Adobe has issued a fix that addresses the issue.

What Browsers are Affected?

Clickjacking is a malicious piece of code that can affect any Internet browser.   It cannot be quickly fixed by disabling javascript.

A "No Script" add-on that works with Firefox is the only known solution.

Problems with the Clickjacking Fix

After using No Script for a week or so, I disabled it because it made web surfing a chore. Every site I visited was blocked to some degree because of YouTube videos, javascript coding or ads installed on the page.  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).

One of the few ad networks automatically whitelisted by the No Script add-on is Google's Adsense. 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 truly the threat that some would say that it is, and if solutions such as No Script are the only way to fight back, I can see that this situation will kill online advertising. 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 clickjacking threat is overrated.

The NotGuru blog has posted some videos that show exactly how clickjacking works and how to install fixes.