Learn More About Clickjacking

Tech news sites such as ZDnet have reported that clickjacking is a potentially serious threat that can affect any browser.

What is 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.

Generally, webcams are hijacked, but clickjacking is not limited to affecting a cam. For instance, your microphone or sound system can be exploited, or your computer 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 malicious code, which affects virtually all Internet browsers.   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:

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• 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 need to be manually whitelisted and it is unlikely that the average Internet user is going to do so.

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.   Even the big boys' ads, such as those delivered by Adserver Plus, 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.

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