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The Clickjack Fix and Its Side Effects
ZDnet and other technical news sites have reported that clickjacking — a potentially serious threat — can affect any browser.
A Look at Clickjacking
In laymen’s terms, clickjacking happens when a malicious page is hiding behind what appears to be a safe webpage. When you click an item on the supposedly safe page, your computer is clickjacked by malicious code which then hijacks your pc’s accessories or other components.This happens without your knowledge.
Typically, webcams are hijacked, but the clickjacking code can affect other areas of your computer equipment. 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 Safe?
Clickjacking is a malicious code that affects virtually all Internet browsers. There is no quick fix, such as 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 visited was blocked to some degree or another because the site had ads, YouTube videos or javascript coding. 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 approved manually. It is doubtful that the average Internet user will whitelist advertising networks.
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 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. 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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