The Clickjack Fix and Its Side Effects
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
In a nutshell, clickjacking is accomplished by a malicious page that hides behind a seemingly safe page. 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 occurs 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.
What Browsers are Affected?
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 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).
Google’s Adsense is one of the few advertising networks that are automatically whitelisted by the No Script add-on. Most of the others have to be manually whitelisted. It is highly unlikely that the average Internet user will do so.
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. 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.