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

Clickjacking from the Layperson’s Perspective

Briefly, clickjacking is accomplished by a malicious page hiding behind what appears to be a 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, webcams are hijacked, but the clickjacking code can affect other areas of your computer equipment. 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 especially vulnerable to clickjacking, but Adobe has come out with a fix to address the issue.

Is This Only an Explorer or Firefox Problem?

Clickjacking is a cross-browser threat, meaning that the malicious code can affect Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or any other Internet borwser.   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. 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).

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 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.   Perhaps the threat is more overrated than it actually is.

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