Understand what clickjacking is, the risks involved, and how to defend against it.

Clickjacking is a highly interesting topic and deserves your attention.

It is one of the techniques used by attackers to redirect website visitors and steal confidential information. Also known as “click theft,” clickjacking is one of the most common cyberattacks today.

When developers design website security, they often don’t consider that attackers might click on their site from another site. In this highly technological context, the creativity of attackers seems limitless.

As new types of threats emerge, users who aren’t vigilant about security tips can easily become targets.

Therefore, now is a great time for you to learn more about clickjacking and strengthen the protection of your site!

What is Clickjacking? Before defining how to protect your company, it is crucial to understand what clickjacking is.

Clickjacking is a malicious activity where links are hidden behind genuine clickable buttons or links, redirecting users and causing them to perform unintended actions with their clicks.

Clickjacking is so quick and easy that stealing confidential and private information becomes almost instantaneous. This attack allows the cybercriminal to insert an invisible layer into the user interface, between the commands and what is visible on the device screen.

Now that you understand what clickjacking is, let’s dive deeper into the topic and understand how it works.

How Does Clickjacking Work? At first, you might think you are viewing your bank’s screen after entering your ID and password, but what actually appears is a replica of the same screen placed over the real bank information.

At this moment, clickjacking is in action. When you enter your private information, it does not go to the bank’s verification system but to file servers maintained by the cybercriminals to steal access information.

Recently, clickjacking has also been present in popular and high-traffic services like Adobe Flash Player and Twitter.

Some attackers have altered the settings of the Adobe Flash plug-in. By loading this page in an invisible iframe, an attacker can trick the user into changing Flash security settings, allowing any Flash animation to use the computer’s microphone and camera.

Another way clickjacking attacks can occur is through Facebook, where links with catchy phrases attempt to attract user attention. Clicking these links can direct users to pages that download malicious files to their devices.

Types of Clickjacking Attacks As mentioned earlier, clickjacking has taken on common forms and is widespread across the internet. This overlay of malicious content is difficult to detect.

To keep you alert, here are some ways cybercriminals can achieve clickjacking:

• Invisible iFrames: The attacker loads a 1×1 invisible iframe that hides the content from the user. The target element of the invisible iframe, such as a button on the website, is centered under the victim’s cursor, making it easy to induce the user to click on malicious content.
• Quick Content Replacement: In this type of clickjacking, blurred overlays are created to cover the target elements on the web page. The action is performed almost immediately (in milliseconds), just before the victim visits the page. This technique requires the attacker to predict the click timing with some accuracy. The overlay is visible only long enough to intercept the click before hiding.
• Pointer Events and Transparent Overlays: Here, the attacker creates a floating div tag that completely covers the target user interface element. The attacker sets the CSS property pointer-events to ‘none’, allowing clicks to pass through and be recorded by the iframe behind it. Exploiting a vulnerability on the site, clickjacking can also involve placing a transparent window over an element that the user will click. The victim does not see the transparent window and thinks they are clicking a legitimate button or link. However, the transparent window is the main content of the page, and the hacker hijacks the click.
• Ghost Cursors: Using floating div tags, attackers can create an additional mouse cursor and set it at a fixed distance from the victim’s real mouse cursor. The attacker modifies the page to make the fake cursor more prominent and places an element that the victim must click. The victim sees a fake cursor imitating their own mouse movements and ends up clicking on the malicious element before realizing what happened.

Tips to Avoid Clickjacking Despite its evident strength throughout this article, there are ways to reduce or even avoid the damage from clickjacking.

For example, one of the most common ways clickjacking malware accesses devices is through targeted emails. In a world where cybercriminals have already stolen billions of customer accounts with contact data, buying this information is very cheap for virtual criminals.

There is a high likelihood that cybercriminals have at least your email account on file, along with the associated bank institution.

Therefore, be cautious with emails that claim to address urgent matters requiring your attention. Filter incoming emails and be wary of those asking you to click on a link, as it could lead to a site that looks identical to your bank or another official site, persuading you to download the latest version of the institution's app or fill out profile information.

Unlike other types of vulnerabilities, clickjacking does not result from incorrect implementation in the source code of programming languages. It is usually the misuse of certain HTML and CSS features combined with user interaction with transparent elements that leads to this type of attack.

Thus, the browser is the primary tool used for the attack.

Therefore, here’s a tip for users: keep your browser updated and avoid clicking on ads and websites of unknown origin. For developers, commonly adopted techniques include frame busting and using the HTTP X-frame-options header.

Follow these tips and remember: always be cautious with malicious attacks on the web.

Have you understood what clickjacking is and its dangers? Staying up-to-date with digital security and, especially, your company’s cybersecurity is essential!

As we’ve seen throughout this article, clickjacking is easy for attackers to execute.

Technical measures against clickjacking are always related to changes on our site. Therefore, having a content security policy to mitigate risks and protect against clickjacking is crucial. The only thing a visitor can do is stay alert.

In this regard, BugHunt can help. Don’t risk losses—be proactive and explore our platform!