InformAction Forums

Hi, I use Mozilla firefox and have installed the no script add on. It always helped me. I first came across the clear click warning when I was on a 'tumblr'. I tried to comment there and I got a clear click warning. Since then I never commented on that particular 'tumblr' though I had commented before and never got a warning of any kind. I just assumed that maybe the 'tumblr' user had installed some tracker, to locate the ip address of people who comment on her tumblr. I always knew she had a tracker and I did not get any warning. All of a sudden (about a month back)when I got the clear click warning I stopped communicating with her on tumblr. Yesterday I checked again, and I did NOT get any clear click warning on her tumblr so I have been commenting there like I used to before. It just occured to me that maybe this time somethings changed with my script blocker and maybe it was unable to pick up any clear jacking threat. So do you think I should worry that I have been on that tumblr and commenting..now?

Did you report the message when prompted?
Possible it was a false positive.
And now possible that tumbler has made changes on their end that no longer cause the warning in any case.

Thank you for replying. No I did not report the message. It showed an image that said that something opaque or something like that was on the link I click ...and warned me against clicking on that. I didn't get that kind of message on all the blogs on tumblr, just on one or two of the blogs who use anon trackers to track the people who visit their blogs. I didn't think it was serious because I'm not a troll and they'd not do anything with my IP. I would check out those blogs regularly, but then one particular day I got that warning and so just stopped commenting there but would still lurk on the blog to read stuff. So it's not a tumblr glitch at all, it's some blogs on tumblr that use anon trackers to track the people who visit their blog..that I got a warning. I was surprised because I did not get the warning when I was on that blog before although I knew they used the trackers for a long time. It just randomly and recently showed the clear click warning. I stopped since then, and then again yesterday when I didn't get the warning I started commenting again.

So I'm assuming the clear click warning is actually warning me agianst the tracker these people use, but I don't know if it is unsafe to go there because of the tracker. The blogger told me that the tracker tracks IP adress, give info about the system I'm using, my location, how I got to the blog, how long I stay and what exaclty I do on that blog.

I want to know, if it's some kind of a malicious thing that will stay in my computer and take other details when I'm doing other things on my computer like online shopping and that kind of stuff? I also want to know why I didn't get the warning yesterday and today also. Could it be that my script blocker is outdated? My whole browser is acting wierd since I installed the new version of AVAST. When Avast updated recently, it started messing with my browser and wouldn't let me get on the internet. Now I don't have any anti virus because I was so annoyed with Avast. I hope I have not gotten my computer infected or gotten myself into trouble by visiting these blogs. How can I know if something is gotten into my computer through those click jacking stuff?

umm...If you cannot help, maybe you could ask someone who can help to help me with my query? Thank you.

Would anyone else care to help?

Clickjacking won't normally install things on your PC. It's designed to make you click on a web element without knowing, but that's not normally enough to download a virus, especially if you are running NoScript.

From what you've said, it sounds like you're talking about an overlay that tracks clicks on the blog as you navigate around it. Which sounds like a really dodgy way to do tracking, but c'est la vie.

If that really is the cause, and it keeps happening, then you're just going to have to deal with the ClearClick warnings, I'm afraid, if you want to stay safe. Take a look each time at what ClearClick says was there, to make sure you're not clicking on something sensitive that you didn't intend.

You could probably set up a ClearClick exception for this site, but it may be best to just avoid the site entirely, maybe leaving a note for its owner about their unsafe tracking practices.

Thank you very much for replying. I wrote a long reply in response to this..but it didn't go through. I hope this reply goes through.
Please excuse my ignorance, you said that Clickjacking doesn't install any virus into my computer, but then later on you also said that I should make sure I'm not clicking something to stay safe. So I'm a little confused. Does ClickJacking install some kind of an element in my computer, that may not be a Virus but still potentially dangerous? I hope it doesn't track my other activities on my computer. I just assumed that it only tracks my activity on that particular blog..but I wasn't sure so I came here to be sure about that. Of course I do not want my other activities on my computer to be tracked..that is very dangerous because, like I said before, I do a lot of online shopping.

Regarding the warnings, I used to get the Clear Click warning before on that blog, but I'm not getting those warning lately, hence why I am commenting there. But it just occured to me that the reason I'm not getting the Clear Click warning is probably because my NoScript might not be up to date or it could just be corrupted because a recent Avast update messed up my whole browser. A lot of people had this problem with Avast with it's recent update.

I used to get the Clear Click warning on this blog when I try to comment or some particular posts/ links. Because I had NoScript to warn me everytime, I didn't care much and used to lurk on this blog..and completely avoided clicking on something for which I got a warning. Now I'm not getting these warnings on the same site. Why do you think I'm not getting them anymore? I will still steer clear from this blog if it is unsafe for me to be lurking there. If I have already gotten myself into trouble by being on this site..what can I do now to be safe?

The danger of clickjacking is not viruses. The danger is taking actions that you didn't intend, like transferring money from your bank account to the attacker, or buying goods from the attacker on Amazon or eBay. Does that make things clearer?

If the warnings have stopped, then probably the site has changed how it does things. If they continue, then you can report them here again; if it's a false positive, then Giorgio will want to fix the filter.

Thank you once again.

I probably sound dumb, but I honestly don't understand this and I want to be sure I'm safe. So please bear with me.
Yes, I understood that there isn't any Virus, but I wasn't sure if the tracker stays in my computer and tracks me doing other stuff. You said the danger is taking actions we did not intend to, so I want to know, if that danger is only when we are on that site and limited to that site only OR does that danger exist after we exit that site. Like if I go to that site, click on something but exit that site afterwards and close the browser. Then later open my browser again and this time go to a different site..will I be safe or has the ClickJacking from the previous site launched something on my computer that will continue to stay on my computer and keep tracking everything I do, and then conveniently transfer money from my bank account, when I log in to my bank account someday?

I checked with the blogger, they still have the tracker with them. So nothing has changed on their site...just noscript has stopped giving me that warning. I don't think it is false positive, because I visit atleast 10 other Tumblr blogs, and none of them showed the warning previously, and still do not. I got the warning on only 2 of these Tumblr blogs.

PS: The blogs that I said I got a Clear Click warning, are not any shopping sites. They don't sell anything. So I'm not worried about losing money when I'm on that site..just worried that if they have installed something on my computer that will keep tracking me when I'm doing other things outside that site.

Newbie wrote: Yes, I understood that there isn't any Virus, but I wasn't sure if the tracker stays in my computer and tracks me doing other stuff.

No.

You said the danger is taking actions we did not intend to, so I want to know, if that danger is only when we are on that site and limited to that site only OR does that danger exist after we exit that site.

The danger is associated with that single click that ClearClick warned you about. That click might be clicking on an element of some other page somewhere, which you didn't intend.

What can it do? Well, that depends on what clicking on a website can do. But it can't usually install anything. Firefox has protections to ensure that a single click can't install an addon, etc.

I checked with the blogger, they still have the tracker with them. So nothing has changed on their site...just noscript has stopped giving me that warning. I don't think it is false positive, because I visit atleast 10 other Tumblr blogs, and none of them showed the warning previously, and still do not. I got the warning on only 2 of these Tumblr blogs.

If you do get a warning again, ClearClick has an option to report it to Giorgio.

PS: The blogs that I said I got a Clear Click warning, are not any shopping sites. They don't sell anything. So I'm not worried about losing money when I'm on that site..just worried that if they have installed something on my computer that will keep tracking me when I'm doing other things outside that site.

I don't think that you understand this part. The nature of the blog is not the issue. The blog could maliciously cause you to click on something at a shopping site. If you are logged in to eBay or Amazon while browsing this blog, then the blog can invisibly load up a page from those sites and trick you into clicking on a Buy it Now button. That is what clickjacking is about.

If they're just tracking your movements, though, then probably they are not doing this. There may be some other reason that they tripped the filter. As I said, if it comes up again, you can send a report to Giorgio.

Thank you very much. I think I understand now. I will steer clear from that blog and if I ever get a warning on any other blog, I'll make sure I report it.