IFrandbox - Client side protection from malicious injected iframes

Abstract

Drive-by downloads are currently one of the most popular methods of malware distribution. Widely visited legitimate websites are infused with invisible or barely visible Iframes pointing to malicious URLs, causing silent download malware on users system. In this paper, we present a client side solution for protection from such malevolent hidden Iframes. We have implemented our solution as an extension to Mozilla Firefox browser. The extension will check every Iframe loaded in the browser for properties emblematic of malicious Iframes such as hidden visibility styles and 0-pixel dimensions. These Iframes are then blocked by using browser content policy mechanism, hence alleviating the possibility of the malicious download taking place. � 2011 Springer-Verlag.