Gadget lovers were dealt a blow on Wednesday when two researchers outlined what they called a "hole" during a Black Hat presentation. "The attacker can forcibly install Google Gadgets; they can read the victim"s search history once a malicious gadget has been installed in some specific circumstances; they can attack other Google Gadgets; they can phish usernames and passwords from victims, and so on," said Robert Hansen, also known as RSnake, a founder of security consultancy SecTheory. "Really, the sky is the limit, once the browser is under the control of an attacker. And that point is exacerbated by the fact that people trust Google be a trustworthy domain, making the attacks even easier."
Hansen said that users who are most vulnerable to attack are those who use Google and specifically Gmail since the Web-based e-mail service requires them to be logged in. The attack relies on users intentionally adding modules themselves; a user may be tricked into adding malicious Google modules to his iGoogle homepages. "These users are almost all using javascript and normal Web browsers, making them easing pickings for many different classes of attack," he added.