McAfee’s Top 10 Most Dangerous Celebrities in Cyberspace list
Stay away from Anna Paquin and Rachel McAdams - two Canadian stars make the list
By Peter Wolchak
November 20, 2011
November 20, 2011
Scammers, malware writers and other cybercriminals routinely link celebrity news, gossip and photos to downloads of their malicious code. That means searching for a cool video, juicy bit of information or fun photo could leave you with an infected computer. Security firm McAfee has compiled a list of the 10 most dangerous celebrity name searches and—something to be proud of—there are two Canadians on the list. The most dangerous Canadians are Anna Paquin and Rachel McAdams.
“Throughout the five years McAfee has been conducting this study, we’ve seen myriad searches for top celebrities generating risky results, and it’s often difficult for consumers to recognize them,” said Brenda Moretto, manager of Canadian consumer sales at McAfee. “For example, Internet searchers should be particularly aware of malicious content hiding in places like shortened URLs that can spread virally in social networking sites, or through e-mails and text messages from friends.”
The most dangerous celebrity is Heidi Klum, with an almost one-in-10 chance of hitting a malicious site. Risky searches include “Heidi Klum,” “Heidi Klum and screensavers” and “Heidi Klum and hot pictures.”
The top 10 celebrities from this year’s study are:
“Hot movies and TV shows, awards and industry accolades seem to be more of a factor than headline-grabbing activity,” Moretto said. “Still, searching for any celebrity can bring up risky sites and the public should use caution by not clicking on any page that looks suspicious.”
“Throughout the five years McAfee has been conducting this study, we’ve seen myriad searches for top celebrities generating risky results, and it’s often difficult for consumers to recognize them,” said Brenda Moretto, manager of Canadian consumer sales at McAfee. “For example, Internet searchers should be particularly aware of malicious content hiding in places like shortened URLs that can spread virally in social networking sites, or through e-mails and text messages from friends.”
The most dangerous celebrity is Heidi Klum, with an almost one-in-10 chance of hitting a malicious site. Risky searches include “Heidi Klum,” “Heidi Klum and screensavers” and “Heidi Klum and hot pictures.”
The top 10 celebrities from this year’s study are:
- Heidi Klum: the former Victoria’s Secret model and current producer of Project Runway
- Cameron Diaz: 2010’s most dangerous celebrity who recently starred in Bad Teacher and The Green Hornet
- Piers Morgan: the most dangerous male celebrity, Morgan hosts Piers Morgan Tonight, taking over for Larry King
- Jessica Biel: 2009’s most dangerous, and Justin Timberlake’s sometimes girlfriend, she appeared in 2010’s The A-Team
- Katherine Heigl: formerly of Grey’s Anatomy, recently in Killers and Life as We Know It
- Mila Kunis: starred in That 70s Show and Black Swan and Friends with Benefits
- Anna Paquin: the True Blood actor moved up to number 10 last year
- Adriana Lima: best known for being a Victoria’s Secret Angel since 2000
- Scarlett Johansson: named 2010’s “Babe of The Year” by GQ Magazine
- Emma Stone, Brad Pitt and Rachel McAdams: tied for 10th place. McAdams most recently appeared in Morning Glory and Midnight in Paris
“Hot movies and TV shows, awards and industry accolades seem to be more of a factor than headline-grabbing activity,” Moretto said. “Still, searching for any celebrity can bring up risky sites and the public should use caution by not clicking on any page that looks suspicious.”
Also read:
Top Canadian searches in 2010
