That’s because Watson is a favorite celebrity bait for cyber criminals to lure people to sites that are actually laden with malicious software that are designed to steal passwords and personal information.
McAfee found that searching for the latest pictures and downloads of the "Harry Potter" star yields more than a 12.6% chance of landing on a website that has tested positive for online threats, such as spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and other malware.
The following are the top 10 celebrity names, which pose the most risk when searched for online:
1. Emma Watson
2. Jessican Biel (Most Dangerous Cyber Celebrity 2009)
3. Eva Mendes
4. Selena Gomez
5. Halle Berry
6. Megan Fox
7. Shakira
8. Cameron Diaz (Most Dangerous Cyber Celebrity 2010)
9. Salma Hayek
10. Sofia Vergara
This is the sixth year in a row that McAfee released such list. Last year's list was topped by supermodel/host/designer Heidi Klum.
"In today’s celebrity culture, consumers expect to be able to go online to catch up with the latest photos, videos, tweets, and stories about their favorite celebrities. Due to the richness of the data and the high interaction, often times consumers forget the risks that they are taking by clicking on the links," said Paula Greve, director of web security research at McAfee. "As the sophistication and expectations of consumers with respect to their online experience has increased, so has the level and ability to deliver malware either by malvertising, exploiting the user’s browser without their awareness, or masking malicious URLs behind shortened URLs."
No comments:
Post a Comment