McAfee’s Top 15 Dangerous Celebrities (For You)
by Blight Crusader
I try, I really do, in this blog, to be a public servant — a sentinel against the malware forces of evil, spotlighting the dark side of the internet for the unaware and uninformed in order to improve security for us all. I try, I really do.
But sometimes this leads into the world of celebrity. And for that, today, I sincerely apologize.
McAfee, industry-leader in anti-virus software, has just released their annual list of the 15 most dangerous celebrities to search for. Celeb-watchers will not be surprised that this year, Brad Pitt tops the list. McAfee reportedly stated that “searches for Brad Pitt memorabilia had an 18 percent chance of infecting the computer with spyware, spam, phishing, adware, viruses, and other malware.”
Yuck! How positively gross!
Sorry, I got carried away there for a minute. Once again, I apologize.
Brad Pitt has indeed knocked Paris Hilton out of the title slot as the “most dangerous celebrity to search for,” it should be noted. Hilton (last year’s No. 1) disappeared entirely from the list. Ohmigod! As did Britney Spears (last year’s No. 4). What is the world coming to?!?
From the Dallas Morning News technology blog, here is the full list of all fifteen stars, and the dangers they pose to the online searcher (numbers 10 and 14 are omitted, due to ties for numbers 9 and 13):
(1) Brad Pitt – When “Brad Pitt screensavers” was searched, more than half of the resulting Web sites were identified as containing malicious downloads with spyware, adware and potential viruses.
(2) Beyoncé – Inputting “Beyoncé ringtones” into a search engine yields risky Web sites that promote misleading offers to gather consumers’ personal information.
(3) Justin Timberlake – Interest in his high-profile relationships makes him an easy target for spammers and hackers. When searching for “Justin Timberlake downloads” one Web site advertised free music downloads that were flagged as directly leading to spam, spyware and adware.
(4) Heidi Montag – “The Hills” star is a popular search term when it comes to searching for wallpaper. A host of wallpaper Web sites contained hundreds of malware-laden downloads.
(5) Mariah Carey – Spammers and hackers are using Mariah Carey screen saver Web sites to link to other sites proven to contain spyware, adware and other threatening downloads.
(6) Jessica Alba – Red-ranked risky sites were identified when searching for “Jessica Alba” and “Jessica Alba downloads.” The sites contained hundreds of malicious downloads, links to other bad sites, misleading offers to gather information, and a high number of spam emails when an email address was provided.
(7) Lindsay Lohan – This young Hollywood starlet is as dangerous to search online as she is famous. Searching for “Lindsay Lohan downloads” resulted in several dangerous Web sites laden with hidden adware.
(8) Cameron Diaz – Cybercriminals use download Web sites related to Cameron Diaz’s image to link to other harmful sites containing spyware.
(9) George Clooney, Rihanna – The technology found one Web site embedded with hundreds of dangerous wallpaper and photo downloads after inputting “George Clooney downloads.” “Rihanna pictures” was also a risky search term, as McAfee identified a site that spammed its test email address.
(11) Angelina Jolie – When “Angelina Jolie downloads” was searched, the software highlighted a risky site with 978 hidden malware-infected wallpaper and photo downloads, as well as links to other potentially dangerous URLs.
(12) Fergie – A Fergie screen saver site was flagged as offering 111 risky downloads that could seriously compromise a PC’s privacy with unwanted spyware and adware.
(13) David Beckham, Katie Holmes – The “David Beckham” search term generated a great deal of wallpaper and screen saver downloads veiled with malware. Consumers should also exercise caution when searching for “Katie Holmes” online – one download site advertised free screen savers that, if downloaded, would infect your computer with malicious programs like spyware.
(15) Katherine Heigl – Hollywood’s big headliner in recent years is now susceptible to Internet lurkers too. “Katherine Heigl” was searched and a site was identified containing hundreds of malware-infected pictures.
Tags: celebrities, malware, McAfee, top 15
