McAfee names actress Lily Collins most dangerous celeb for internet lookup
Posted by: Jon Ben-Mayor on 09/17/2013 08:54 AM
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Lily Collins, the actress from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and Mirror, Mirror, has made the number one spot on McAfee's list for the most dangerous celebrity to search for online, replacing last years malicious search laden winner Emma Watson (Harry Potter).
McAfee researched popular culture’s most famous people to reveal the riskiest Hollywood actors, musicians, comedians, and personalities on the Web. The McAfee Most Dangerous CelebritiesTM study revealed that women are more dangerous than men, with nine of the top ten being female. Following Lily Collins, Avril Lavigne takes the number two spot and Sandra Bullock comes in third. Jon Hamm is the only male to make the top 10 list this year. Musicians also comprise nine of the top twenty most dangerous celebrities.
Cybercriminals consistently take advantage of consumer interest around award shows, new movies and TV shows as well as the latest cultural trends driven by celebrities. These criminals capitalize on the public’s fascination with celebrity to lure them to sites laden with malware that enables them to steal passwords and personal information. This year, searching for a celebrity name coupled with the search terms “free app download” and “nude pictures” resulted in the highest instances of malware-laden sites.
The study uses McAfee® SiteAdvisor® site ratings, which indicate which sites are risky to search when attached to celebrity names on the Web and calculate an overall risk percentage. The top 10 celebrities from this year’s study with the highest percentages of risk are:
“Today’s consumers often are completely unaware of security risks when searching for celebrity and entertainment news, images and videos online, sacrificing safety for immediacy,” said Paula Greve, director of web security research at McAfee. “Cybercriminals prey on consumers’ addiction to breaking news and leverage this behavior to lead them to unsafe sites that can severely infect their computers and devices and steal personal data.”
Fans searching for “Lily Collins and free downloads,” “Lily Collins and nude pictures,” “Lily Collins and fakes,” and “Lily Collins and free app downloads” are at risk of running into online threats designed to steal personal information, such as email addresses and passwords. Clicking on these risky sites and downloading files such as pictures and videos expose surfers to a larger risk of downloading viruses and malware.
McAfee researched popular culture’s most famous people to reveal the riskiest Hollywood actors, musicians, comedians, and personalities on the Web. The McAfee Most Dangerous CelebritiesTM study revealed that women are more dangerous than men, with nine of the top ten being female. Following Lily Collins, Avril Lavigne takes the number two spot and Sandra Bullock comes in third. Jon Hamm is the only male to make the top 10 list this year. Musicians also comprise nine of the top twenty most dangerous celebrities.Cybercriminals consistently take advantage of consumer interest around award shows, new movies and TV shows as well as the latest cultural trends driven by celebrities. These criminals capitalize on the public’s fascination with celebrity to lure them to sites laden with malware that enables them to steal passwords and personal information. This year, searching for a celebrity name coupled with the search terms “free app download” and “nude pictures” resulted in the highest instances of malware-laden sites.
The study uses McAfee® SiteAdvisor® site ratings, which indicate which sites are risky to search when attached to celebrity names on the Web and calculate an overall risk percentage. The top 10 celebrities from this year’s study with the highest percentages of risk are:
“Today’s consumers often are completely unaware of security risks when searching for celebrity and entertainment news, images and videos online, sacrificing safety for immediacy,” said Paula Greve, director of web security research at McAfee. “Cybercriminals prey on consumers’ addiction to breaking news and leverage this behavior to lead them to unsafe sites that can severely infect their computers and devices and steal personal data.”
Fans searching for “Lily Collins and free downloads,” “Lily Collins and nude pictures,” “Lily Collins and fakes,” and “Lily Collins and free app downloads” are at risk of running into online threats designed to steal personal information, such as email addresses and passwords. Clicking on these risky sites and downloading files such as pictures and videos expose surfers to a larger risk of downloading viruses and malware.
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