Emma Watson tops McAfee’s list of ‘most dangerous’ celebrity to search online

New research confirms Emma Watson is being used by cyber criminals to lure internet users to malicious sites...

14:24 11 September 2012

There is no doubt about it: internet is the place to go when doing research. Through this, you can find all the latest information you need to know about a certain subject or even certain personalities.

 

However, searching for celebrities like Emma Watson is proving to be dangerous state McAfee, an American internet security firm, as reported by The Telegraph.

 

Based on McAfee’s research, many websites are using the name of Harry Potter’s star to trick internet users to malicious sites so they can steal personal information, and lure these people to download malicious software.

 

Internet users who are using the name of the actress together with the word “nude pictures” or “free downloads” run the risk of getting their computers infected with malicious software. 

 

In addition, the research reveals that internet scammers are using mostly female celebrities.

 

In fact, among the top 20, there’s only one male celebrity who made it to the list and that’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

 

The other risky or dangerous celebrities to search include Selena Gomez, Jessica Biel, Halle Berry, and Eva Mendez. 

 

Paula Greve, director of web security research at McAfee told The Telegraph: "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 favourite celebrities.

 

She added: “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.”