Cameron Diaz is a cybercrime waiting to happen. The new McAfee “Most Hazardous Celebrities release puts her at the top of the list. Most Dangerous Celebrities is an annual list of the Hollywood stars cybercriminals most often use to lure web users to malicious downloads.
Celebs that distribute dangerous downloading the most
McAfee has compiled its Most dangerous Celebrities list for the past four years to promote its free SiteAdvisor service that scans sites for the presence of malware. A recent MSNBC article on probably the most dangerous superstars list said that SiteAdvisor is used by McAfee to pinpoint the stars most often linked to destructive downloading and formulate the odds of that happening to unsuspecting users. Web users looking for Cameron Diaz subject matter land on an infected site 10 percent of the time. The malware they download can aid cybercriminals in identity theft or simply scramble the users’ data beyond usefulness.
Celebs used as bait by cybercriminals
Celebrities with a new movie or scandal achieve tremendous popularity on the Internet. Cybercriminals can’t help but notice. As reported by ABC News, hackers track the most popular superstars and create content featuring them accessible for download that contains hidden programs intended for stealing passwords and other vital personal information that users have stored on their PCs. Dave Marcus, director of security research at McAfee Labs, told ABC News that the malicious software being created isn’t new, but it is spreading at an ever-increasing rate. McAfee tracked more malware from April through June than ever before. The presence of 6 million original pieces of malware-about 60,000 a day-were exposed by McAfee in that time frame.
Most dangerous downloading are actors and models
The top 10 very threatening celebs are most often the hottest movie stars and Victoria Secret models. A CNET report on the phenomenon noted that malware showed up in 19 percent of the websites found when SiteAdvisor searched “Cameron Diaz and screensavers” . The second-most threatening celebrity on the fourth annual list was Julia Roberts. Jessica Biel got knocked down a couple of pegs from last year at number three. Gisele Bundchen, the world’s highest paid supermodel, was fourth. Brad Pitt moved up five spots from last year to rank fifth. Some of the safest celebrities to search for are politicians. Barack Obama ranked no. 49. Sarah Palin, who craves the spotlight, might have been disappointed by straggling in at no. 50.
The McAfee Most dangerous Celebrities
1. Cameron Diaz
2. Julia Roberts
3. Jessica Biel
4. Gisele Bündchen
5. Brad Pitt
6. Adriana Lima
7. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Nicole Kidman: tie
8. Tom Cruise
9. Heidi Klum and Penelope Cruz: tie
10. Anna Paquin
Find more info on this subject
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com
ABC News
abcnews.go.com
CNET
news.cnet.com
