Cameron Diaz is a cybercrime waiting to happen. Each year McAfee releases its “Most Risky Celebrities” report. She showed up 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.
Most Threatening Celebrities spread destructive downloads
McAfee has compiled its Very threatening Stars list for the past four years to promote its free SiteAdvisor service that scans web sites for the presence of malware. MSNBC reports that McAfee uses SiteAdvisor to identify celebrities with the “highest percentages of risk” for people who want to download photos, videos or screensavers featuring them. Internet users who search for downloads and photos of Cameron Diaz are directed to websites 10 percent of the time where adware is detected that could glean sensitive personal details or disrupt PC performance.
Cybercriminals use celebrities as bait
The hot topics that interest everybody else on the web are especially enticing for cybercriminals. As reported by ABC News, hackers track one of the most popular celebrities and create subject matter 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. Using stars to dupe individuals into installing viruses isn’t really new, but a McAfee security research executive told ABC News that the rate of its occurrence is increasing rapidly. Within the second quarter, a record number of viruses incidents was detected by McAfee. The presence of 6 million original pieces of malware-about 60,000 a day-were exposed by McAfee in that time frame.
Gorgeous individuals conceal unsightly strategies
The Most dangerous Celebs list usually includes movie stars and models at the top of the rankings. A CNET report on the phenomenon noted that spyware showed up in 19 percent of the sites found when SiteAdvisor searched “Cameron Diaz and screensavers” . Julia Roberts was listed as the second very threatening celeb this time. Jessica Biel got knocked down a couple of pegs from last year at number three. Fourth place is occupied by the world’s richest supermodel, Gisele Bundchen. Brad Pitt moved up five spots from last year to rank fifth. Some of the safest celebrities to search for are politicians. At no. 49 and no. 50 respectively are Barack Obama and Sarah Palin.
The McAfee Very threatening 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
Additional reading
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com
ABC News
abcnews.go.com
CNET
news.cnet.com
