Cameron Diaz could possibly be hazardous to your PC. She tops the list within the latest McAfee “Most Harmful Celebrities” report. Celebrities are often used by cybercriminals to disguise harmful code that tricks web users into downloading malware and the famous people they use most often to do that make up probably the most Risky Celebrities list.
Most Threatening Superstars pass on destructive downloading
The fourth annual Most dangerous Stars list is created by McAfee to promote SiteAdvisor, a free program that tests sites for malicious content. A recent MSNBC article on probably the most hazardous superstars list said that SiteAdvisor is used by McAfee to pinpoint the stars most often linked to malicious downloading and formulate the odds of that happening to unsuspecting users. When looking for Cameron Diaz photos and downloading, web users take a 10 percent chance of landing on a site that’s tested positive for spyware that could lead to consequences from degraded PC performance to identity theft.
Destructive cyber-terrorist play on fans of rich and famous
Cybercriminals track the hottest topics on the web to use as bait. As reported by ABC News, hackers track probably the most popular superstars and create subject matter featuring them available for download that contains hidden programs designed for stealing passwords and other vital personal info that users have stored on their PCs. The tactic is not a recent innovation, but Dave Marcus, McAfee Labs’ director of security research, told ABC News the spread of destructive downloading is increasing at an accelerated pace. McAfee reports malware detection on a quarterly basis. More pieces of destructive code were logged from April through June than had yet been seen. Within that span of time, McAfee uncovered 6 million freshly written malware programs-the equivalent of nearly 60,000 occurrences each day.
Beautiful individuals conceal unsightly strategies
The Very threatening Superstars list generally consists of movie stars and models at the top of the rankings. CNET reports that when SiteAdvisor searched “Cameron Diaz and screensavers,” malicious downloads were detected on 19 percent of the websites . Julia Roberts was listed as the second very threatening celebrity this time. Jessica Biel came in third after leading the pack last year. Gisele Bundchen, the world’s highest paid supermodel, was fourth. The first male on the list is Brad Pitt in fifth-a jump from 10th last year. Some of the safest celebrities to search for are politicians. Barack Obama ranked no. 49. Sarah Palin, who craves the spotlight, may are disappointed by straggling in at no. 50.
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
Find more details on this subject
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com
ABC News
abcnews.go.com
CNET
news.cnet.com
