Most Dangerous Celebrity in Cyberspace is Emma Watson, According to McAfee Report
Emma Watson is the most dangerous celebrity to search for online, according to a new report from Internet security firm McAfee.
Watson tops the sixth annual list from McAfee of celebrity searches that most often lead to malicious software or the theft of personal information.
The sites follow online trends and capitalize on the popularity of celebrities to lure users to websites that can harm their computers. This year, searching for a celebrity's name - like Watson's - along with "free downloads" or "nude pictures" led to the highest result of dangerous sites.
McAfee's findings showed that searches for the 22-year-old Watson, who became internationally famous as Hermione Granger in the "Harry Potter" films, typically resulted in a one in eight shot of landing on a malicious website.
Behind Watson on the list, other celebrity searches that can lead to risky websites include Halle Berry, Eva Mendes, Jessica Biel and Selena Gomez. The list is nearly entire female, with only late night host Jimmy Kimmel representing men among the top 20.
Supermodel Heidi Klum was No. 1 on McAfee's report last year.
Today's cultural fascination with celebrity and the ability to connect with stars directly on sites like Twitter and Instagram can sometimes make Internet users forget about the danger of malicious websites, according to Paula Greve, director of web security research at McAfee.
"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," Greve said.
