Beware of Cameron Diaz. She was awarded top honors in the newest release of the McAfee “Most Dangerous Celebrities” report. Superstars are often used by cybercriminals to disguise harmful code that tricks web users into downloading spyware and the famous people they use most often to do that make up probably the most Harmful Superstars list.
Malware makes these celebrities very threatening
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 spyware. As reported by MSNBC, SiteAdvisor is the tool used by McAfee to single out the super star downloads for videos, photos or wallpaper that carry the highest degree of threat. Web users looking for Cameron Diaz content material land on an infected site 10 percent of the time. The adware they download can aid cybercriminals in identity theft or simply scramble the users’ data beyond usefulness.
Cybercriminals use celebrities as bait
Celebs with a new movie or scandal achieve tremendous popularity on the Internet. Cybercriminals can’t help but notice. ABC News reports that these cybercriminals build delivery systems for malicious code within content material featuring the hottest names of the moment. Enthusiasts downloading a hot screensaver or compromising video get compromised themselves using stolen passwords and other vulnerable personal data. The tactic isn’t really a recent innovation, but Dave Marcus, McAfee Labs’ director of security research, told ABC News the distribute of malicious downloads is increasing at an accelerated pace. McAfee reports viruses detection on a quarterly basis. More pieces of destructive code were logged from April through June than had yet been seen. McAfee detected 6 million unique, freshly-minted malicious downloads in that time period–about 60,000 pieces per day.
Most dangerous downloads are actors and models
The top 10 most dangerous superstars are most often the hottest movie stars and Victoria Secret models. CNET reports that when SiteAdvisor searched “Cameron Diaz and screensavers,” malicious downloads were detected on 19 percent of the sites . Other actors dominated the top 10. Julia Roberts had to settle for second place. After taking top honors last year, Jessica Biel got bumped to 3rd. Gisele Bundchen, the world’s highest paid supermodel, was fourth. Moving up five spots on the list, in fifth place, is Brad Pitt. Politicians don’t have the same allure. Barack Obama and Sarah Palin were ranked no. 49 and no. 50, respectively.
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 info on this subject
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com
ABC News
abcnews.go.com
CNET
news.cnet.com
