Cheryl Cole – girl group singer, judge on TV’s X Factor, and now claimed to be a ‘Most Dangerous Celebrity’ if you search for her online, according to an IT security product company.
The eighth annual McAfee Most Dangerous Celebrities study found that a mix of music and entertainers are among the most dangerous to UK web users. Others are the likes of One Direction, David Beckham and actor Daniel Radcliffe.
Cybercriminals look for ways to take advantage and capitalise on the public’s fascination with celebrities to steal personal data, the IT firm pointed out. Samantha Humphries-Swift, product manager at McAfee Labs, part of Intel Security, said: “The desire for consumers to have access to the latest celebrity information can often make them vulnerable to cybercrime. Most consumers do not realise the security risks they are exposing themselves to when searching for celebrity videos and images online. But cybercriminals can exploit this desire for breaking celebrity news, leading consumers to sites that download harmful malware onto their devices and compromise personal data.”
Celebrity names coupled with ‘video’ or ‘picture’ are some of the most searched terms on the internet. McAfee’s study found that fans in the UK using search terms such as “Cheryl Cole downloads” and “Cheryl Cole mp4s” have a 15 per cent chance of landing on a website that has tested positive for online threats, such as spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and malware. But since her marriage to Jean-Fernandez-Versini this summer, could her new surname make the former Mrs Cole safer online?
It’s not just Cheryl fans putting themselves at risk, but ‘One Directioners’. All five members of one of the biggest boy bands on the planet made an appearance in the firm’s list of top 20 Most Dangerous Celebrities in the UK.
The study indicated which sites are risky to search when attached to celebrity names on the web and calculates an overall risk percentage. This year’s top 10 celebrities from the UK with the highest percentages of risk are:
1
Cheryl Cole
2
Daniel Radcliffe
3
Jessie J
4
David Beckham
5
Alesha Dixon
6
Ellie Goulding
7
Pixie Lott
8
Harry Styles
9
Lily Allen
10
Rita Ora
The firm offered advice on how not to be a victim of cybercrime:
· Take note of content that prompts you to download anything before providing you the data you want.
· “free downloads” are by far the highest virus-prone search term. Be careful when downloading as not to release malware onto your computer.
Keep it protected: make sure your phone and other mobile devices are password protected.
Stick to what you know: visit official news sites that you trust for breaking news and don’t download videos from suspect sites. Make sure to use a safe search tool that will notify you of risky sites or links before you visit them.
If you receive a message, text or email or visit a third-party website that asks for your information—credit card, email, home address, Facebook login, or other information—to grant access to an exclusive story, don’t give it out.
A complimentary version of SiteAdvisor software can be downloaded at www.siteadvisor.com.
