Emma Watson named ‘most dangerous’ cyber celebrity
Harry Potter actress Emma Watson has been named as the world’s ‘most dangerous’ celebrity, supplanting previous title holder Heidi Klum, by security firm McAfee
Watson earned her notoriety thanks to a survey of websites thrown up when her name was entered into a search engine, one in eight of which were found to be malicious – although these odds were massively increased if doubled up with search terms such as ‘free download’ or ‘nude pictures’.
The annual list looks at the riskiest folk on the planet for ordinary punters to stalk online from actors, athletes and musicians to politicians, designers and comedians.
It is intended to highlight the risks posted by spammers and scammers who are intent on stealing password and personal information.
The British actress topped this year’s list, ahead of Jessica Biel in second and Eva Mendes in third.
Paula Greve, director of web security research at McAfee, said: "In today's celebrity culture, consumers expect to be able to go online to catch up with the latest photos, videos, tweets, and stories about their favourite celebrities.
“Due to the richness of the data and the high interaction, often times consumers forget the risks that they are taking by clicking on the links.
"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."
‘Most dangerous’ cyber celebrities
1. Emma Watson.
2. Jessica Biel
3. Eva Mendes
4. Selena Gomez.
5. Halle Berry.
6. Megan Fox
7. Shakira.
8. Cameron Diaz
9. Salma Hayek.
10. Sofia Vergara.