Cameron Diaz Named Internet’s ‘Most Dangerous Celebrity’

The Hollywood star Cameron Diaz has been named the web’s most dangerous celebrity this year by security firm McAfee. Searches for Diaz yielded the most amount “malicious software” implanted by cybercriminals, McAfee’s research showed.

Searches for Diaz’s pictures and downloads had a 10% chance of landing on a website that’s “tested positive for online threats such as spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and other malware,” said the company.

With just “Cameron Diaz and screensavers” entered into a search engine, 19% of the returned sites were identified as dangerous.

Behind Diaz are other Hollywood stars as well: Julia Roberts and Jessica Biel claimed second and third spot, respectively.

And while movie stars might be first-choice for hackers, the search results this year are “safer than they’ve been in previous years”, said Dave Marcus, McAfee’s security researcher.

Social media, it seems, has to bear the blame for spreading viruses like wildfire.

“Cybercriminals are getting sneakier in their techniques,” said Marcus. “Now they’re hiding malicious content in ‘tiny’ places like shortened URLs that can spread virally in spcial networking sites and Twitter, instead of on websites and downloads.”

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