cited: InformationWeek

McAfee just released its third annual list of the internet’s most risky celebrities. They found that 20% of searches for “Jessica Biel,” “Jessica Biel downloads,” Jessica Biel photos”, etc., take the searcher to malware-full websites. Spyware, adware, spam, viruses, and phishing mechanisms all fall under the company’s definition of malicious programs. If a computer visits a site that hosts such content, it can often become compromised, especially if its software that hasn’t been updated recently.

Cybercriminals know that celebrities and popular news generate significant interest among Internet users and thus try to place malware at sites where visitors might seek that sort of information. When such sites prove secure, they will create their own sites with malicious content or post malicious content though a user content submission mechanism and then create spam messages and external Web links to drive search traffic to their trapped sites.”Cybercriminals are star watchers too — they latch onto popular celebrities to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise,” said Jeff Green, SVP of McAfee Avert Labs, in a statement. “Consumers’ obsession with celebrity news and culture is harmless in theory, but one bad download can cause a lot of damage to a computer.”

McAfee’s list of the top ten most dangerous celebrity searches includes:

01. Jessica Biel
02. Beyoncé
03. Jennifer Aniston
04. Tom Brady
05. Jessica Simpson
06. Gisele Bundchen
07. Miley Cyrus
08. Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie
09. Ashley Tisdale
10. Brad Pitt

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If someone or something is popular online, count on cybercriminals trying to associate the topic with malware. Last month, MX Logic, another security company, noted that spammers were using Google Hot Trends, a list of popular search topics, to target spam.

While all the major search engines- Google, Microsoft, Yahoo- make efforts to shut down malware purveyors, they are in many ways running on a treadmill. Cybercriminals are able to repost their programs the instant their old content is detected.

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My Take: It’s interesting Jessica Biel, who I haven’t heard of since Seventh Heaven is the most dangerous celeb. Not wholly shocking, though. Spammers and virus-planters are focused on planting their bugs on celebrities that bring a certain amount of impulse-click desire, plus that age-old befuddling drive: lust.

Is this the new, digital VD? Are these spybots and worms punishment for not thinking with our brains? Possibly, or just a reminder to teach your 13-year-old to use protection, like a good anti-virus software.

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