Googling your favorite celebrities can come with some unintended consequences according to McAfee, the American global computer security software company. They have released the top ten celebrities who have been used to dupe people out of their personal information online, and the number one most dangerous celebrity when it comes to this is Rory Gilmore herself, Alexis Bledel.
For the past 13 years, according to Business Wire, McAfee has researched which famous individuals end up generating the riskiest results that could potentially expose people to malicious websites and viruses. Despite it going on for so long, this is the first time I’m hearing of it, but I’m just going to assume it’s because, for most of that time, I have owned an Apple laptop.
Gary Davis, chief consumer security at McAfee, said,
Consumers may not be fully aware that the searches they conduct pose risk, nor may they understand the detrimental effects that can occur when personal information is compromised in exchange for access to their favorite celebrities, movies, TV shows or music. Criminals use deceptive websites to dupe unsuspecting consumers into accessing malicious files or content. It is essential that consumers learn to protect their digital lives from lurking cybercriminals by thinking twice before they click on suspicious links or download content.
According to McAfee, the top ten “most dangerous” celebrities when it comes to potentially sending you malware are:
- Alexis Bledel
- James Corden
- Sophie Turner
- Anna Kendrick
- Lupita Nyong’o
- Jimmy Fallon
- Jackie Chan
- Lil Wayne
- Nicki Minaj
- Tessa Thompson
*Looks at #s 3 and 10 and alerts the gays.*
Basically, if you go to look up these celebrities and they promise you special things if you “click this link,” do not do it. I feel like this is the kind of thing that people of my generation and younger should already be aware of, especially because, as those who lived through the times of Limewire and Bittorrent, we should know to fear anything that takes us to a random popup window. Still, considering that #2 is James Corden and #6 is Jimmy Fallon, we need to warn our parents about this. Also, someone needs to protect the Barbz, because they will absolutely click on something if they think Nicki is giving them something, especially in this economy.
They have warned that anyone looking for a sneak-peek of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker starring Lupita Nyong’o should “be cautious and only stream and download directly from a reliable source” and to be cautious of illegal streaming sites. I know it is tempting because of all the different streaming sites, but please, just steal your writer friend’s password instead and protect yourself. Also, who is looking up Jackie Chan? Besides me trying to see where I can stream Jackie Chan Adventures online.
(via A.V. Club, image: The WB/CW)
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