Her steely glare across the X Factor judging panel. Her
quick tongue. Her mean left hook in a Surrey nightclub
bathroom circa 2003.
There are many reasons why the name ‘ Cheryl Cole’
strikes fear into the hearts of the general public. Now,
the internet is afraid of her, too.
The singer, known as Cheryl Fernandez-Versini after
getting married earlier this year, has just been named
the “most dangerous celebrity” to look up online in the
UK by web security providers McAfee.
According to the firm, 15 per cent of search results
related to her former name contained links to high risk
content such as spyware, viruses, spam, phishing,
adware and other malware.
Attach to the term 'Cheryl Cole' the words 'video' or
'picture' and the risk is further increased – the terms
are utilised by hackers to lure in users, as are searches
like 'Cheryl Cole downloads' and 'Cheryl Cole mp4s'.
The second most dangerous name on the internet is a
little more surprising – Daniel Radcliffe . He’s followed
by Jessie J (less surprising - she's terrifying) at third
most dangerous.
Meanwhile, all five members of One Direction appear
in the Top 20 most dangerous, with searches for Harry
Styles the most risky at eighth most dangerous.
Samantha Humphries-Swift, McAfee Labs product
manager, 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 on
to their devices and compromise personal data."
In terms of dangerous world searches, US chat show
host Jimmy Kimmel is the worst name you could type
into Google. His moniker carries a 19.38 per cent risk
of entering a site with malicious content.
quick tongue. Her mean left hook in a Surrey nightclub
bathroom circa 2003.
There are many reasons why the name ‘ Cheryl Cole’
strikes fear into the hearts of the general public. Now,
the internet is afraid of her, too.
The singer, known as Cheryl Fernandez-Versini after
getting married earlier this year, has just been named
the “most dangerous celebrity” to look up online in the
UK by web security providers McAfee.
According to the firm, 15 per cent of search results
related to her former name contained links to high risk
content such as spyware, viruses, spam, phishing,
adware and other malware.
Attach to the term 'Cheryl Cole' the words 'video' or
'picture' and the risk is further increased – the terms
are utilised by hackers to lure in users, as are searches
like 'Cheryl Cole downloads' and 'Cheryl Cole mp4s'.
The second most dangerous name on the internet is a
little more surprising – Daniel Radcliffe . He’s followed
by Jessie J (less surprising - she's terrifying) at third
most dangerous.
Meanwhile, all five members of One Direction appear
in the Top 20 most dangerous, with searches for Harry
Styles the most risky at eighth most dangerous.
Samantha Humphries-Swift, McAfee Labs product
manager, 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 on
to their devices and compromise personal data."
In terms of dangerous world searches, US chat show
host Jimmy Kimmel is the worst name you could type
into Google. His moniker carries a 19.38 per cent risk
of entering a site with malicious content.
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