Cameron Diaz tops list of riskiest celeb searches

[DainBramaged]

SAN FRANCISCO — If you're looking for Cameron Diaz, Julia Roberts or Jessica Biel online, look out!
The movie stars top the latest list of the most dangerous celebrities to search for online, according to new research by computer-security software maker McAfee Inc.

It's far from an Oscar, but landing atop McAfee's annual list carries a distinction all its own: It means that criminals believe those celebs are the perfect lures to sucker people into visiting malicious websites.

Clicking onto strange sites is sketchy to begin with. But many people do, and their computers get infected. Once a computer is infected, criminals can steal victims' online banking passwords, e-mail passwords, and do other kinds of nasty deeds.

Attaching famous people's names to malicious sites is a well-worn ruse, to fool people looking at search results into thinking they're heading to a legitimate site.

The other most-dangerous celebrities to look for online, according to McAfee, are Gisele Bundchen, Brad Pitt, Adriana Lima, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Heidi Klum, Penelope Cruz and Anna Paquin.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-08-19-celebrity-searches_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. And that is why I never browse for famous names -

only porn.

[seabeyond]

2. didnt know that. my niece had someone use her checking account number a couple

months ago. bogus check to bogus company. odd, odd. small amount of money. 40 something. and 60 something. hurt her since she doesnt have much money.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Jessica who?

I have a rule - If I've never heard of 'em, they ain't famous.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Well, I can beat that - If I've never heard of them,

they don't exist.

[DainBramaged]

5. One EXCELLENT tool in the battle against the scum is WOT, Web of Trust add-on

What is the Web of Trust add-on?
Web of Trust (WOT) is the world's leading community-based, free safe surfing tool that helps all web users stay safe as they search, surf and shop online. The WOT add-on tells you which sites you can trust when using Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Wikipedia and other popular sites. Web site ratings are powered by a global community of millions of trustworthy users who have rated millions of websites based on their experiences. The free add-on works with Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer and is a free download.

http://www.mywot.com/en/download

[AnArmyVeteran]

7. Thanks for the link dainbramaged.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Thanks for the info

It looks like a good add-on.

[AnArmyVeteran]

6. Thanks, I listen to Kim Komando's show.

And a rec from her means it must be a good product.

[Lance_Boyle]

8. McAfee itself is one of the most dangerous names online.

Nasty ineffective bloatware crap that it is. The enterprise stuff is not as bad, but jeez - they have some nerve to come out with a list of most dangerous search terms when THEIR SOFTWARE THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING THOSE PCs FAILS TO MITIGATE THE THREATS.

[DainBramaged]

10. Intel bought them today, at a 60% premium over yesterday's close

maybe their shit will work once Intel straightens it out.

[Lance_Boyle]

11. I'm hoping Intel bought the name to kill it dead.

There's not much sense competing with MS now to protect Windows desktop/laptop PCs - Defender does better than McAfee or Symantec with less resource hit. For that matter, some of the free AV stuff (I guess Defender is free, with the purchase of a Win7 license...) beats the big two names from the early '00s, as well.

My last experience with McAfee (required by my employer for our Windows servers) was that it prevented us from copying an executable (pushprinterconnections.exe) to our DC so we could deploy printers with a startup script. Far more trouble than it's worth.

[DainBramaged]

12. AVG has become bloat ware. Kaspersky or Microsoft Security essentials

The only two I use now.