With the recent changes at McAfee, they are no longer doing their annual risky celebrity online report. Not to worry, Surfshark has stepped up to tell what pop culture icon is riskiest celebrities to search for on the innerwebs. Surfshark, based in the Netherlands, describes themselves as a cybersecurity company focused on developing humanized privacy and security solutions. Surfshark and Nord Security merged in 2022 to form the current company.
They searched the web with for pop culture terms with different qualifiers, like “Torrent,” “Download,” “Stream,” or “MP3.” They then collected URLs from the first five pages Google of search results and ran them through a malware detector (https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/). The “% of URLs with potential malware” metric reflects the % of URLs that were flagged as “medium risk” or above by this tool.
2022 Risky Celebrity #1 Robert De Niro
The riskiest celebrity to search for in 2022 was Robert De Niro. This is the first time the Academy Award winner topped the riskiest celebrity list. Mr. De Niro has earned two Academy Awards, one for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola‘s The Godfather Part II (1974) and the other for Best Actor portraying Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull (1980). Other notable roles include Midnight Run (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Joker (2019), and Meet the Parents (2000). According to Surfshark a Google search for Mr. De Niro can result in a malware link over half the time (54.1%).
Jake Gyllenhall is the second most riskiest celebrity to search for on the intertubes. The actor who is most famous for his roles in Brokeback Mountain (2005), and Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), in which he portrayed Quentin Beck / Mysterio. 53.6% of searches for Mr. Gyllenhall on the web result in a malware attack according to Surfshark.
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins the British stage and screen actor was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1993. He has won two Academy Awards, and two Emmy Awards. Now he ranks #3 on the 2022 Surfshark riskiest celebrities online. He received an Academy Award for Best Actor for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Mr. Hopkins also had a re-occurring role in the MCU Thor franchise (2011–2017). His 2021 Academy Award winning role in The Father (2020) undoubtedly increased his attractiveness as a hacker lure. Over half (53.6%) of the online searches for Sir Hopkins can result in a malware attack on your system.
2022’s Riskiest Female Celebrity
Kate Winslet is the riskiest woman to search for in 2022 according to Surfshark. 52.6% of the searches for the Titanic (1997) star can include results that link to malware. Her role in the 2022 Avatar: The Way of Water, a sequel to James Cameron’s Avatar (2009), earned over $1.7 billion to rank as the seventh highest-grossing film of all time made her excellent bait for hackers to spring on unsuspecting web surfers.
Aussie Actress Margot Robbie takes #5 on Surfshark’s list. Her roles as Harley Quinn in the DC Suicide Squad films. 52% of the searches for the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) actress can return malware.
Brad Pitt ranked 9th on Surfshark’s 2022 list. Mr. Pitt has appeared in the the riskiest celebrity role more than most pop culture creatures. He previously appeared on the top ten list of riskiest celebs in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2022 he starred with risky celeb #5 Margot Robbie in Babylon.
Risky movies target kids
Many of the most dangerous films to search for have younger audiences. Younger users are more likely to click on links containing malicious software. Of the 8 most dangerous movies to search for, half were released by Disney:
#1 Finding Dory has a 46.7% risk of including malware
#2 Beauty and the Beast 44.9% risk of including malware
#5 Toy Story 3 40.4% risk of including malware
#8 The Lion King 40% risk of including malware
Hollywood is not only attackers can spread malware. Surfshark found the searches for sports teams can also be risky
#1 New Orleans Pelicans 43.1% risk of including malware
#2 Miami Heat 43.0% risk of including malware
#3 Boston Celtics 41.8% risk of including malware
#4 Texas Rangers 41.7% risk of including malware
#5 Miami Marlins 40.7% risk of including malware
Missing from the top ten is perennial hacker favorite and Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock. Searches for Ms. Bullock were slightly less than half (49%) likely to contain malware in 2022. who ranked in the top 10 in 2010, 2013 and 2015. Another favorite, Julia Roberts scored 36.2%. She ranked in the top 10 in 2010 and 2020 risky celebrity lists.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
2020 has been quite the year. Even the Internet has turned against us. According to cybersecurity firm McAfee, the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns have made searching for celebrities on the web even more dangerous. In their 14th annual survey, San Jose, CA-based 
Keep your personal information private. Cybercriminals are always looking for ways to steal your personal information. If you receive a request to enter information like your credit card, email, home address, or social media log-in, Intel says you should not give it out thoughtlessly. Please research and ensure it’s not a phishing or scam attempt that could lead to identity theft.
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