Beware! Women are more dangerous than men (in search results)

The Internet can be a dangerous place if you aren't careful. There are viruses, malware and Trojans just waiting to ruin your day. Unwary computer users can significantly increase their chances of infection by searching for questionable things, and even seemingly innocuous search terms can be unsafe.

As proof, today McAfee announces that searching for actress Lily Collins will result in a "nearly one-in-seven chance of landing on a malicious site" -- yikes!

"Lily Collins, star of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and Mirror, Mirror, has replaced Emma Watson as McAfee's most dangerous celebrity to search for online. For the seventh year in a row, McAfee researched popular culture’s most famous people to reveal the riskiest Hollywood actors, musicians, comedians, and personalities on the Web", according to McAfee.

I am surprised that Lily Collins is number one as I honestly had no idea who she was. Even though McAfee says it is risky, I had to use Google to find out more about her.

The company says "the[...]study revealed that women are more dangerous than men, with nine of the top ten being female. Following Lily Collins, Avril Lavigne takes the number two spot and Sandra Bullock comes in third. Jon Hamm is the only male to make the top 10 list this year".

This is interesting data in that it gives us a glimpse into the minds of malware writers and pushers. However, it is not clear if they targeting women who are fans of the actresses or men who are attracted to them (or both). Either way, it seems that female search subjects are the bait of the moment.

Unfortunately, not all web browsers are represented in the study. According to the company, "the study uses McAfee SiteAdvisor site ratings, which indicate which sites are risky to search when attached to celebrity names on the Web and calculate an overall risk percentage...SiteAdvisor software works with Internet Explorer and Firefox". Conspicuously absent are Chrome and Safari.

Have you searched for any of these people this year? Tell me in the comments.

Photo Credit: racorn/Shutterstock

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