Most Sought-After Celebrities (#1 Lily Collins) Searched Online Leads Internet Surfers to Malware

The hunt is always on for popular celebrities on the Internet, and there is a list of them that have search results revolving around malware threats.

According to recent security researcher studies from McAfee and others, cybercriminals are consistently taking advantage of the most popular celebrities to lace related search results with malware leading to malicious attacks that could steal your personal information.

Just like how cybercrooks thrive on lacing breaking news search results with malware through clever blackhat SEO techniques, they are also betting on your search of the most popular celebrities so they can exploit such search results. Among the most popular celebrities currently search for on the Internet (full list provided below in Figure 1), Lily Collins ranks as the keyword where your chances of clicking on a query laced with malware is the highest. Followed by Collins, is Avril Lavigne in second place and then Sandra Bullock in third.

Figure 1. Top 10 Celebrities searched for online that have a high percentage of yielding malicious results.

If you take the time out to explore the top 10 celebrities searched for on the Internet that have the highest chance of landing search result's website containing malware, you will notice that they are all females with the exception of Jon Hamm. One of the obvious reasons for this is due to the nature of women being exploited on the internet by offering supposed nude images or even sex videos of these celebrities. Even though most of them have never been in the 'revealing extra skin on the internet’ business, people are always curious nevertheless.

It is the dangerous curiosity that has landed many computers in a serious pool of a mess when the user discovers that they were infected with a vicious type of malware all due to their quest to find images of Lily Collins or their other favorite celebrity on the internet.

Among the most dangerous searches on the internet, which have over a 14% chance of landing you on a malicious site, are the following keywords.

• "Lily Collins and free downloads"
• "Lily Collins and nude pictures"
• "Lily Collins and fakes"
• "Lily Collins and free app downloads"

The sites that you may land on due to searching for popular celebrities are usually laden with malware that enables cybercrooks to steal passwords and personal information, and in some cases, infect your system with a nasty malware payload.

There are a few things you can do to protect your information and your system from becoming infection all because you allowed your curiosity to get the best of you by searching for Lily Collins-related material online. For one, you should always beware of the content that prompts you to download anything to view something else. Usually this happens when you are attempting to view a video, the malware slips onto your system if you agree to download some type of update or video codec. In other cases, a site may ask that you login or provide personal information to verify your age or pay for some type of service that claims to offer material related to a celebrity. In other situations the sites that offer 'free downloads' related to a popular celebrity listed above if Figure 1 usually unleashes malware if you obtain a file download.

In any given situation, you should always utilize caution when browsing the internet for your favorite celebrity. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.