Nicole Kidman is the most dangerous celebrity to search online. Photo courtesy of Flickr
Nicole Kidman, Jessica Mauboy and Dr Chris Brown are the top three riskiest Australian names to search for online, according to the ninth annual study conducted by Intel Security.
The vendor used its McAfee WebAdvisor and SiteAdvisor ratings to determine the number of risky sites that would be generated in search results including a celebrity name and commonly searched terms.
Analysis of the Australian results revealed that Nicole Kidman led the list with a 12.5 per cent risk of returning a malicious website.
Jessica Mauboy came in a close second with a 12.4 per cent risk, dropping from the number one spot in 2014, followed by Dr Chris Brown with a danger risk of 11.4 per cent.
Australian rap artist, Iggy Azalea placed fourth with a 10.7 per cent risk and in fifth place, Australian actress Toni Collette with a 10.4 per cent search risk.
Mel Gibson came in sixth place at 10.3 per cent following by Keith Urban in seventh place (9.6 per cent), then Hugo Weaving (9.4 per cent) and Kylie Minogue (9.2 per cent).
Intel Security APAC consumer marketing director, Melanie Duca, said the appetite for news, gossip and free downloads is stronger than ever and the lure of the celebrity world means that consumers often click on links without checking the security of the sites they are visiting.
“With ransomware and malware attacks continuing to rise and cybercriminals becoming even more cunning in their targeting, consumers need to be aware of online security issues and ensure their personal data and privacy is protected at all times,” she said.
In the company's concurrent global study, Armin van Buuren came in first at 17.92 per cent, following by Luke Bryan (17.64 per cent), Usher (16.67 per cent), Britney Spears (16.39 per cent) and Jay Z (15.83 per cent).
