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Searching For "Emma Watson" Pics Might Give You A Virus

By Ian Kar | Sep 11, 2012 01:39 PM EDT

Searching For "Emma Watson" Pics Might Give You A Virus

According to a recent ranking, searching the 'Harry Potter' starlets name is the most likely to give your computer a virus. 

The software security firm McAfee has dubbed Emma Watson, most famous for playing Hermione Granger in the 'Harry Potter' movies, the internet's "most dangerous" star. Apparently, if you search for web pages related to Emma Watson, you have a one in eight chance that the site might be infested with spyware, adware, spam, phasing, viruses, and other malware. 

"In today's celebrity culture, consumers expect to be able to go online to catch up with the latest photos, videos, tweets, and stories about their favourite celebrities," Paula Greve, director of web security research at McAfee, said in a statement. "Due to the richness of the data and the high interaction, often times consumers forget the risks that they are taking by clicking on the links."

Among the top five on the "most dangerous" list was Jessica Biel, Eva Mendes, Selena Gomez, and Halle Berry. The only male on the list was Jimmy Kimmel, at 20. 

It seems that names that continually show up in tabloid magazines, like Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Kristen Stewart, and Robert Pattinson, aren't as likely to be infected with malware. They aforementioned celebrities were all well outside the top 50 most dangerous names to search. "Hot movies and TV shows, awards and industry accolades seem to be more of a factor than headline-grabbing activity," Ms. Greve said.

Next time you search "Emma Watson" in Google, make sure you've updated your computer's security system beforehand.

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