Michelle Yeoh, most recently known as Eleanor Young in the hit movie “Crazy Rich Asians”, tops McAfee’s list of most dangerous celebrities to search for online. For the thirteenth year, McAfee researched which famous individuals generate the riskiest results that could potentially expose their fans to malicious websites and viruses.
Michelle Yeoh’s storied career spans as far back as the 1980s, when she began appearing in Hong Kong movies, before appearing in notable global hits like “Tomorrow Never Dies”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, and “Memoirs of a Geisha”.
She continued to test Hollywood’s boundaries by starring in 2018’s “Crazy Rich Asians”, the first studio film in 25 years with an all-Asian cast. Michelle Yeoh played the Young family’s matriarch entangled in a battle of wills with Constance Wu’s Rachel Chu.
Trailing Michelle Yeoh are:
- Nikki Minaj (No. 2)
- Billie Eilish (No. 3)
- U2 (No. 4)
- Gemma Chan (No. 5)
- Scarlett Johansson (No. 6)
- Zhao Wei (No. 7)
- Maroon 5 (No. 8)
- Leon Lai (No. 9)
- A-mei (No. 10)
The truth is consumers are faced with endless options to feed their obsession with celebrities. They are interacting with content across multiple devices and conducting potentially dangerous searches across the internet to find the latest information or gossip without fear of consequence.
For cybercriminals, this creates a field day to lure unsuspecting consumers to malicious websites that may install malware or steal personal information and passwords.
Tips to Help Stay Safe Online:
- Be careful what you click. Users looking for a sneak-peek of Black Widow’s solo movie starring Scarlett Johansson should be cautious and only stream and download directly from a reliable source.
- Refrain from using illegal streaming sites. Many illegal streaming sites are riddled with malware or adware disguised as pirated video files.
- Protect your online realm with a cybersecurity solution. You can use software like McAfee Total Protection to help protect you from malware, phishing attacks, and other threats.
- Use a Web Reputation tool. Using a Web reputation tool such as freely available McAfee WebAdvisor alerts users when they are about to go to a malicious website.
- Use parental control software. Ensure that limits are set for your child on the devices they use and use parental control software to help minimize exposure to potentially malicious or inappropriate websites.
Survey Methodology
McAfee used the Google API Console to search for popular mobile, PC and platform games coupled with search modifying terms (e.g. celebrity + torrent). “Most dangerous” really means that these celebrities are likely popular search subjects.
Search terms used this year:
- Torrent
- Fix gamble
- Free mp3
- Nudes
- Pirated download
- Sledging
- Streaming
Using McAfee WebAdvisor data, resulting domains and URLs were measured and assigned a risk of “high,” “medium” and “unverified.” URLs were then given a score between negative 127 and positive 127 with higher scores indicating a riskier website.
