September 21, 2017
Cybersecurity firm McAfee has released its annual report on
the most dangerous celebrities to search for online and the singer Avril Lavigne
has topped the list.
In their annual poll, the cybersecurity company
concluded that the princess of pop-punk's name is most likely to bring users to
malware-heavy websites, leading to a high risk of cyber attacks, according to
Entertainment Weekly.
On this year's list, Bruno Mars is in second place,
followed by Carly Rae Jepsen, Zayn Malik and Celine Dion.
"Cybercriminals
continue to use the fascination of consumers with celebrity culture to drive
unsuspecting users to potentially malicious websites that can be used to install
malware, steal personal information and even passwords," read a statement from
McAfee.
Lavigne tops the list with a 14.5 percent risk; that number jumps
to 22 percent when searching the words "Avril Lavigne free mp3".
Here is
the complete top 10 list:
1. Avril Lavigne - 14.51 percent
2.
Bruno Mars - 13.43 percent
3. Carly Rae Jepsen - 13.19 percent
4.
Zayn Malik - 13.06 percent
5. Celine Dion - 12.92 percent
6.
Calvin Harris - 12.48 percent
7. Justin Bieber - 12.33 percent
8.
Diddy - 12.32 percent
9. Katy Perry - 12.25 percent
10. Beyonce
(search was conducted with 'Beyonce') - 12.09 percent
Lavigne has been
absent from the music scene for four years, having struggled with Lyme disease
in 2014.
She recently announced on Instagram that she would be releasing
new music soon, which may have contributed to an increase in malicious sites
associated with a search for her name.