{"id":52862,"date":"2016-09-27T22:00:15","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mcafee.com\/?p=52862"},"modified":"2025-08-31T22:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T05:10:07","slug":"amy-schumer-dangerous-celebrities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/internet-security\/amy-schumer-dangerous-celebrities\/","title":{"rendered":"No Joke! Amy Schumer Is #1 Among Most Dangerous Celebrities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who doesn\u2019t love larger-than-life characters? Celebrities fascinate us. From laughter to tears, their performances stay in our memories, sometimes even in the form of hilarious internet memes. Unfortunately, however, all this attention also piques the interest of another group: cybercriminals. Since celebrity curiosities account for so much internet traffic, crooks see celebs as a chance to plant well-disguised traps for consumers.<\/p>\n

McAfee security experts examined such cybercrime tricks in this year\u2019s 10th<\/sup> annual McAfee Most Dangerous Celebrities study published. To identify the top threats, we used McAfee\u00ae WebAdvisor<\/a> to browse the internet for pages related to celebrities. To do this, we paired celebrity names along with popular search terms such as \u201ctorrent\u201d or \u201cHD download.\u201d So what did we find? This year, queen of laughter Amy Schumer<\/a> tops the list \u2014 except you\u2019ll want to avoid the malware-infected punch in this punchline. Here\u2019s a look at this year\u2019s top ten most dangerous celebrities:<\/p>\n

The top spot isn\u2019t that surprising. Cybercriminals are after people\u2019s attention. Anybody following Amy Schumer\u2019s career knows the comedian\u2019s recent rise to fame. Her comedy series Inside Amy Schumer<\/em> is the winner of a Peabody award, her memoir \u201cThe Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo\u201d was released in August, and she\u2019s currently on her first world tour. Simply put: people can\u2019t get enough of her sassy jokes, making her a prime target for cybercriminals who want to capitalize on her popularity.<\/p>\n

Amy\u2019s peers include comedians, as well as a number of musical performers. Daniel Tosh (number eight on the list) is also a comedian. Justin Bieber (number two) is one of the most popular singers of our time and Carson Daly (number three) hosts regular talk shows with other high-profile celebrities. At the end of the day, musicians and comedians get a lot of attention in our culture. People are quick to search for the latest singer on the pop scene or an established comedian\u2019s new tour, and that\u2019s when crooks look to divert them to unsafe sites on the internet.<\/p>\n

There are two big truths cybercriminals keep in mind as they aim to leverage celebrity fandom for abuse. The first is that consumers want convenience. As people rely less on cable and, instead, search for the content they want online, they\u2019ll find many third-party sources for their favorite music or videos. But unofficial sources are often dangerous. Links can send users to unsafe sites, where sneaky tactics for stealing data and usernames are awaiting. The popular torrent<\/em> file format for downloading files also allows cybercriminals to sneak viruses onto devices.<\/p>\n

The second is the desire for gossip \u2013 now. In today\u2019s social media obsessed culture, fans want real-time information related to their favorite celebrities. It isn\u2019t uncommon for a celebrity to have a photo, post or comment shared around the world in a matter of seconds. Those posts often spark a wave of searches. With all that traffic, cybercriminals can trick fans into visiting a faux-gossip website infested with malicious programs (malware) in an effort to steal passwords, credit card information and more. This method is particularly effective on social media channels, where the standards for trust are low.<\/p>\n

Social Media Safety Tips<\/h2>\n

But don\u2019t worry. No one is asking you to give up your celebrity infatuation. All we\u2019re asking is for a little caution. To help you nurture a skeptical mind, here are a few things you can do to make sure you\u2019re entertained safely:<\/p>\n