Viewers of Legends of the Fall the other night may have felt tempted to reach Brad Pitt in whatever way possible afterwards, but be warned that looking for him on the internet is potentially more than just a guilty pleasure – it could damage your PC.
According to internet security company McAfee, Pitt has overtaken Paris Hilton as the most dangerous celebrity to search for in cyberspace.
When ‘Brad Pitt screensavers’ was used as a search term, more than half of the resulting websites were identified as containing malicious downloads with spyware, adware and potential viruses.
McAfee said fans searching for ‘Brad Pit’, ‘Brad Pitt downloads’ and Brad Pitt wallpaper, screensavers and pictures have an 18pc chance of having their PCs infected with online threats.
Cybercriminals are using A-listers names and images to lure internet users who surf the web for the latest gossip, screen savers and ringtones to fake websites that look legitimate.
Justin Timberlake is the second most dangerous man to look for on the internet, while Beyoncé and Heidi Montag top the red-alert list for women. Paris Hilton is noticeably absent from this year’s list, as is Britney Spears who was ranked fourth in McAfee’s first celebrity report in 2007.
By Sorcha Corcoran
