Avril Lavigne is officially the most dangerous celebrity to search for online, according to cybersecurity company McAfee.
The pop-punk princess somehow topped this year’s Most Dangerous Celebrities study, which “reveals which celebrities generate the riskiest search results that could potentially expose their fans to malicious websites.”
“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,” the company wrote in a statement. In other words: If you Google Avril Lavigne’s name in 2017, you’re more likely to be targeted for crimes like identity theft.
Lavigne hasn’t released an album since 2013 and has retreated a bit from the public eye while recovering from Lyme disease, so it makes sense that her SEO could have started to get out of whack. But fans who might not be up-to-date on the celeb’s health might click a link like “Avril Lavigne new album 2017” without missing a beat. That’s where McAfee’s chief consumer security evangelist Gary Davis says people run into trouble.
Which A-listers could put the spotlight on your personal data? Take a look at the 2017 Most Dangerous Celebrities. https://t.co/6gh5vDgeNR
— McAfee (@McAfee) September 19, 2017