Celebrities still remain massively exploited by hackers, to help generate criminal activities. McAfee reveals the top 10 “favorite” stars of hackers.
What do Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Gosling and Elon Musk have in common? In addition to the fact that they are each very well known and followed by many fans around the world, they are among the celebrities most exposed to attacks by cybercriminals. McAfee Labs has just revealed, on Thursday, the ranking of these personalities, explaining to us above all how their notoriety and their image are today exploited by hackers.
The celebrities most vulnerable to online attacks: a strong barbie influence, Ryan Gosling as preferred bait
To establish their ranking, their researchers at McAfee Labs analyzed the number of potentially dangerous sites that come up when you search for the names of many celebrities. Users visiting these sites are then exposed to malware and the risk of data theft.
At the top of this ranking, we find Ryan Gosling, acclaimed for his role in the film barbie. The actor, whose popularity was already very significant before the release of the feature film, then continued. The demand for Ken & Barbie costumes is high for Halloween (yes!), which means that it is more than ever in the lead.
It’s Emily Blunt, famous for her performance in the very recent Oppenheimer, which follows closely in second place. Pop culture icon and true living legend, Jennifer Lopez completes the podium, followed by Zendaya, another actress. Kevin Costner, star of the series Yellowstone, is fifth. We will still note the influence of the film barbie in this ranking, with the presence of three of its stars in the top 10.
AI, increasingly used by cybercriminals to trap users
The rest of the ranking is completed by Elon Musk, who is also lacking in conflict these days. 6th, the billionaire and founder of Tesla and SpaceX has fueled hackers eager to use AI to produce deepfakes. The whimsical entrepreneur was the source of an increase in scams linked to cryptocurrencies, one of his hobby, the majority of malicious content of which was represented by his personality.
Al Rocker, “Today” show weatherman; Margot Robbie, barbie herself ; the singer who is a hit on Spotify, Bad Bunny; and America Ferrara, also seen in barbiecomplete this year’s top 10.
We were talking about artificial intelligence: this is particularly present in attacks designed using personalities, as is online fraud. Advanced AI is being leveraged by hackers to increase the complexity, quantity and variety of online scams. In a sample of the top 50, researchers found between 25 and 80 deepfake URLs per celebrity search. And while some were harmless, quite a few were used in malicious threads.
“ AI has transformed the digital landscape, and cybercriminals can now create sophisticated scams en masse. Many of these scam sites are created entirely by AI, making them harder to recognize as fake “, explains Steve Grobman of McAfee. It is up to users to remain aware of the risks and adopt secure practices to protect themselves from online attacks.
1