So is it a good thing or a bad thing to be named McAfee’s Most Dangerous Cyber Celebrity of the Year? If it’s 2013 you can ask Lily Collins, daughter of famous rockstar Phil Collins and his second wife. 

Every year, McAfee, the Virus and computer security giant, publishes its list of the twenty most dangerous Cyber Celebrities, and Lily Collins is at the top of the list in 2013. This doesn’t mean you can blame her, though. Instead, blame the millions of people who do web searches on her every day, perhaps including yourself.

See, cyber criminals need to attract attention to their traps. These traps, which range from ways to get you to enter your usernames and passwords in fake forms, to attempts to install dangerous spyware and malware on your system, need traffic. The more people who run through trap-laden websites, the more fall victim to the criminals. The quickest way to get people to hit these nefarious sites is to put some proverbial cheese in the mousetrap, and this year, everyone’s looking for pictures and news about Lily Collins. So it’s really her popularity that’s to blame, as well as the public appetite for celebrities. 

Its the rising stars who are often the most dangerous searches. People who haven’t yet reached saturation level with their fame draw the most internet searches. Fans want the latest pictures, gossip and news. Cyber criminals carefully study the trends in popularity and searches so as to capitalize on the ravenous public desire for more celebrity news. Beware! that website promising glamorous or tantalizing pictures of your favorite celeb might be full of links, files, and viruses, just waiting to unleash a wave of financial mischief on your life.

Last year the most dangerous celebrity was Harry Potter star Emma Watson, who has completely disappeared from the list this year. Female celebrities tend to make up the bulk of the lists each year with only one man, Mad Men’s Joe Hamm, making it to the top ten at all. The number two place goes to Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne. Gravity star Sandra Bullock is at number three, mysteriously followed by comedienne Kathy Griffin. Katy Perry, everyone’s favorit bubblegum pop star, is probably no surprise at number six, considering a search for her probably brought half of you here. Britney Spears,  Brazillian model Adriana Lima, actress Emma Roberts, and actress Zoe Saldana also make the list this year, with almost all the ‘honorees’ of the 2012 list having slid right off. Only Adriana Lima returns. Apparently Brazillian models have some staying power.

While making headlines does play a role in who cyber criminals choose for their bait, tabloid headlines do not appear to have as big a draw as honors and accolades from the industry. For example, such famous-- or perhaps we should say infamous-- people such as Charlie Sheen have come low in the lists despite a huge amount of tabloid and media attention. One might also expect to see Miley Cyrus topping the list-- but there’s always next year.
