Western Union is a major tool used by criminals to steal your money (see Western Union: the Scammer’s Dream). Does this make Western Union bad? Not really. And guns aren’t bad, either; it’s certain shooters that are bad.

Tools good. Users bad.

A list was just published that names the 15 biggest Celebrity Tools on the Internet. McAfee researches celebrity names and determines which ones are used as cyber-bait by purveyors of span, viruses, spyware, and other nasty little programs. This is their third annual list, warning one and all to be careful when searching for free pictures, video, ringtones, wallpaper, etc. – you just might have been baited.

In descending order of risk, here are 2009′s Most Dangerous Celebrity Tools:

1. Jessica Biel – nearly half the sites surveyed had dangerous downloads.
2. Beyoncé – number 2 for the second year in a row.
3. Jennifer Aniston – over 40% of sites surveyed were infected. Imagine if she could actually act!
4. Tom Brady – who? Seems there are a lot of football fans out there.
5. Jessica Simpson – poor dear just can’t catch a break this year.
6. Gisele Bundchen – she’s the highest-paid supermodel in the world, and downloading her pictures could prove very expensive for you.
7. Miley Cyrus – and she’s still young. Watch for her to move up the list in coming years.
8. Megan Fox and Angelina Jolie – a tie! The humiliation…
9. Ashley Tisdale – after 15 years in the business, you’d think she’d top Miley Cyrus. Oh well, maybe next year.
10. Brad Pitt – poor guy was Number 1 last year. The humiliation…
11. Reese Witherspoon – way to go, Reese! I always liked her.
12. Britney Spears – on the other hand, there’s no accounting for taste.
13. Rihanna – watch out for free ringtones or your identity could be stolen and sold for a song.
14. Lindsay Lohan – why am I not surprised that Lindsay would be associated with Trojans and viruses?
15. Kim Kardashian – the term “reality star” suggests no talent, and in this case you can add “malware bait.”

What to do if you’re a fan? Get software that scans anything and everything before it allows it onto your hard drive.

O.C. DeeDee

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