Actress Emma Watson waves to fans at the gala presentation for the film "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival September 8, 2012.MIKE CASSESE/Reuters
Emma Watson suffered a slight wardrobe malfunction on the red carpet Monday night, revealing a bit more of her chest than she probably intended – but you might want to take our word for it.
The former Harry Potter star, who is now 22, has the celebrity name most likely to lead a computer searcher to malware or spam, according to a ranking released by the software security firm McAfee that called her the "most dangerous" star.
"In today's celebrity culture, consumers expect to be able to go online to catch up with the latest photos, videos, tweets, and stories about their favourite celebrities," Paula Greve, director of web security research at McAfee, said in a statement. "Due to the richness of the data and the high interaction, often times consumers forget the risks that they are taking by clicking on the links."
Those searching online for material related to Ms. Watson have a one in eight chance of landing at a dubious site, one that shows signs of spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and other malware, the firm said.
The list was heavily weighted toward singers and Latinas and was almost exclusively female. Rounding out the top five were Jessica Biel, Eva Mendes, Selena Gomez and Halle Berry. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel was the only man in the top 20.
Most of the top names from 2011 – including last year's "most dangerous" star, Heidi Klum, as well as Mila Kunis, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Pitt and Piers Morgan – were knocked right out of the top-10 of this list. Also nowhere near the top were tabloid bait such as Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Kristen Stewart or Robert Pattinson. All were outside the 50 most dangerous names, McAfee noted. "Hot movies and TV shows, awards and industry accolades seem to be more of a factor than headline-grabbing activity," Ms. Greve said.
Ms. Watson was cast as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series at the age of nine and acted in all eight movies. She also had roles in several lower-budget films and in My Week With Marilyn. She is currently promoting her star turn in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Oliver Moore