Cristiano Ronaldo is the most dangerous player in cyberspace

Increasingly, cybercriminals are exploiting the names of popular sports stars and celebrities to attract people to sites that actually conceal malicious software.

Anyone looking for the latest videos or images may end up with a computer loaded with malware instead of the content they actually want.

McAfee researchers have analyzed the most popular players and teams to understand which are the most hazardous on the web and have identified Cristiano Ronaldo as the most dangerous player, with France and Portugal tieing for most dangerous national team.

Fans on the internet looking for “Cristiano Ronaldo”, “Cristiano Ronaldo and download”, “Cristiano Ronaldo and photos” or “Cristiano Ronaldo and videos” may run into online threats that could steal their personal information. Clicking on these dangerous sites to download files like photos, videos or screensavers may expose them to viruses and malware.

The study uses the site ratings from McAfee SiteAdvisor that indicate which sites are risky when searching for names of famous players and teams participating in Euro 2012 on the web and calculates a percentage of overall risk.

The Dangerous 11 team consists of: