The Most Common Pop Culture Terms That Hackers Use To Infect You With Malware, Ranked

A new report from Surfshark details how hackers use pop culture search terms to gain unauthorized access to your computer system, leaving the door open for potential theft and other malpractices.

Hackers do this by seeding fake web pages, which then download malicious software onto your machine. Often, high-volume searches of celebrities or popular items are employed in order to target a wide audience.

Here's what you should keep an eye out for so you don't get caught up in a scam.

Key Takeaways:

• Robert De Niro was "the most dangerous" pop culture-associated term online, with malware in 54.1 percent of all related URLs.
• Among TV shows, just under 40 percent of all searches for two shows — "Breaking Bad" and "Sex Education" — resulted in potentially dangerous URLs.
• Popular video game "GTA V" posed a 43.5 percent malware risk, making it the highest in the video game category.

Read more at Surfshark.

[Photo by Siebbi]