The Most Dangerous Pop Culture Search Terms
The internet is great, isn’t it? It allows us to entertain and educate ourselves from wherever we are in the world, providing an abundance of information that’s easily accessible, and right at your fingertips.
But that’s also part of the problem. What’s easy to access can also be easy to hack.
Cyberattacks have increased exponentially in both frequency and sophistication over the years. Cyber attacks are unwelcome attempts to steal, publish, modify, disable, or destroy information through unauthorized access to computer systems.
Hackers try to lure internet users into visiting web pages or clicking download links that contain malicious software or malware that can result in any or all of these unwelcome actions. They achieve this by targeting keywords they know will get lots of interest and traffic. Terms they know have widespread appeal and are trending.
To give internet users the best chance at protecting themselves from falling into the cyberattack trap, Surfshark has discovered which pop culture search terms are the most dangerous to search for online - from celebrity names to TV shows.
1. Our Methodology2. Key Findings2. The Most Dangerous male actors to Search for Online3. The Most Dangerous female actors to Search for Online4. The Most Dangerous movies to Search for Online5. The Most Dangerous tv shows to Search for Online6. The Most Dangerous anime to Search for Online7. The Most Dangerous books to Search for Online8. The Most Dangerous games to Search for Online9. The Most Dangerous musicians to Search for Online10. The Most Dangerous songs to Search for Online11. View All Data including Sports Teams with our Interactive Table
Our Methodology
We started by curating seed lists of the most popular search terms across a variety of pop culture categories. For example, the top Anime shows were pulled from the MyAnimeList popularity leaderboard, while the top artists and songs were in part sourced from Billboard end-of-year lists.
We then input these search terms into Google with different qualifiers depending on the category. "Torrent" and "Download" were added individually to all search terms to create new queries. In addition, "Stream" was added to TV shows, anime, and sports teams, while "MP3" was added to the songs.
The last step was to collected URLs from the first five pages of search results and ran them through a malware detector (https://sitecheck.sucuri.net/). The "% of URLs with potential malware" metric reflects the % of URLs that were flagged as "medium risk" or above by this tool.
Here’s an example of the first page of Google results for those looking for a torrent site where to download Finding Dory:
Key Findings
- Robert De Niro Niro is the most dangerous pop culture term to search for, with 54.1% of all URLs containing potential malware.
- 39.6% of Breaking Bad searches result in URLs with potential malware, making it the most dangerous TV show to search for. Sex Education is second with 39.2%.
- Well-loved GTA V, is the video game with the third highest malware risk (43.5%).
- Records reaching No.1 in the charts pose a high malware threat - such as Industry Baby by Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow.
Tom Hanks is Among Top 10 Most Dangerous Actors to Search For
Hollywood actors are among the most searched for celebrities in the world, in many cases outranking athletes, musicians, and politicians in internet search activity. As a result, they are a prime target for cybercriminals looking to boost their malicious websites with popular search terms. Even the names of the most trustworthy actors – Tom Hanks, for example – can be co-opted by hackers. Search results for Tom Hanks have a 51.6% probability of containing potential malware, one of the highest percentages of any actor.
Over Half of Kate Winslet Search Results are Malware-Ridden
Actresses are slightly less dangerous to Google than actors but are still among the most dangerous pop culture categories to search for online. Search terms tend to get riskier the more they are trending, and many of the most dangerous actresses to search for made headlines in recent years. Search results for Margot Robbie, for example, started in three back-to-back hits from 2019 to 2021 — Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Birds of Prey, and The Suicide Squad – are more likely to contain potential malware than not.
Some 52.0% of search results for Margot Robbie contain potential malware, the second-largest share of any actress. Searches for Faye Dunaway – the eighth most dangerous actress – spiked in summer 2019 when the actress was fired from a Broadway play which may have led hackers to seize on the increase in popularity.
“Finding Dory” Is the Most Dangerous Movie to Search for Online
While the illegal downloading of movies declined in tandem with the rise of streaming services, visits to film piracy websites increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cyber attackers have likely seized on the increase in film piracy to promote malicious software links within searches for movie downloads. Many of the most dangerous films to search for have younger audiences, who are more likely to click on links containing malicious software. Of the 10 most dangerous movies to search for, six are animated: The Lion King, Despicable Me 3, Zootopia, Toy Story 3, Beauty and the Beast, and Finding Dory.
“Breaking Bad” Is the Most Dangerous TV Show to Search For Online
According to online piracy tracker MUSO, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, piracy of TV increased 12% in the United States and 30% in the UK. This could be a result of people looking for series to binge as means of making the most of an unspecified time period of staying indoors. Hackers likely exploited the increase in piracy activity by attaching more malware to search results related to popular “binge-worthy” television shows, such as Breaking Bad. Look through the table below to see which shows are the most dangerous to search for online.
Hard-to-Find Anime Poses the Greatest Malware Risk
Some of the most popular anime series are missing from the major streaming services, leading many fans of the genre to try to download shows illegally. Many of the most dangerous anime to search for, such as Yowamushi Pedal, Ace of Diamond, Aldnoah.Zero, and Blast of Tempest, are relatively obscure, with fewer than 500 average daily Wikipedia page views each – a fraction of the daily page views of a mainstream show like Breaking Bad, which wouldn’t even rank among the top 10 most dangerous anime to search for online.
Three Books Penned by Dan Brown are High-Risk Searches
Younger internet users are more likely to click on links containing malware, leading many cybercriminals to marry URLs with harmful downloads to search terms popular with children. This may be one reason why nearly half of all search results for The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold – a novel with a 14-year-old female protagonist popular among teenage girls – contain potential malware, the most of any book in our analysis. Other dangerous books to search for with young audiences include Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer and Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. Fans of Dan Brown may want to hold off on searching altogether, as three of the top 10 highest-risk searches are books penned by the Da Vinci Code author.
GTA V is 3rd Most Dangerous Game to Search For
With the rise of digital video game distribution – digital sales of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One games surpassed physical sales for the first time in 2020 – video game companies have taken strong measures to prevent online piracy. But while efforts to stem piracy may make video games less of a target for cybercriminals, downloadable mods – new in-game content that independent developers create and distribute to players – allow hackers a major opportunity to lure gamers to malware. The best-selling Grand Theft Auto V ranks as the third most dangerous video game to search for, with 43.5% or URL results containing potential malware. In 2015, several popular GTA V mods were found to contain malware that logged computer activity and sent and received data across the web.
Be Careful When Googling Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and Drake
While music piracy has declined in concert with the proliferation of music streaming services, cyberattackers still use mp3 download links to lure internet users to malicious software. As a result, many of the most popular musical artists are also the most dangerous search terms. Drake, who has had the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 of any artist, ranks as the 7th most dangerous artist to search for, with 41.7% of URL results containing potential malware. Musicians with younger fans, who are perhaps a little less clued-up on internet safety and more likely to click on malicious downloads links, may be particularly dangerous to search for.
No.1 Chart Hits Pose the Highest Malware Risk
While music piracy has declined in recent years, more than one-third of music consumers still pirate music, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The vast music piracy industry offers cybercriminals an opportunity to coax music consumers into clicking on malicious download links, attaching malware to some of the most popular songs of today. The 10 most dangerous songs to search for have collectively spent over 200 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, and three of those songs – “Industry Baby” by Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow, “Stay” by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, and “Good 4 U” by Olivia Rodrigo – reached No. 1 on the chart.
The Most Dangerous Pop Culture Search Terms
Search terms can be dangerous for different reasons. Any entity whose search results are likely to provoke online actions like clicking a download link is likely to be a bigger target for hackers. Illegal streams of professional sports, video games with downloadable mods, or hard-to-find anime are all targets with a high likelihood of malware. Click through the table below to find out the most dangerous search terms across every category of pop culture.
As malware attacks increase in both frequency and sophistication, knowing how to avoid malicious software becomes more important than ever. Hackers attach malware to search terms that are most likely to get traffic and attract users who take online actions like clicking on download links or divulging sensitive information.
Knowing the risks behind some of the most popular Google searches and what hackers are targeting is an essential part of online safety that all savvy internet users should know. But there’s also actions you can take to ensure you’re browsing the internet in a safe way:
- If you’re searching for news, stick to trusted sources
Video game releases, upcoming movies and celebrity gossip offer fertile ground for cyber criminals to exploit search engines by taking advantage of trending news stories. When looking for information on breaking news, make sure you only click on results from known websites.
- Avoid clicking on HTTP websites (http://)
Every URL that begins with HTTP uses a basic type of “hypertext transfer protocol” created in the early 1990s. Nowadays, HTTP is considered outdated and you’d be best to avoid clicking on http:// websites as this is an unencrypted internet protocol that could be intercepted.
The alternative are HTTPS (or https://) websites that guarantee an encrypted connection where your data is secure. Before clicking on a search result, have a quick glance at the URL to ensure you’re only clicking on HTTPS sites.
- Make sure your browser is up to date
Your web browser is likely to get regular updates to incorporate new features and upgrades. The issue with such updates is that they open the door to exploits where hackers take advantage of a vulnerability to breach the security of your browser. It is imperative that you keep your browser always up-to-date.
- Use a reputable adblocker to stop malicious software
You might think of adblockers as a way to block annoying popups, but they are also excellent tools for blocking links to deceptive websites and downloads of malicious software. If you’re a Surfshark user, make sure to activate CleanWeb to block ads and malware before they can load.
- Consider using an antivirus
A good, reputable antivirus will not only prevent malware from injecting itself into your device but also help remove the malicious software if it’s already installed.
For more information on internet safety, read our best 10 tips to browse safely and protect yourself online.