Aquaman, the superhero most of us either mock or just plain forget about, is actually pretty darn important ... to Internet supervillains. Search results for Aquaman-related topics lead to a great number of risky websites.
"[S]earching for the latest 'Aquaman and free torrent download,' 'Aquaman and watch,' 'Aquaman and online,' and 'Aquaman and free trailer' yields a 18.6 percent chance of landing on a website that has tested positive for online threats, such as spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and other malware," Robert Siciliano, an online security evangelist, writes on the official blog of security software maker McAfee.
This overall risk percentage was calculated using McAfee SiteAdvisor site rankings. Aquaman is closely followed by Mr. Fantastic (18.22 percent chance of online threats), the Hulk (17.30 percent chance of online threats), and Wonder Woman (16.77 percent chance of line threats).
Here's how the full list breaks down:
- Aquaman 18.60%
- Mr. Fantastic 18.22%
- The Hulk 17.30%
- Wonder Woman 16.77%
- Daredevil 16.70%
- Iron Man 15.63%
- Superman 15.21%
- Thor 15.10%
- Green Lantern 15.00%
- Cyclops 14.40%
- Wolverine 14.27%
- Invisible Woman 12.40%
- Batman 12.30%
- Captain America 11.77%
- Spider-Man 11.15%
Siciliano offers some basic tips to help keep you safe as you search for your favorite superheroes online. He suggests that you should stay suspicious, be wary of offers that seem to good to be true, double-check URLs, and to use security software. (Well, the fella writes for McAfee's blog. He couldn't possibly miss an opportunity to suggest security software.) It all really boils down to: Use common sense. Searching for sexy images of Catwoman could very well leave you exposed.
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