Have you been searching for information on the upcoming Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice film? You need to be very careful, as both Batman and Superman are in McAfee's list of top 10 most toxic superheroes for 2014.
The research is based on whether searches for superheroes result in bad links, including websites that contain malware, viruses and sometimes even software made to steal personal information and passwords. While Superman topped McAfee's list of most toxic superheroes, Thor was a close second. Aquaman, McAfee's most toxic superhero of 2013, has slipped to joint third position with Wonder Woman this year. Apart from Wonder Woman, Black Widow was the only woman superhero in the list, which includes male superheroes such as Wolverine, Spiderman and Captain America. You can check out the full list below:
1. Superman, 16.50 percent
2. Thor, 16.35 percent
3. Wonder Woman & Aquaman (tie) 15.70 percent
4. Wolverine, 15.10 percent
5. Spiderman, 14.70 percent
6. Batman, 14.20 percent
7. Black Widow, 13.85 percent
8. Captain America, 13.50 percent
9. Green Lantern, 11.25 percent
10. Ghost Rider, 10.83 percent
Percentage indicates chance of landing on a website that has tested positive for online threats such as spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses or other malware.
If you're wondering what you can do to steer clear of these threats, McAfee has a few suggestions. First and foremost, McAfee says, you should be suspicious of all offers that are too good to be true and any websites that make you to download anything before providing "free" content. The company also says that free downloads are the most virus-prone search terms. If your search queries include "Superman and free torrent download", "Superman and watch", or "Superman and free app", then you need to be extra careful.
Lastly, McAfee says you should double-check the web addresses of sites you frequent. If the name of the website is misspelt, you might susceptible to viruses or attempts to steal your personal information.
McAfee conducted the study in June 2014 using its SiteAdvisor site ratings. These ratings indicate which sites are risky and calculate the risk percentage.For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.