Be careful what Superman links you click, because you might just find kryptonite.
The security software company McAfee says you have a 16.5 percent chance of stumbling upon a website that tested positive for online threats when clicking a link related to the Man of Steel. This information comes from the company's second annual "Toxic Superheroes" study, which rates which superhero searches are the most "toxic," or in other words whose heroes searches turn up the most harmful links. These are links that can lead to things like harmful malware, adware, and viruses. This can lead to serious headaches like identity theft and stolen passwords.
Superman climbed to the top of the "most toxic" list to claim the number one spot, up from seventh place last year. McAfee finds that people who searched for "Superman," "Superman and free torrent download," "Superman and watch," "Superman and free app" and "Superman and online" have a 16.5 percent chance of ending up on a dangerous website and run the risk of having their computer infected.
Other popular heroes like Thor, Wolverine and a tie between Aquaman and Wonder Woman round out the top of the list. Curiously DCs most popular hero, Batman, ranks at number six, but even stranger is that Aquaman took the number one spot last year for reasons completely unknown, with Mr. Fantastic right behind him in second place.
How did Superman rise above the competition to win this undesirable contest? Most likely it was high levels of interest in Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" and the in-production "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice."
McAfee's Robert Siciliano says as the popularity of superheroes and comic movies increase, so too does the number of criminals looking to profit off their popularity.
"Cybercriminals know that search engines (like Google, Yahoo! and Bing) can also be used for criminal means," Siciliano said on the company's official website. "Therefore, they use popular search terms to draw victims in like celebrity gossip, holidays, viral hits, and...you guessed it...superheroes."
Many characters who made last years list, Marvel heroes like Daredevil, Iron Man and Cyclops failed to make the list this year, only to be replaced by characters like Ghost Rider (randomly) and Black Widow.
Expect Batman to creep up the list next year as the release date for "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" inches closer, and don't be surprised if clicking on random Rocket Raccoon, Gamora or Star-Lord related links thanks to the popularity of "Guardians of the Galaxy" sends you to an undesirable internet location.
As always, McAfee advises those surfing the web to watch for spelling errors or "too good to be true offers," universal tell-tale signs that the site you are heading towards might not be safe.
