SANTA CLARA, CA — Brad Pitt has overtaken Paris Hilton as the most dangerous celebrity to search for in cyberspace according to internet security company McAfee Inc.’s second annual roundup of the riskiest celebrities in cyberspace.Checking in on the famous can be dangerous for your PC, the company said. Fans searching for “Brad Pitt,” “Brad Pitt downloads,” and Brad Pitt wallpaper, screensavers and pictures face an 18-percent chance their PCs will be infected with online threats like spyware, spam, phishing schemes, adware, viruses and other malware.

Cybercriminals are using the names and images of Hollywood A-listers like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake to lure Internet users who surf the Web for the latest gossip, screen savers and ringtones to fake websites that look legitimate.

According to McAfee, actors Brad Pitt and Justin Timberlake are the most dangerous men to seek on the internet. Beyonce and Heidi Montag top the list for women. Paris Hilton, who topped 2007’s inaugural list of the most dangerous celebrities, is noticeably absent from 2008’s list. Also absent is Britney Spears, who was ranked No. 4 in 2007.

McAfee compiled its second annual list using the company’s SiteAdvisor technology. SiteAdvisor tracks websites that are known to represent significant threats to safe surfing.

The 2008 list includes, in order:

– Brad Pitt: When “Brad Pitt screensavers” was searched, more than half of the resulting websites were identified as containing malicious downloads with spyware, adware and potential viruses.

– Beyonce: Typing “Beyonce ringtones” into a search engine yields risky websites that promote misleading offers to gather consumers’ personal information.

– Justin Timberlake: Interest in his high-profile relationships makes him an easy target for spammers and hackers. One website in the list that resulted from the search “Justin Timberlake downloads” advertised free music downloads that led directly to spam, spyware and adware.

– Heidi Montag: The star of The Hills is a popular term when it comes to searching for wallpaper. A host of wallpaper websites contained hundreds of malware-laden downloads.

– Mariah Carey: Spammers and hackers are using Mariah Carey screensaver websites to link to other sites proven to contain spyware, adware and other threatening downloads.

– Jessica Alba: Red-ranked risky sites were identified when searching for “Jessica Alba” and “Jessica Alba downloads.” The sites contained hundreds of malicious downloads, links to other bad sites, misleading offers to gather information and a high number of spam emails when an email address was provided.

– Lindsay Lohan: Searching for “Lindsay Lohan downloads” resulted in several dangerous websites laden with hidden adware.

– Cameron Diaz: Cybercriminals use download websites related to Cameron Diaz’s image to link to other harmful sites containing spyware.

– George Clooney, Rihanna: The search “George Clooney downloads” uncovered one website embedded with hundreds of dangerous wallpaper and photo downloads. “Rihanna pictures” also was a risky search term, as McAfee identified a site that spammed its test email address.

– Angelina Jolie: When “Angelina Jolie downloads” was searched, SiteAdvisor highlighted a risky site with 978 hidden malware-infected wallpaper and photo downloads, as well as links to other potentially dangerous URLs.

– Fergie: A Fergie screensaver site was flagged as offering 111 risky downloads that could compromise a PC’s privacy with unwanted spyware and adware.

– David Beckham, Katie Holmes: A “David Beckham” search generated a great deal of wallpaper and screensaver downloads veiled with malware. Consumers also should exercise caution when searching for “Katie Holmes,” because one download site advertised free screen savers that infected computers with malicious programs like spyware.

– Katherine Heigl: A “Katherine Heigl” search uncovered a site containing hundreds of malware-infected pictures.

“Cybercriminals employ numerous methods, yet one of the simplest but most effective ways is to trick consumers into infecting themselves by capitalizing on Americans’ interest in celebrity gossip,” said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee’s Product Development and Avert Labs. “Tapping into current events, pop culture or commonly browsed sites is an easy way to achieve this. And because of Americans’ obsession with following celebrities’ lifestyles, they are an obvious target. We have to take precautions in casually navigating the Web, since many subtle sites may be rife with malware for consumers’ computers.”