McAfees Most Dangerous 2010 Olympians

Whether you’re in Vancouver or in your warm home enjoying the icy games this year, you could be at risk. How? Let us break it down for you. Criminals on the street and on the web are finding ways to take advantage of you: Vancouver is fighting counterfeit memorabilia and ticket sales and cybercriminals are using Olympians’ names to lure you in.

With any large-scale sporting event or concert series, counterfeit memorabilia finds its way into parking lot and other unauthorized locations. These items are often priced lower than other official products and can even contribute to illegal activities. In order to prevent this, the Vancouver Olympics has created a special tag attached to all Olympic 2010 merchandise.

On the tickets for each event, a hologram is attached to ensure its authenticity. As stated on the Consumer Awareness section of the Vancouver 2010 website the “holograms feature Vancouver 2010 emblems and several layers of security and have been designed to prevent unauthorized copying, protect consumers and assist customs officers”.

To prevent illegal ticket sales, the International Olympic Committee has hired “secret shoppers” to find scalpers at the various events. Many tickets NOT purchased through the three main selling options (Vancouver2010.com, Jet Set Sports, and affiliate company CoSport) may not be valid at the events.

The Vancouver Olympics merchandise and ticket sales contribute to maintaining a safe and memorable event for all participating. Sales also support Canadian athlete’s current and future endeavors.



McAfee has also teamed up to fight cybercrime and identity theft via the web.

While watching the games, at-home spectators like to Google their favorite athletes for the latest news, blogs, and images; what they don’t know is Cybercriminals are using Olympians’ names and images to lure surfers. These sites are often laden with viruses and malware, and can even contribute to identity theft!

Response, created an interesting visual way to show McAfee fans how they might be at risk using Facebooks photo album function. We cultivated the “Most Dangerous Olympians” on the web. The list shows the top Olympic athletes, by sport and overall, who pose the most risk when choosing a page to browse. We devised a rating system for each athlete by using McAfee’s SiteAdvisor technology, explained in full detail in the “Most Dangerous Olympians” photo album.


Which dangerous Olympian will be on your watch list?