Watch out - these are officially the most dangerous creative software to search for

Don’t get creative in your software searches

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Content creators are putting themselves at risk when searching and downloading creative software, new research has found.

A report fromSurfsharkin partnership with the University of Maryland, studiedGooglesearch results to identify which software is - in its words - “the most dangerous to search for online.”

According to thereport, Avid’saudio editortools were found to be the most dangerous - 64.4% of search engine results contained potentially harmful malware. This was followed byAdobeSubstance 3D Painter, UI design tool Sketch, and Substance 3D Stager.

The most dangerous game

In order to identify the riskiest creative software users can download, theVPNprovider Googled the most-reviewed tools, adding “download” and “torrent” as qualifiers to generate the list.

The firm then ran all URLs from the first five pages through a malware detector. The percentages reflect any web address marked as a medium risk or higher.

Of the top ten creative software packages flagged as “most dangerous”, the Adobe suite dominates - perhaps unsurprising given that the business has become the go-to for content creators with its range ofvideo editing software,graphic designtools,DTP software, andphoto editors.

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Alongside Adobe products, popular digital art toolCorelDRAWand Maxon Cinema 4D also make an appearance on the list.

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Surfshark also ran the search across other categories, includingsmall business software,social media marketing tools, crypto wallets, andbrowsers.

“Expensive software and user licenses have created a large demand for torrented software, making it the perfect opportunity for hackers to strike and insert malware into seemingly normal links. On average, roughly 1 in 3 search results for software contain potential malware,” the company said.

But how can users stay protected? The answer is simple: by downloading and paying for them, via the official site.

Steve is TechRadar Pro’s B2B Editor for Creative & Hardware. He began in tech journalism reviewing photo editors and video editing software at the magazine Web User, where he also covered technology news, features, and how-to guides. Today, he and his team of reviewers test out a range of creative software, hardware, and office furniture. Once upon a time, he wrote TV commercials and movie trailers. Relentless champion of the Oxford comma.

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