Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor take up No. 2 and No. 3 positions respectively in ‘India’s Most Dangerous celebrity’ research
India, November 1, 2012 – Sunny Leone emerged as the most dangerous celebrity in the Indian cyber space this year , followed by Katrina Kaif; according to world’s largest dedicated security technology company McAfee . For the sixth year in a row, McAfee researched popular culture’s most famous people to reveal riskiest celebrity sportsmen, actors and politicians across the web to reveal the 2012 rendition of ‘Most Dangerous Celebrity’ research. In the India ranking this year, Sunny Leone displaced Katrina Kaif, who owned this title in the 2011 edition of this annual research.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Lubna Markar, Sr. Marketing Manager India & South Asia, McAfee, said, “Cyber criminals continue to leverage top celebrities to lure people to websites with malicious software. This year too, we saw cyber crooks leveraging Bollywood stars whereby the maximum number of malicious software laden sites pertained to Sunny Leone. This testifies her top position as the most dangerous celebrity in Indian cyberspace in 2012.”
Cyber criminals follow the latest trends, often using the names of popular celebrities to lure people to malicious sites designed to steal passwords and personal information. Fans looking for results on search engines using strings such as ‘name of celebrity’ combined with words like ‘free downloads’, ‘hot pictures’, ‘screen savers’, and ‘videos’ are at risk of running themselves into such sites. This year, searching for a celebrity name with “sex videos” and “free downloads” as part of the search term resulted in the highest number of risky sites.
The study for ‘Most Dangerous Celebrity’ used the McAfee® SiteAdvisor® site rating which indicates the sites that are risky to search for celebrity names on the web and calculate an overall risk percentage. The top 10 celebrities in India from this year’s study with the highest risk percentages are:
| Rank | Celebrity |
| 1 | Sunny Leone –This sexy Canadian model/actress who made headlines with her presence in the celebrity reality show BigBoss , ranks first with 9.95% chances of luring people into clicking on malicious links. |
| 2 | Katrina Kaif – India’s ‘chikni chameli’ was the most dangerous Indian celebrity of 2011, but has slipped down to the 2nd position this year with a risk percentile of 8.25% |
| 3 | Kareena Kapoor – The 3rd Most Dangerous Celebrity and winner of six film fare awards has a 6.67% possibility of making users fall into a trap of malware laden websites. |
| 4 | Priyanka Chopra – This former Miss World who has been the reigning queen of Bollywood occupies the 4th position on the Most Dangerous Celebrities list with a risk percentile of 6.5%. |
| 5 | Bipasha Basu – With Raaz 3, this Bengali bombshell has moved up the ranking from 8th in 2011 to the 5th position in 2012. She has a 5.58% percentile of leading users to a malicious site. |
| 6 | Vidya Balan- After her ‘Dirty Picture’, Vidya Balan has a 5.33 % chance of leading users to malicious sites. The versatile Indian actress has marked her presence even in the cyber space. |
| 7 | Deepika Padukone – This sultry actress of ‘Cocktail’ fame, was the 2nd most dangerous celebrity in the year 2011, but has plummeted to 7th position this year, with a 4.92% chance of being led to a malicious website. |
| 8 | Salman Khan – One of the most sought after stars in Bollywood, Salman Khan has redefined the trends of the Hindi film industry with his roles in movies such as Dabangg and Ek Tha Tiger. With a risk percentile of 4.83%, he is on the eighth position in our Most Dangerous Celebrities ranking. |
| 9 | Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Touted as ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, is the ninth most dangerous celebrity in India with a risk percentile of 4.58% |
| 10 | Poonam Pandey- The Kingfisher calendar girl who was also amongst the top 8 contestants in ‘Gladrags 2010’, has a risk percentile of 4.25% and is the tenth most dangerous celebrity |
Stay safe with McAfee Total Protection software while searching online
- · Beware of content that prompts you to download anything before providing you content.
- · Free downloads are significantly the highest virus-prone search terms. Anyone searching for videos or files to download should be careful as not to unleash malware on their computer.
- · McAfee security experts urge consumers to surf safely by using McAfee Total Protection™ security software, a security suite that offers consumers anti-virus, anti-spyware, identity and firewall protection, and with SiteAdvisor, which displays red, yellow or green web safety ratings within Internet search results pages. It also blocks risky websites, adds anti-phishing protection, and helps users more safely surf, shop and bank online.
- · A complimentary version of SiteAdvisor software can be downloaded at www.siteadvisor.com.
About McAfee SiteAdvisor technology
McAfee SiteAdvisor technology protects users from malicious websites and browser exploits. SiteAdvisor technology tests and rates nearly every trafficked site on the Internet and uses red, yellow and green icons to indicate the website’s risk level.
SiteAdvisor site ratings are created by using patented advanced technology to conduct automated website tests SiteAdvisor software works with Internet Explorer and Firefox.
About McAfee
McAfee, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), empowers businesses, the public sector and home users, to safely experience the benefits of the Internet. The company delivers proactive and proven security solutions and services for systems, networks, and mobile devices around the world. With its Security Connected strategy, innovative approach to hardware-enhanced security, and unique Global Threat Intelligence network, McAfee is relentlessly focused on keeping its customers safe. http://www.mcafee.com