Alia Bhatt tops the chart of sensational celebrity

McAfee’s celebrity survey has found Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt topping the charts in the category of riskiest celebrity across the web and has unveiled the 2014 rendition of its most sensational celebrity research. Alia trumps Priyanka Chopra, who topped the list in 2013.

McAfee’s survey highlights the pitfalls of the trend. The cybercriminals capitalize on the public’s fascination to lure them to sites loaded with malware, which in turn allows them to steal passwords and personal information. This year, searching for a ‘celebrity name’ coupled with search terms like ‘wallpaper’, ‘videos’, ‘free download’, ‘hot pictures’, ‘selfie’ and ‘internet memes’ have resulted in instances of malware-laden sites.

Venkat Krishnapur, Vice-President of Engineering- Consumer, Business Group, McAfee India Centre, McAfee, Part of Intel Security said, “By including the names of popular celebrities in a website’s search tags, consumers are completely unaware of the security risks that exist which can severely infect their computers, devices and steal personal data. Cybercriminals are consistently looking for ways to take advantage of consumer interest around new movies, TV shows, as well as the latest celebrity-driven trends. For e.g. the selfie craze that has gripped Bollywood, the ice bucket challenge videos or internet memes created for sheer fun.”

The top 10 celebrities from this year’s study with the highest percentages of risk in Indian cyberspace are as follows:

Aamir Khan on the second position, whose upcoming movie PK’s poster went viral and elicited a roaring response on social media. Known to be a perfectionist,he has 78 malicious sites to his name.

Priyanka Chopra, the international star with her music career and her awe-striking performance in ‘Mary Kom’, ranks 3^rd in the list with 69 infected sites.

Sharing the 4^th spot are the King Khans of Bollywood: Shahrukh Khan, who has made a splash with his ‘Happy New Year’ promos and Salman Khan, who is enjoying the success of his blockbuster movie ‘Kick’. They both share 64 malware infected search results to their name.

Named the most desirable woman, Katrina Kaif who sizzles in her movie ‘Bang Bang’ with her moves stands at 5^th position. With 63 malicious websites, her leaked photos with Ranbir Kapoor still make the rounds of the internet.

Starring in last year’s romantic superhit film ‘Aashiqui 2’, Shradha Kapoor has been in the news for her chemistry with ‘Haider’ co-star Shahid Kapoor. She ranks 6^th on the list, with 62 infected search results.

At 7^th position with 61 infected sites is Ranveer Singh, the master of antics, who is always grabbing eyeballs for his product endorsements, alleged affair with Deepika Padukone and his famous handlebar moustache.

Deepika Padukone, who has made headlines of her twitter outburst, ranks 8^th with 60 malicious sites.

Hrithik Roshan’s lover boy looks and well chiselled body makes him a mass favourite. With his popularity steadily increasing in cyber space for his movie – Bang Bang dare challenge videos, he ranks 9^th as the most sensational celebrity online with 59 infected search results.

Ranking 10^th is Sonakshi Sinha, who has shot a pop song ‘Desi Kalakaar’ with rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh. The `Dabangg’ girl has 58 malware-ridden websites to her name.