Intel Security reveals Priyanka Chopra as the most sensational Celebrity of 2015

Annual Study Highlights Strong Correlation between Searches for Upcoming Movies and Potential Online Risks

Kapil Sharma Ousts Other Male Celebrities, Laughing his Way to Third position Overall

Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra, replaces Alia Bhatt as Intel Security’s Most Sensational Celebrity to search for online in 2015. Intel Security has researched popular culture’s most famous people to reveal the riskiest personalities on the Web in the 2015 edition of the Most Sensational Celebrities (MSC) study. Amongst the surprise moves this year were Shraddha Kapoor’s meteoric rise to No. 2 (from No. 6 last year) and Kapil Sharma’s No. 3 position marking the only TV personality to make the list.

Cybercriminals keep a lookout for ways to take advantage of consumer interest around popular culture events including award shows, TV show premieres, film music launches, celebrity breakups, and more. Intel Security research found this year that almost 11.47% of all links generated while evaluating the top ten celebrity names (coupled with search terms ‘Torrent’, ‘HD Download’, and ‘Free MP4’) led to malware ridden or suspicious sites.

Commenting on the study findings, Venkat Krishnapur, Head of Intel Security Group- India Engineering Centre said, “Cybercriminals capitalize on consumer interest around popular culture by luring unsuspecting consumers to risky sites to steal sensitive personal data. At Intel Security, our endeavor is to educate and empower consumers to stay safe online. For the ninth consecutive year, our initiative highlights the problem of risky websites.”

The study uses McAfee WebAdvisor, using SiteAdvisor site ratings to determine which sites are risky to search when attached to celebrity names on the Internet and calculates the overall risk percentage. Likewise, the top ten celebrities from this year’s study with the highest percentages of risk in Indian cyberspace are:

Women outnumber men in being potentially risky targets online

Priyanka Chopra (no. 1), Shraddha Kapoor (no. 2), Jacqueline Fernandes (no. 4), Kangana Ranaut (no. 5),Deepika Padukone, Emran Hashmi as well as Sunny Leone (joint position - no. 7), Alia Bhatt (no. 8) and Kareena Kapoor (no. 10) feature in the top 10 list of Most Sensational Celebrities 2015 edition. Only four male celebrities made it to the top 10 list this year.

How You Can Stay Protected:

• Beware of clicking on third-party links. You should access content directly from official websites of content providers. For example, visit official sites to find content for your favorite celebrities.

• Only download videos from well-known, legitimate sites. This should be common sense, but it bears repeating: don’t download anything from a website you don’t trust — especially video. Most news clips you’d want to see can easily be found on official video sites and don’t require you to download anything.

• Use caution when searching for “Torrent.” This term is by far the highest virus-prone search term. Consumers searching for videos or files through Torrent sites to download content should be careful as not to unleash unsafe content such as malware onto their computers.

• Always use password protection on all mobile devices. If you don’t and your phone is lost or stolen, anyone who picks up the device could have access to your personal information online.

• Don’t “log in” or provide other information. If you receive a message, text or email or visit a third-party website that asks for your information— including your credit card, email, home address, Facebook login —to grant access to an exclusive story, don’t give it out. Such requests are a common tactic for phishing that could lead to identity theft.

• Search online using a tool, such as McAfee WebAdvisor software, which protects users from malicious websites and browser exploits. A complimentary version of the software can be downloaded at http://www.siteadvisor.com/final/index.html