Indian legend MS Dhoni has topped the 2019 McAfee India’s Most Dangerous Celebrity list. He is followed by the God of Indian Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gulati, winner of the reality TV show Bigg Boss. It is the list of celebrities generating the riskiest search results that could potentially expose their fans to malicious websites and viruses.
In India, where cricket is a religion, both MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar are iconic figures. Their immense popularity has enabled cybercriminals to entice the innocent web browsing public into various security threats. The moment one searches for “Sachin Tendulkar News”, “Sachin Tendulkar wallpapers”, “Sachin Tendulkar screensavers”, “Sachin Tendulkar photos” or “MS Dhoni News”, “MS Dhoni wallpapers”, “MS Dhoni photos”, “MS Dhoni videos”, “MS Dhoni screen savers” etc., there is a high probability of them landing at a website that has been tested positive for online threats, such as phishing, viruses, adware and other malware that steals personal information and passwords saved on the computer.
The MD of McAfee India, Venkat Krishnapur, stated, “The significant ease of Internet access, through a host of connected devices has made it increasingly viable for users to avail content from all over the world. As subscription-based content platforms sky-rocket in India, netizens often look for free and pirated content such as major sports events, movies, TV shows and images of their favourite superstars. Unfortunately, they may not be fully aware of the risks that malicious websites providing such content can pose in exchange for this access.”
The list of top 10 dangerous celebrities in India:
1. MS Dhoni
2. Sachin Tendulkar
3. Gautam Gulati
4. Sunny Leone
5. Badshah
6. Radhika Apte
7. Shraddha Kapoor
8. Harmanpreet Kaur
9. PV Sindhu
10. Cristiano Ronaldo
Internationally, Actress Alexis Bledel has been now declared officially dangerous, according to McAfee’s list of this year’s most dangerous celebrities. The survey is meant to create awareness about the danger of clicking on suspicious links. Undoubtedly none other was more likely to top the list that lands user on websites that carry viruses or malware in 2019, the cybersecurity firm announced on Tuesday, 22nd October. Tarrying Bledel was the host of “Late Late Show” James Corden and the star of fan favourite “Game of Thrones”, Sophie Turner. Anna Kendrick and Lupita Nyong’o also made it to the top five.
The McAfee used the Google API Console to search for popular mobile, PC and gaming platforms coupled with search modifying terms (e.g. celebrity + torrent). The term “Most dangerous” means that these celebrities are popular subjects for search platforms like Torrent, Fix gamble, Free mp3, Nudes, Pirated, download, Sledging, Streaming etc.and are used by cybercriminals to execute their agenda.
The Chief Consumer Security Evangelist at McAfee, Gary Davis said in a statement. “Criminals use deceptive websites to dupe unsuspecting consumers into accessing malicious files or content,” “It is essential that consumers learn to protect their digital lives from lurking cybercriminals by thinking twice before they click on suspicious links or download content.”
Tips to Help Consumers Stay Safe Online:
Be careful what you click
Users looking for anything on the web should be cautious and only stream or download from a reliable source. The safest action is to wait for the official release instead of visiting a third-party website which could contain malware.
Refrain from using illegal streaming sites
When it comes to dangerous online behaviour, using illegal streaming sites is the equivalent to hitting ones leg with an axe, for your device. As many illegal streaming sites are brimmed with malware or adware disguised as pirated video files, you better do yourself a favour and stay out of such bullshit.
Protect your online realm with a cybersecurity solution
Send your regards to the malicious players with a comprehensive security solution. This helps protect your device from malware, phishing attacks, and other threats.
Use a Web Reputation tool
A Web reputation tool like freely available McAfee WebAdvisor can be installed in your device. It alerts users when they are about to visit a malicious website. This helps.
Use parental control software
Kids are great fans of celebrities too, so it is up to you to ensure that limits are set for your child on the devices they use, parental controls are activated, to help minimize exposure to potentially malicious or inappropriate websites.
Hope these abovementioned tips help you and your friends or family in keeping themselves safe too. So a humble request, please share the content as much as you can.
A man distinguished as the one who held all the records finally has something awkward title like this under his name too. The posts titled with ‘MS Dhoni the McAfee India’s Most Dangerous Celebrity for 2019’ or ‘Sachin Tendulkar the McAfee India’s Most Dangerous Celebrity for 2019’ are trending on the web. One can easily make out the other name of Cricketers that would appear in no time from now. The searches for names like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are over the top already, and the Cyberspecialist can do absolutely nothing about it until the user himself is not aware of such fraudulent activities over the web. So as they say, Prevention is better than cure, Browse safe, Stay safe, till then C Ya.
Also, read MSD : ‘I am Human after all’
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