The ‘most dangerous Indian celebrity’ in cyberspace

MUMBAI: Actress Katrina Kaif could be a heartthrob of millions but she has also earned herself a sobriquet of being the ‘most dangerous Indian celebrity’ as the cyber criminals are using her name as a favourite key word that exposes computers to malicious software.

The actress has emerged as the most dangerous celebrity in the Indian cyber space for year 2011, according to a report by the internet security company McAfee.

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 a risk of running themselves into websites with malicious software and online threats.

McAfee researched popular culture’s most famous people to reveal the riskiest celebrity sportsmen, actors and politicians across the web to pick up the ‘most dangerous Indian celebrity’.

According to the report, Katrina is on top leaving behind Deepika Padukone and Kareena Kapoor.

“In a celebrity crazy country like India, cyber criminals find it very lucrative to use the names of popular figures as keywords to lure people to sites with malicious software. This year’s study found movie stars top the most dangerous list, while sports stars and politicians are among the safest,” Venkatasubrahmanyam Krishnapur, Senior Director, McAfee India, said in a statement.