Chris Gayle named as McAfee’s ‘Most Sensational Cricketer’; followed by Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli, occupying 2nd & 3rd position respectively
India – June 2, 2014 – McAfee, part of Intel Security unveiled results of its ‘Most Sensational Cricketer’ study which researched this season’s top players of the cricketing world on their popularity and related risk quotient in the Indian cyberspace. Chris Gayle, regarded as the most explosive batman in modern cricket has been named the ‘Most Sensational Cricketer’ online in Indian cyberspace. This is the second time in a row, the Jamaican cricketer who has a reputation of playing long innings, has topped a similar list last year titled Most Dangerous Cricketer.
The study highlights the trend of cybercriminals using cricketers to take advantage of fans seeking more information about their idols. Cybercriminals often capitalize on the public’s fascination with cricketers to lure them to sites laden with malware that can potentially result in identity thefts, stealing of passwords and confidential personal information. This year, searching for a ‘cricketer name’ combined with the search terms like ‘wall paper’, ‘free download’, ‘hot pictures’, ‘selfie’, ‘videos’ resulted in the highest instances of malicious sites.
Commenting on the findings of the study, Venkat Krishnapur, Vice-President of Engineering- Consumer, Business Group, McAfee India Centre, McAfee, part of Intel Security said, “Leveraging the current cricket fervor, cybercriminals tend to exploit the popularity quotient of sports celebrities and time their attacks to coincide with famous events. Cricket crazy fans are highly motivated to search for photos, videos, match scores and interesting stories of their favorite cricketers online and in that moment of weakness they are lured into clicking malicious links that could lead to transmission of malware onto their owned devices and potential compromise of data.”
The study for ‘Most Sensational Cricketer’ online used the McAfee® SiteAdvisor® site rating which shows the sites that are risky to search for cricketing celebrity names on the web when used along with keywords such as ‘wall paper’, ‘free download’, ‘hot pictures’, ‘selfie’, ‘videos’ and calculates an overall risk percentage. The top 10 cricketers with the highest risk scores in the Indian cyberspace are:
| Rank | Cricketer |
| 1 | Chris Gayle, best known for the ‘Gayle storm’ he ushers with his hard-hitting knocks and fun personality on-field as well as off-field ranks 1st as Most Sensational Cricketer with 59 malicious sites. |
| 2 | Glenn Maxwell, the explosive Aussie batsman, has put up ‘The Big show’ winning all batting titles to his credit this season. He ranks 2nd on the list with 54 malicious sites. |
| 3 | At 3rd spot is the rising star of Indian Cricket with 51 malicious sites to his name, Virat Kohli, the new-age cricketer who plays his game aggressively and is unafraid to express his emotions on the field. |
| 4 | Debuting the list at 4th position this year, with 48 malicious sites to his credit is Sunil Narine, the ‘mystery spinner’ from Caribbean who is a rage this cricket season with his mohawk hairstyle and diamond studded ear. |
| 5 | M.S Dhoni, the flamboyant yet grounded captain made it to the headlines earlier this year with his alleged involvement in betting and spot-fixing controversies. “Captain Cool”, stands at 5th spot with 47 malicious sites to his name. |
| 6 | At 6th rank is David Miller, called ‘killer miller’ for his blitzkrieging slams, with 38 infected search results. |
| 7 | At 7th position is Yuvraj Singh, whose 9 sixes during his match-winning knock this cricketing season brought him back to the winning chart. This born fighter has 35 infected sites in cyber space. |
| 8 | A marauding hitter of the cricket ball, Kieron Pollard, was embroiled in an unpleasant on-field incident with Mitchell Starc, ranks at 8th position with 33 malicious sites |
| 9 | With 29 infected sites is Suresh Raina, part of India’s new age firebrand cricketers, who ranks 9th in the list. |
| 10 | At 10th position is the daring, tough and fiercely talented, Mitchell Starc, whose news of a brawl with Kieron Pollard has been doing the rounds. He has 24 infected sites to his name. |
Indian Cricketers heat up the charts
This year four Indian cricketers make it to the top 10 ‘Most Sensational Cricketer’ online list: Virat Kohli (No. 3), MS Dhoni (No. 5), Yuvraj Singh (No. 7) and Suresh Raina (No. 9)
Batsmen are more potentially at risk than Bowlers
Sunil Narine (No. 4) and Mitchell Starc (No. 10) are the only bowlers to rank in the top 10 Most Sensational Cricketers list
But first, let’s take a SELFIE
Cricketers too have jumped on the selfie bandwagon. Sunil Narine, Glenn Maxwell, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, in the stated order have the most infected sites with the search term ‘selfie’
From One Year to Another
Brett Lee, S Sreesanth, Dale Steyn, Kevin Pietersen, Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar, have all dropped out of this year’s list (in 2013 they ranked No. 2, No. 3, No. 6, No. 7, No. 8 and No. 10, respectively).
Tips to Stay Protected:
- Beware of content that prompts you to download anything before providing you the content. You may want to opt to watch streaming videos or download content from official websites of content providers.
- “Free downloads” are significantly the highest virus-prone search term. Anyone searching for videos or files to download should be careful as not to unleash malware on their computer.
- A complimentary version of SiteAdvisor software can be downloaded at www.siteadvisor.com
- Always use password protection on your phone and other mobile devices. If your phone is lost or stolen, anyone who picks up the device could publish your information online.
- Established news sites may not entice you with exclusives for one solid reason: there usually aren’t any. Try to stick to official news sites that you trust for breaking news. However, trusted sites can also fall prey to hackers. Make sure to use a safe search tool that will notify you of risky sites or links before you visit them.
- Don’t download videos from suspect 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. If a website offers an exclusive video for you to download, don’t.
- 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—credit card, email, home address, Facebook login, or other information—for access to an exclusive story, don’t give it out. Such requests are a common tactic for phishing that could lead to identity theft.
- If you do decide to search for information on a major event or celebrity in the news, make sure your PCs and laptops have protection, such as McAfee Total Protection™ security software, a security suite that offers anti-virus, anti-spyware, identity and firewall protection. You can also use free tools such as McAfee® Mobile Security, available for Android and iOS devices to prevent privacy invasions, data loss, identity theft; protecting smartphone or tablet from all types of malware.
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, part of Intel Security and 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 visionary 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