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Kill a Zombie Day -- Will You Join The Fight?

To most of us, October 31 is known as Halloween, but to security firm Sophos it is “Kill a Zombie Day”. Will you join in the fight against zombies?

Wait, put down that baseball bat and calm down. These aren’t the brain-eating zombies from Night of the Living Dead orThe Walking Dead, but instead the digital kind.

All around the world, tens of millions of computers under the control of cybercriminals, and, unknown to their owners, are used to send spam, distribute malware, and carry out identity theft.

According to Sophos, billions of spam messages are sent every day, with over 99 percent coming from innocent users’ computers that have been hijacked and turned into a “zombie” systems.

How can you join in the fight? Sophos has a number of suggestions, ranging from hands-on disinfection to just spreading the word.

• Scan your computer and those of your friends (ask permission first!) with an up-to-date antivirus program. Sophos has a free virus removal tool can help you do this, or download a free trial edition of its antivirus software. For Mac users, there’s also a free Mac antivirus download.
• Keep your operating system and programs up-to-date with the latest security patches, and run a firewall.
• Like the Sophos page on Facebook to spread the word or tweet on Twitter: “I’m joining the fight! International Kill-A-Zombie Day“

Good luck!

~forbes.com