Article by George Norman

On 30 Oct 2009

We’ve already prepared for Halloween. We hung spooky decorations everywhere, picked up seriously spooky Halloween costumes, and we’ve even spooked up the Firefox browser with Halloween-inspired Personas. So what will we do tomorrow, besides attending a Halloween party? We’re going to take part in Sophos’ International Kill-A-Zombie Day.

Sophos, company that specializes in providing Antivirus, anti-spam, spyware removal software, network and internet security, data protection, and computer security solutions, has proclaimed Halloween National Kill-A-Zombie Day. Obviously we’re not talking about zombies in the literal sense; we’re talking zombies in IT security lingo. In the IT word, a zombie is a computer that has been infected by a virus or has been compromised by a Trojan or by a hacker. Put a bunch of zombies together and you have a botnet, a network of computers that can be used for various malicious actions (like flooding the web with spam).


“We've designated October 31st, also known as Halloween, to be "International Kill-A-Zombie Day". Millions of computers around the world, in homes and business premises, are - without the knowledge of their owners - under the control of cybercriminals who commandeer the PCs to send spam, distribute malware, and commit identity theft. Hackers control networks of zombie computers, known as a botnet, in order to silently send out adverts that peddle sexual enhancement drugs or questionable financial deals, distribute scareware attacks to trick users out of their credit card details, access your social networking accounts, and spread further malicious attacks,” commented Senior Technology Consultant with Sophos, Graham Cluley

As part of the International Kill-A-Zombie day, computer users from around the world are advised to perform the following tasks:

• Use an up-to-date, genuine and properly good security software application to scan your system. Scan your friends’ systems also - but ask permission first. There are plenty of free antivirus applications to choose from; even paid antivirus products offer a free trial edition. Sophos advises you to use its free antivirus solution. But you could also use security products from other companies like Kaspersky, AVG, Avira, Symantec, and Microsoft to name but a few.
• Update you operating system. Apply the latest patches.
• Run a firewall.
• Spread the word about International Kill-A-Zombie Day by tweeting "I'm joining the fight! International Kill-A-Zombie Day" or by joining the "International Kill A Zombie Day" group on Facebook.

Keep in mind that October is Cyber Security Awareness Month. Use the International Kill-A-Zombie Day opportunity to spread the word about the need to keep computers safe and protected.

Sophos has posted two International Kill-A-Zombie Day trailers on YouTube – see here and here.



Tags: Sophos, Halloween, International Kill-A-Zombie Day, Security

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