Have you decided what you're going to do for Halloween?
Maybe your plan is to dress up as a vampire, or cover the house with fake cobwebs, or wrap yourself in a toilet paper to pretend to be a marauding Egyptian mummy.
But here's my request - use the excuse of Halloween to kill some zombies instead.
You're reading Naked Security, so my guess is that you have at least a passing interest in computer security issues. So, what better time than Halloween to go kill some zombies?
Networks of zombie computers (also known as botnets) are used by criminal hackers to spread spam and malware, launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, and steal confidential information.
More than 90% of all spam sent today is relayed from computers that have been hijacked and turned into zombies by malicious hackers.
Here's a movie trailer we've made to encourage you to join the fight against zombies:
(Enjoy this video? You can check out more on the SophosLabs YouTube channel and subscribe if you like)
You can help the fight by joining our "Kill A Zombie" campaign, and scanning computers belonging to your friends and family for malware.
Learn more now and.. Kill a Zombie
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![Hacked TV channels broadcast zombie apocalypse emergency alert [VIDEO]](http://sophosnews.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/zombie-thumb.jpg?w=75&h=75&crop=1)
Could you kill a vegan zombie with a steak through the heart?
Zombies can't do any harm if they're isolate from the net. I use a firewall that monitors in/outbound traffic and lets me decide who phones home; ie. lgit requests for updates from trusted apps.
I scan with several malware scanners every night before I shut down. I have an early warning malware monitor running in the background as I type AND I don't trust anybody, anytime, anywhere for any reason unless they're related by blood.
Keep in mind though, even the most well-protected computers aren't malware-proof! Remember: Be a human firewall! The real first line of defense is the user!
Oh, and do you keep those scanners and firewalls up-to-date? A scanner is only as good as its updates!