How to Stop Zombies

There could be a zombie sitting in your living room right now, ready to feast. Worse yet, studies have found that there could be hundreds of millions of zombies around the world waiting to attack at any moment. Before you grab a bat, call Will Smith and head for the hills though, there may be an easier option—update your anti-malware.
Aside from Halloween, another scary fact about October is that it’s also National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Why’s that so terrifying? Because cyber attacks, which were already a big problem, are on the rise.

According to a recent Symantec study, cyber attacks are up from an average of one or two per week on a given computer system in 2005, to 77 today. More than 90 percent of the 140 billion emails sent daily are spam. Of these, about 16 percent contain moneymaking scams, including phishing attacks in which e-mail is sent from someone the user supposedly knows and trusts. Once opened, infected attachments download malware onto a host’s computer, allowing access to confidential information stored on the computer system. This can turn computers into zombies, which may be linked with millions of other computers around the world to create a “botnet” – a kind of zombie evil empire. These botnets can then send spam and launch new cyber attacks, adding zombies to the virtual armies of criminals, terrorists, and even some nations.

In fact, forty-two percent of businesses now rate cybercrime as the greatest threat to their well-being, more than natural disaster, terrorism, and traditional crime combined. Things have gotten so bad in fact that James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., has said: “We have a faith-based approach, in that we pray every night nothing bad will happen.”
But fear no more. There are a few simple steps can help keep your computer from turning into a zombie.

Install antivirus and antispyware software, like Microsoft Security Essentials.
Keep all software up to date, especially Windows, but also programs like Adobe Reader, Flash, and Java, which are often convenient backdoors that can be closed through frequent updates.

Use strong passwords of at least 14 characters, and keep them secret. Consider starting with a favorite sentence, and then just take the first letter of each word. Add numbers, punctuation, or symbols for complexity.

Never turn off your firewall; it’s an important software program that helps stop viruses and worms.

Use flash drives cautiously. They are easily infected – in fact the biggest breach of U.S. military systems to date was due to a flash drive.

Encrypt sensitive information on your computer with programs like Iden
tity Finder.

Download a program that can scan your computer for vulnerabilities.
Be conscious of what you click on, both in emails and on the Web.

And for Mac users, don’t think that you’re completely immune. Cybersecurity specialist Charlie Miller will soon be announcing a record-breaking 20 security holes found in OS-X, the Mac operating system.

The only way to stop the zombies is to hit them where it really hurts – open, unsecured systems that are making the world a far scarier place than it needs to be. So this Halloween, while you’re watching Night of the Living Dead, I Am Legend, or Shaun of the Dead, join the fun and help kill off a few thousand zombies with just a few clicks of the mouse.