By Shannon McCarty-Caplan

You might not know this but the world is being overrun by zombies. Yup, by conservative estimates there are 750 million globally and 45 million in the US and Canada alone, just sitting there under the noses of ordinary folk like you or me. Terrifying, isn’t it?

Now, before you check if the front door’s locked and reach for the shotgun and claw hammer, let’s clarify. While referring to re-animated corpses of the kind made famous by classic movies like Dawn of the Dead, “zombies” can also mean computers that have been taken over by hackers without the knowledge of their owner.

The most common way a cybercriminal does this is by infecting said computer with malware. It may be hidden in an email attachment, or perhaps it lies at the end of a tempting link in an email or on a social networking site.

Under control of the attacker

Once infected, the PC, laptop, smartphone, or tablet is completely under the control of the attacker. Why should you care? Because most of the Internet’s problems stem from these zombie machines. When grouped together into networks – botnets – they give the bad guys enormous power to send out millions of spam emails, take down websites, launch global malware attacks, and steal your personal info.

@TrendMicro has been fighting the criminals who turn regular computers into zombies for over 20 years now and we encourage all users to equip their machines with security software – it’s vital anti-zombie protection.

In that spirit, we’ll be invading Fan Expo Canada (#fanexpo) in Toronto this weekend to spread the word to the nation’s gamers: lock and load your PC with Trend Micro and banish zombies without affecting your machine’s performance. Look out for our gang of ghoulishly garbed zombies patrolling the arena and on our booth handing out t-shirts, stickers, and tattoos.

On Twitter at #trendofthedead

If you’re coming down to the show or just at home and want to get involved online, like our Trend Micro Facebook page and look for us on Twitter at #trendofthedead. Those attending who tweet the best photos each day with the hash-tag #trendofthedead will receive some ghoulish goodies including DVDs, t-shirts, and full Trend Micro™ Titanium™ Internet Security software licenses to #Zombieproof your computers!

Together, we can stop this zombie curse from taking over the world (and our PCs) – so don’t be a zombie slave, protect yourself with Trend Micro.

I am an employee of Trend Micro and the opinions expressed here are my own.

Get more tips, advice, and alerts on Internet security, just “like” Trend Micro Fearless Web Internet Security on Facebook at www.facebook.com/fearlessweb.