One of the most profound cyber attacks in history is on its way. Experts are warning those with computers that they have just two weeks to protect themselves from what could be the most powerful security breach ever.

US authorities have named Russian hacker Evgeniy Bogachev as the creator of the scam, in which computers worldwide were infected with malware that enabled his gang to steal more than $100m (£60m). Bogachev's group used vicious software to steal passwords and account numbers, said officials at a press conference in Washington DC on Monday. They allegedly organised a highly sophisticated botnet (a network of private computers infected with dangerous software and controlled as a group without the owners' knowledge) known as ‘Game Over Zeus’, spread mainly through spam email or phishing messages, to capture bank credentials. The gang allegedly used another piece of malicious software called ‘CryptoLocker’, which disables a user's computer until a ransom is paid.

People are consequentially being encouraged to update their security software, run regular scans and be extra careful when opening email attachments. Emails may appear to be from reputable sources, such as HM Revenue & Customs, and attachments may appear as invoices and other unassuming documents. Once opened, the malware (short for malicious software) silently sits in the background of your computer and monitors everything you do, waiting for you to enter important bank information, passwords and other personal information. Emails with the malware could even appear to be from someone you know.

Andy Archibald, Deputy Director of the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit, predicts that personal financial details, business information and photographs of loved ones will be held to ransom by the criminals who are carrying out this hateful operation.

Update your security software and use it and, think twice before clicking on links or attachments in unsolicited emails, and consider backing up your computer’s file on an external source.

The FBI has issued a ‘most wanted’ poster for Bogachev, the assumed ring leader of the operation, who has previously targeted police departments in the USA. Bogachev’s victims include the Massachusetts police department, which paid $750 to the hackers, as they ‘held for ransom every private email, business plan, child's science project, or family photograph -  every single important and personal file stored on the victim's computer’ Leslie Caldwell, of the Justice Department, told reporters.

Stewart Garrick, a senior investigator with the NCA, told Sky News that the threat was mainly against individuals or businesses running Windows-based computers.

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