UK investigators, FBI tracing hackers behind ongoing attacks

British investigators along with the FBI are working to trace the hackers behind ongoing attacks, even as computer users have been asked to protect their machines from malware that allows hackers to steal financial data, Sky New reported.

The investigators have been able to temporarily disrupt the botnet system used by the hackers.

However, according to the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), people had only two weeks before the system could be functioning again. Users have been urged to protect their computers from an expected "powerful computer attack".

The number of machines infected so far is between 500,000 and 1 million, according to court documents.

A Russian hacker has been accused by US officials of masterminding the scam - and prosecutors say those involved had already raked in over $100 million.

Meanwhile, the NCA had urged users to back up important files and make sure their security software and operating system were up to date.

The alert comes due to two pieces of malware which typically infect a computer via attachments or links in emails.

The BBC reported that Gameover Zeus, a particularly nasty piece of malware fished around one's computer for files that looked like they might contain financial or other sensitive information, and then stole them.

According to the FBI, the criminals used "phishing" emails to install Gameover Zeus on victims' computers. A phishing email is one that looks like an official email, like from one's bank, but directs the users to unknowingly download the malware.

According to the NCA's projections around 15,000 computers might currently be infected in the UK while the global figures might run into millions.

UK users would be receiving correspondence from their internet service provider (ISP) soon, warning them of the risk.

Users who had got one of these notices, would need to act immediately and though the 15,000 figure was relatively low, the warning needed to be taken seriously. People had been asked to run a scan on their system.

Meanwhile, GetSafeOnline.org - a government-backed initiative had made available, a list of downloads it recommended to run a sweep of users' system.

The site was, however not able to keep up with the traffic  and people were also being directed to the UK Cyber Emergency Readiness Team (Cert) instead.