News reaction: International law enforcement strike again with global takedown of ransomware group LabHost

For the second time this year global law enforcement have united to take down a cyber threat group - this time, the infamous LabHost.

The group, who have been accused of industrial scale fraud, used phishing scams to trick 70,000+ victims into making online payments with an estimated £1m stolen to date.

Yesterday, operatives from 19 countries came together to take down the site that helped criminals send the messages and direct victims to fake websites appearing to be legitimate online payment or shopping services, arresting 37 victims in the process.

Following the news, Matt Hull, Global Head of Threat Intelligence at NCC Group comments:

"Given the ever-rising volumes of online crime, this takedown is a significant step in tackling the activity of cyber criminals across the globe. This latest intervention by UK law enforcement comes shortly after an international collaboration between law enforcement agencies and governments, to take down the prolific Lockbit Ransomware Group.

"Frustratingly however, we know that cyber criminal groups always evolve. As we've seen in the past, it is possible that some of the individuals behind LabHost will pop up again but under a new name, finding new ways to operate under the radar, and continue with their criminal enterprise.

"Even as law enforcement continues to make strides in tackling this activity, continuing to raise public awareness of some of the common scams these groups use is just as important. It's especially key now that technology like AI is enabling the easier creation of more convincing scams and we encourage regulators to do more to support the identification of misuse of AI for these purposes. Being alert to unsolicited and suspicious looking texts, calls or emails, and never clicking on links unless from a verified source, are some simple approaches that people can take to protect themselves."

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