OceanLotus, also named APT32, BISMUTH, Ocean Buffalo by CrowdStrike, or Canvas Cyclone by Microsoft, [1] is a hacker group allegedly associated with the government of Vietnam. The founding member is identified as meli0das. [2] [3] [4] [5] It has been accused of cyberespionage targeting political dissidents, government officials, and businesses with ties to Vietnam. [6]
In April 2020, Bloomberg reported that OceanLotus had targeted China's Ministry of Emergency Management and the Wuhan municipal government in order to obtain information about the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the accusations unfounded. [7] [8] [9]
In November 2021, Kaspersky researchers disclosed that OceanLotus had been using the Google Play Store to distribute malware. Volexity researchers disclosed that OceanLotus had set up fake news websites and Facebook pages to both engage in web profiling and distribute malware. [10] [11] According to reports, Facebook traced the group's activities to an IT company called CyberOne Group in Ho Chi Minh City. [12]
In February 2021, Amnesty International reported that OceanLotus had launched a number of spyware attacks against Vietnamese human rights activists, including Bùi Thanh Hiếu. [13]
In March 2021, it was reported that the group's operations were impacted by a fire at an OVHcloud data centre in France. [14]
In Bui's case the traces lead to a group presumably acting on behalf of the Vietnamese state. Experts have many names for this group: APT 32 and Ocean Lotus are best known. In conversations with a dozen of information security specialists, they all agreed that this is a Vietnamese group spying, in particular, on its own compatriots.
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