In November, 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]
^Tanriverdi, Hakan; Zierer, Max; Wetter, Ann-Kathrin; Biermann, Kai; Nguyen, Thi Do (October 8, 2020). Nierle, Verena; Schöffel, Robert; Wreschniok, Lisa (eds.). "Lined up in the sights of Vietnamese hackers". Bayerischer Rundfunk. 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.