Cybersecurity researchers from Facebook today formally linked the activities of a Vietnamese threat actor to an IT company in the country after the group was caught abusing its platform to hack into people’s accounts and distribute malware.

Tracked as APT32 (or Bismuth, OceanLotus, and Cobalt Kitty), the state-aligned operatives affiliated with the Vietnam government have been known for orchestrating sophisticated espionage campaigns at least since 2012 with the goal of furthering the country’s strategic interests.

“Our investigation linked this activity to CyberOne Group, an IT company in Vietnam (also known as CyberOne Security, CyberOne Technologies, Hành Tinh Company Limited, Planet and Diacauso),” Facebook’s Head of Security Policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, and Cyber Threat Intelligence Manager, Mike Dvilyanski, said.

Exact evidence trail leading Facebook to attribute the hacking activity to CyberOne Group was not disclosed, but according to a description on ITViec — a Vietnamese online platform to find and post job vacancies for IT professionals and software developers — the company advertises itself as a “multinational company” with a focus on developing “products and…

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