"GFF files criminal complaint alongside journalist Trung Khoa Lê following spyware attack" 28 May 2026

The Society for Civil Rights (GFF) today filed a criminal complaint against persons unknown, together with German-Vietnamese journalist Trung Khoa Lê, regarding an attempted spyware attack. Lê is the editor of the important Vietnamese news site Thoibao.de, which he runs from Germany. The attackers, who are believed to be operating from abroad, unsuccessfully attempted to install spyware on his laptop and cell phone via Platform X...

...“It has been known for two and a half years that I was attacked with spyware,” says Trung Khoa Lê. “So far, no one has even investigated—let alone held the perpetrators accountable. That is why I have now filed a criminal complaint.”

Trung Khoa Lê has been reporting critically on the Vietnamese government’s policies for years. In the past, he has already been subjected to numerous attacks against his person and is under police protection following death threats. To gain access to his devices, the attackers left a reply in February 2023 under a post by the Thoibao account on X...

...Experts from Amnesty International conducted a forensic analysis of the attack and determined, among other things, that the perpetrators used the spyware Predator from provider Intellexa...

As cited in the original Amnesty International report, "Amnesty International reached out to the entities involved for comment but received no response. However, EIC did receive a response from the main shareholders and former executives of Nexa group. In their response they claim that the Intellexa alliance has ceased to exist. In relation to Viet Nam, they claim that Nexa Group only honoured part of the contract related to cybersecurity. They also claim that the entities of Intellexa alliance “scrupulously respected export regulations”, while acknowledging that they established “commercial relations” with countries that ”were far from perfect in terms of the rule of law,” further stating that it was often a function of “political choices” from the French government."