Russian hacker group Cozy Bear (aka #MidnightBlizzard, APT29) is back, using wine-tasting invites to phish EU diplomats. The bait? A new wave of WineLoader malware. 🍷🎣

Read: https://hackread.com/cozy-bear-wine-lure-wineloader-malware-eu-diplomats/

#CyberSecurity #APT29 #WineLoader #Russia #EU

Cozy Bear’s Wine Lure Drops WineLoader Malware on EU Diplomats

Follow us on Bluesky, Twitter (X), Mastodon and Facebook at @Hackread

Hackread - Latest Cybersecurity, Hacking News, Tech, AI & Crypto

Good day everyone!

Check Point Software researchers produced another great article that involves #APT29 and #phishing and a little bit of masquerading. This phishing campaign targeted European diplomatic entities that distributes fake invitations to diplomatic events and appears to be a continuation of a previous campaign run by the same actors. These phishing emails utilized a backdoor known as #Wineloader and also employs a new loader #Grapeloader. There is a lot to unpack here and I hope you enjoy!

Renewed APT29 Phishing Campaign Against European Diplomats
https://research.checkpoint.com/2025/apt29-phishing-campaign/

Intel 471 Cyborg Security, Now Part of Intel 471 #ThreatIntel #ThreatHunting #ThreatDetection #HappyHunting #readoftheday

Renewed APT29 Phishing Campaign Against European Diplomats - Check Point Research

Check Point Research uncovers APT29 targeting European diplomatic entities with phishing attacks spreading malware Grapeloader

Check Point Research

Splunk provides a detailed analysis of the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) employed by APT29 in the campaign targeting German political parties with the new WINELOADER backdoor. APT29, aka Midnight Blizzard and Cozy Bear, is publicly attributed to Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). IOC and Yara rules provided.🔗 https://www.splunk.com/en_us/blog/security/wineloader-analysis.html

#APT29 #MidnightBlizzard #CozyBear #threatintel #WINELOADER #threatintel #IOC #Russia #cyberespionage

From Water to Wine: An Analysis of WINELOADER | Splunk

In this blog post we'll look closely at the WINELOADER backdoor and how Splunk can be used to detect and respond to this threat.

Splunk

It looks like someone found a way to DLL side load with sqlwriter.exe using the exported set_se_translator function :D

https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/security-research/european-diplomats-targeted-spikedwine-wineloader

#security #dllsideloading #malware #wineloader #sqlwriter

European diplomats targeted by SPIKEDWINE with WINELOADER

A technical analysis of a new threat actor delivering WINELOADER malware in a phishing campaign targeting European diplomats

Russian Hackers Use 'WINELOADER' Malware to Target German Political Parties

ybersecurity firm Mandiant links recent cyber attacks on diplomatic entities to Midnight Blizzard, a group with ties to Russia's SVR.

The Hacker News
Wineloader von "CDU": Russische Cyberspione nehmen deutsche Politiker ins Visier

Deutsche Politiker erhielten eine Einladung per Mail zu einem angeblichen Abendessen der CDU. Dahinter steckt laut Forschern ein russischer Phishing-Angriff.

heise online
Russia-linked APT29 targeted German political parties with WINELOADER backdoor

Russia-linked threat actors employ the WINELOADER backdoor in recent attacks targeting German political parties.

Security Affairs

Inklusive #CDU-Logo: #Fake-Politiker Einladung von #APT29 zum Abendessen - macht aber einen ziemlich hölzernen Eindruck:

"Die Links führten nach Angaben von #Mandiant jeweils zu einer Zip-Datei mit einem Malware-Dropper namens #Rootsaw. Dieser präsentierte der Zielperson ein Köderdokument mit weiteren Informationen zu dem Abendessen und lud eine Backdoor namens #Wineloader nach."

https://www.golem.de/news/einladung-zum-abendessen-hacker-attackieren-deutsche-parteien-im-namen-der-cdu-2403-183510.html

Einladung zum Abendessen: Hacker attackieren deutsche Parteien im Namen der CDU - Golem.de

Seit Ende Februar haben einige deutsche Politiker Phishing-Mails von einer bekannten Hackergruppe erhalten. Sie wurden angeblich von der CDU zum Essen eingeladen.

Golem.de