--- title: APT29’s Phishing Campaign Targets European Diplomats... description: APT29, a Russian state-sponsored hacking group, has launched a phishing campaign targeting European diplomats with invitations to wine-tasting events. The... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/apt29-s-phishing-campaign-targets-european-diplomats-with-grapeloader-malware-tn7uzxkat twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: APT29’s Phishing Campaign Targets European Diplomats with GRAPELOADER Malware | daily.dev og:description: APT29, a Russian state-sponsored hacking group, has launched a phishing campaign targeting European diplomats with invitations to wine-tasting events. The... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/apt29-s-phishing-campaign-targets-european-diplomats-with-grapeloader-malware-tn7uzxkat og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/tn7UZxkAT.png og:image:alt: APT29’s Phishing Campaign Targets European Diplomats with GRAPELOADER Malware og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # APT29’s Phishing Campaign Targets European Diplomats with GRAPELOADER Malware **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 2 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary APT29, a Russian state-sponsored hacking group, has launched a phishing campaign targeting European diplomats with invitations to wine-tasting events. The campaign features advanced malware called GRAPELOADER, which collects host information and modifies the Windows Registry for persistence. The malware uses sophisticated techniques, including DLL hollowing and legitimate binaries, to evade detection. Security teams are advised to monitor specific indicators of compromise to detect and mitigate these threats. ## Content APT29, a Russian state-sponsored hacking group, has launched an advanced phishing campaign targeting European diplomats through elaborate wine-tasting event invitations. This campaign features a new malware loader called GRAPELOADER, which is designed for enhanced stealth and persistence. The attackers send cleverly crafted emails that masquerade as invitations from European Ministries for wine-tasting events. These emails contain links that lead to a ZIP archive, which upon execution, deploys the GRAPELOADER malware. This tool stealthily collects host information and modifies the Windows Registry to ensure the malware's persistent presence on the infected machine. APT29's sophisticated method involves using legitimate binaries and DLL hollowing to evade detection. In particular, the malware communicates with command-and-control (C2) servers, often hosted on compromised websites, to fetch additional malicious payloads and send back information about the compromised systems. This campaign also includes an updated variant of WINELOADER. The deployment techniques, including manipulated PowerPoint files containing the GRAPELOADER via DLL-Side-Loading, show APT29’s sophisticated methodologies. Security teams should look out for specific indicators of compromise, such as filenames, file hashes, and C2 URLs, to detect and mitigate these threats effectively. This incident underscores the importance of keeping systems and web servers secure and up to date to prevent such sophisticated cyber-attacks. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#cyber](https://daily.dev/tags/cyber), [#malware](https://daily.dev/tags/malware), [#phishing](https://daily.dev/tags/phishing) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/apt29-s-phishing-campaign-targets-european-diplomats-with-grapeloader-malware-tn7uzxkat) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"APT29’s Phishing Campaign Targets European Diplomats with GRAPELOADER Malware","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/apt29-s-phishing-campaign-targets-european-diplomats-with-grapeloader-malware-tn7uzxkat","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/apt29-s-phishing-campaign-targets-european-diplomats-with-grapeloader-malware-tn7uzxkat"},"datePublished":"2025-04-22T00:12:14.998Z","dateModified":"2025-04-22T13:53:11.790Z","description":"APT29, a Russian state-sponsored hacking group, has launched a phishing campaign targeting European diplomats with invitations to wine-tasting events. The...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7ea2b299959bf9f9f63a0cfb3d88e201?_a=AQAEuj9","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7ea2b299959bf9f9f63a0cfb3d88e201?_a=AQAEuj9","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Collections","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Collections","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fk_6ycEi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996001/logos/collections?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/apt29-s-phishing-campaign-targets-european-diplomats-with-grapeloader-malware-tn7uzxkat","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"cyber,malware,phishing","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collections","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"APT29’s Phishing Campaign Targets European Diplomats with GRAPELOADER Malware"}]} ```