Star Blizzard is subordinate to Russia's FSB Centre 18
Assessment
This is an assessed government attribution, not a forensic certainty. The December 2023 Five Eyes advisory (CISA, NCSC, FBI, NSA and allies) assessed that Star Blizzard is 'almost certainly subordinate to' FSB Centre 18, and Microsoft's 2026 report repeats CISA's attribution without a confidence qualifier. A reader treating it as settled fact overstates the published confidence; the underlying judgment is a credibly sourced assessment supported by a US indictment naming an FSB Centre 18 officer.
Where this claim appeared
CISA (joint advisory AA23-341A) · 2023-12-07
https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-341aWhat “Assessed, Not Confirmed” means
A named source states this as its own assessment, at its own stated confidence, rather than as established fact. Attribution to a nation state usually sits here. The assessment is real and reportable; treating it as settled is the error.
4 of 5 · rating scale
Assessed in
Star Blizzard's RedFlick technique delivers the CosmicPulse backdoor to 100+ organizationsThink this assessment is wrong? Report an error.