Centre for Information Security (Centre 18) (TsIB)

The Centre for Information Security (Centre 18) (TsIB) is a unit of the Federal Security Service (FSB) responsible for offensive cyber operations. It was constituted on the basis of the Federal Agency for Government Communication and Information’s (FAPSI). Department of Computer and Information Security. It is subordinate to the Counterintelligence Service (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, 2023).

In December 2023, the United Kingdom accused the FSB of engaging in “a range of cyber espionage operations targeting the UK” through Star Blizzard, which it said was “almost certainly subordinate to FSB Centre 18”. The group was accused of having “selectively leaked and amplified the release of information in line with Russian confrontation goals, including to undermine trust in politics in the UK and likeminded states” (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, 2023). An intelligence source cited by the i paper claimed that Centre 18 had been first identified as carrying out attacks on high-profile targets in 2018, but may have begun its campaign already in 2015. The US Department of Justice indicted an employee of Centre 18 in 2017, accusing him of accessing the email accounts of US government and military personnel, private organisations, cybersecurity companies, and critical journalists (the i paper, 2023). A US federal grand jury indicted two more employees in 2023, accusing them of hacking US, UK, Nato, and Ukrainian networks on behalf of the government (U.S. Department of Justice, 2023).