Benjamin Buchanan: The Cyber Security Dilemma

Benjamin Buchanan
Postdoctoral fellow at the Belfer Center's Cyber Security Project,
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

At Harvard University's Cybersecurity Project, Benjamin Buchanan conducts research on the intersection of cybersecurity and statecraft. His first book, The Cybersecurity Dilemma, was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. Previously, he has written on attributing cyber attacks, deterrence in cyber operations, cryptography, election cybersecurity, and the spread of malicious code between nations and non-state actors. He received his PhD from King's College London in the Department of War Studies, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and earned his masters and undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University.

Ben Buchanan's research examines the intersection of modern statecraft and cybersecurity. He considers questions of wide debate, such as the relationship of cryptography to sovereignty and the dangers of the spread of cyber weapons. In addition, he examines important subjects less commonly discussed, such as how the speed of cyber operations affects national strategy.

Major Publications

• "The Cybersecurity Dilemma: Hacking, Trust and Fear Between Nations" 
• "The Life Cycles of Cyber Threats"
• "Attributing Cyber Attacks"
• "Cyber Deterrence Isn't MAD, It's Mosaic"