Alex O'Neill is a national security researcher who studies emerging technology, cyber threats, and illicit finance. His current work focuses on North Korea's financially motivated cyber operations and ties to the Russian-speaking cybercriminal ecosystem. Until 2023, Alex was an Associate at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as well as Coordinator of the Belfer Center's Korea Project, where he co-founded and led for three years the North Korea Cyber Working Group (NK CWG). He previously worked at the Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom. Alex regularly presents his research to academic, industry, and government audiences and has delivered briefings on North Korean cyber activities to the U.S. State Department, Treasury Department, and intelligence agencies. His prior research includes "Upholding North Korea Sanctions in the Age of Decentralised Finance" and "Cybercriminal Statecraft: North Korean Hackers' Ties to the Global Underground." Alex received an MSc in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oxford and a BA with distinction in History from Yale University.
