Thomas Rid
Director of the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies
Professor of Strategic Studies
About
Thomas Rid is Professor of Strategic Studies and founding director of the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. From April to July 2022 he also is a Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress.
Rid is the author of the acclaimed Active Measures, a sweeping history of disinformation (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020). His previous book, Rise of the Machines, (Norton, 2016), tells the story of how cybernetics, a late-1940s theory of machines, came to incite anarchy and war. His 2015 article “Attributing Cyber Attacks” was designed to explain, guide, and improve the identification of network breaches (Journal of Strategic Studies 2015). In 2013 he published Cyber War Will Not Take Place, now a classic.
Rid’s commentary has appeared in The New York Times and the Washington Post, and he has testified in front of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as well as in the German Bundestag and the UK Parliament. His books are widely translated.
From 2011 to 2016, Rid was a professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. Between 2003 and 2010, he worked in policy institutes in Berlin, Paris, Jerusalem, and Washington, DC. Rid holds a PhD from Humboldt University in Berlin.
Thomas lives in Georgetown with his wife Annette and two sons.
Rid is the author of the acclaimed Active Measures, a sweeping history of disinformation (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020). His previous book, Rise of the Machines, (Norton, 2016), tells the story of how cybernetics, a late-1940s theory of machines, came to incite anarchy and war. His 2015 article “Attributing Cyber Attacks” was designed to explain, guide, and improve the identification of network breaches (Journal of Strategic Studies 2015). In 2013 he published Cyber War Will Not Take Place, now a classic.
Rid’s commentary has appeared in The New York Times and the Washington Post, and he has testified in front of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as well as in the German Bundestag and the UK Parliament. His books are widely translated.
From 2011 to 2016, Rid was a professor in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. Between 2003 and 2010, he worked in policy institutes in Berlin, Paris, Jerusalem, and Washington, DC. Rid holds a PhD from Humboldt University in Berlin.
Thomas lives in Georgetown with his wife Annette and two sons.
Books:
Rid, T. (2016). Rise of the machines: A cybernetic history. New York: W. W. Norton et Company.
Rid, T. (2013). Cyber war will not take place. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rid, T. (2021). Active Measures. Picador Paper.
In the News
How Russian Trolls Helped Keep the Women’s March Out of Lock Step
Thomas Rid quoted in The New York Times, 09/18
What a fake 2016 BLM rally tells us about Russian disinformation.
Professor of Strategic Studies Thomas Rid interviewed on CNN, 11/04
Five books you should read in summer: from the salad lie to the Jordi Pujol case.
Thomas Rid’s book cited in El Confidencial, 07/23
Another spyware company is helping authoritarian regimes snoop on their critics.
Thomas Rid cited in The Washington Post, 07/16
Putin authorized operation to help ‘mentally unstable’ Trump get elected, report claims.
Thomas Rid cited in The Independent, 07/16
Disinformation experts doubt authenticity of leaked documents describing a Russian plot to help Trump in 2016.
Thomas Rid cited in Business Insider, 07/16
Ex-U.S. cybersecurity chief urges skepticism of new bombshell Trump-Russia 'kompromat' report.
Thomas Rid cited in The Week, 07/15
The Kaseya attack is a revolution in sophistication for ransomware hackers.
Thomas Rid cited in Washington Post, 07/08
Open letter in support of free inquiry and discussion.
Olga Oliker, Bruce Parrott, Thomas Rid, and Matthew Rojansky cited in War on the Rocks, 05/12
In punishing Russia for SolarWinds, Biden upends U.S. convention on cyber espionage.
Thomas Rid quoted in Wall Street Journal, 04/17