Aleksandr Kogan and Aleksandr Spectre are the same person. Says he changed his name from Kogan to Spectre after marriage but later returned to using Kogan. “Spectre” is an made up name and not connected to either his family or his wife’s family.. Kogan was born in the Soviet Union, but educated in the United States.
Source: Aleksandr Kogan – Aleksandr Kogan CV Website.pdf
Kogan is a psychology professor at the University of Cambridge who used an app to collect data about Facebook users and then shared that data with Cambridge Analytica, who use the data to shape customized propaganda messages to voters in the United States.
After being caught doing this, Dr. Kogan has been banned from Facebook.
His research focus is the study of “well-being”, a topic that is often used in highly questionable and bogus “happiness indices”.