Allan Friedman

Allan Friedman is a Visiting Scholar at the the Cyber Security Policy Research Institute in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at George Washington University, where he works on cybersecurity policy.

Wearing the hats of both a technologist and a policy scholar, his work spans computer science, public policy and the social sciences, and has addressed issues ranging from electronic medical records to telecommunications policy. His recent work has focused on the economic aspects of information security.

Throughout his career, he has focused on explaining complex technical problems to policy audiences, and identifying empirically-grounded technical and policy solutions. Friedman has shared his expertise on cyber security and information technology policy with a range of print, radio, web, and TV outlets. He has contributed as a technology and policy expert for a range of organizations, including the Department of Homeland Security, the World Economic Forum, and the OECD. On the research side, he has served on academic program committees and editorial committees of multiple computer science and technology policy journals and research conferences. In 2013, he chaired the Workshop on Economics of Information Security.

Prior to joining CSPRI, Friedman was a Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and the research director for the Center for Technology Innovation. Before moving to Washington, he was Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University Computer Science department, where he worked on cyber security policy, privacy-enhancing technologies and the economics of information security. Friedman was also a Fellow at the Kenndy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, where he worked on the Minerva Project for Cyber International Relations. He has also received fellowships from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and the Harvard Program on Networked Governance. He has a degree in Computer Science from Swarthmore College, and a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University.