ISI Directory

David Balenson

Senior Supervising Computer Scientist, Associate Director of the Networking and Cybersecurity Division

Education

M.S., Computer Science, University of Maryland
B.S., Computer Science, University of Maryland

Bio

David Balenson joined USC-ISI in the Networking and Cybersecurity Division in August 2022. As associate director of the division, he supports strategic planning, analytics and planning, new business development, and communication and outreach for the division.

Mr. Balenson is Community Outreach Director for the NSF-funded Security and Privacy Heterogeneous Environment for Reproducible Experimentation (SPHERE) project. He is ISI's PI for the NSF-funded Open Community Platform for Sharing Vehicle Telematics Data for Research and Innovation project and co-leads the Sharing Expertise and Artifacts for Reuse for Cybersecurity Community Hub (SEARCCH) project. Mr. Balenson previously co-led the NSF-funded Cybersecurity Experimentation of the Future (CEF) project.

Prior to joining ISI, Mr. Balenson was a senior computer scientist in the Computer Science Laboratory at independent, non-profit research institute, SRI International where he provided technical and programmatic support for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T). Supported projects included the CAP, ACIC, COGS, CPSSEC, CyRiE, Smart Cities, TTP, and IMPACT.

Over his career, Mr. Balenson has worked for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, SPARTA, McAfee/Network Associates, Trusted Information Systems, and National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Balenson is on the steering, organizing, and/or program committees for ACSAC, NDSS, LASER, CSET, USEC, and VehicleSec.

Research Summary

Mr. Balenson has broad-based experience and background in critical infrastructure security and resilience, computer and network security, applied cryptography, and R&D program and project management. His current research interests include cybersecurity for critical infrastructure and cyber-physical systems including automotive and autonomous vehicles, experimentation and test, technology transition, and multi-disciplinary research.