Alison Harrington ’10 Global Head of Cybersecurity Education & Awareness at HSBC Bank
She is responsible for strategizing, designing, and delivering mandatory and required cybersecurity training to HSBC’s population of ~250k staff, including tailored insights for roles identified as high-risk users. Her remit includes global Cybersecurity communications, engagement, and user experience. Alison specializes in behavioral analysis and understanding how and why humans interact with technology.
Alison’s background is in financial crime investigations and business intelligence across the Middle East and North Africa. She has lived and worked in 10+ countries, most notably the UAE, Libya, Jordan, Egypt, and the UK. Prior to joining Cybersecurity, she worked in HSBC’s Financial Intelligence Unit and Financial Crime Threat Mitigation departments, where she managed a wide range of financial crime projects through network analysis, organizational mapping, and large-scale data analysis. Alison previously worked for Deloitte’s Business Intelligence and Forensics & Dispute Services team, where her project highlights include a cash flow analysis for a multi-billion dollar lawsuit into faulty derivative trades at a sovereign wealth fund.
Alison began her career as a Thomas J. Watson Fellow, for which she was selected as one of 40 national finalists in the US and awarded an independent international grant to work with female police officers. Alison is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and is currently studying for her Certified Information Systems Security Professional certificate. Alison graduated with BA from Wellesley College in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies and has a MA from King’s College London in War Studies, focusing on the psychology of violent radicalization. She lives in the Boston, MA area with her husband, son, and two dogs.