Author archives

Dr. Richard Forno is a Principal Lecturer in the UMBC Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, where he directs the UMBC Graduate Cybersecurity Program, serves as the Assistant Director of UMBC’s Center for Cybersecurity, and is an Affiliate Scholar of the Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society (CIS). Prior to academia, his twenty-year career in operational cybersecurity includes helping build a formal cybersecurity program for the US House of Representatives, serving as the first Chief Security Officer for Network Solutions (then, the global center of the internet DNS system), consulting to Fortune 100 companies, the government, military, and more. As a technologist and student of national security studies, Dr. Forno is an unconventional, albeit realistic, critical thinker about the relationships between technology, security, and society. Most recently, he is co-author of Cybersecurity and Local Governments (2022, Wiley).

Federal shutdown deals blow to already hobbled cybersecurity agency

Prof. Richard Forno, Associate Director, UMBC Cybersecurity Institute, elucidates why the current Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) situation is grim, as the agency was already experiencing deep cuts to its staff and resources before the ongoing shutdown. And now, coinciding with the shutdown, a key law that enabled the agency to facilitate information-sharing with the private sector has expired.

United States experiences its latest government shutdown, most of the daily operations of the federal government have ground to a halt. This includes much of the day-to-day work done by federal information technology and cybersecurity employees, including those at the nation’s leading civilian cybersecurity agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Government Resources, Legal Research, Privacy

Massive IT outage spotlights major vulnerabilities in the global information ecosystem

Professor Richard Forno highlights the fragility of our enterprise IT systems against the backdrop of the global information technology outage on July 19, 2024 that paralyzed organizations ranging from airlines to hospitals and the delivery of uniforms for the Olympic Games, representing a growing concern for cybersecurity professionals, businesses and governments.

Subjects: Cybersecurity, Economy, Financial System, Health, Information Management, Software