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Richard Forno

Principal Lecturer

Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
UMBC Cybersecurity Institute

Information Technology & Engineering 325A

Education

Ph D Curtin University of Technology 2010

MA Salve Regina University 2002

Graduate Certificate US Naval War College 1997

BA American University 1994

A.B. Valley Forge Military College 1992

rforno@umbc.edu

About

A globally known cyber professional interested in the convergence of technology and national security, Richard's 20 year career in operational cyber prior to entering academia spans the government, military, and private sector, including 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, DoD, and more.

Author, thought leader, collaborator, consultant, and frequent speaker/security communicator providing understandable, actionable third-option perspectives, insights, and analysis to all types of audiences.

Research Interests

cybersecurity, cyberwar, information warfare, digital ethics, privacy, risk communication, technology policy, social shaping of technology

Teaching Interests

cybersecurity, cyberwar, information warfare, digital ethics, privacy, risk communication, technology policy, social shaping of technology

Selected Classes
  • Fall 2020 CYBR 624 – Cybersecurity Project
  • Summer 2020 CMSC 699 – Ind Study In Comp Sci
  • Spring 2017 INDS 490 – INDS Capstone
  • Spring 2016 CYBR 691 – Spec. Topics in Cybersecurity
  • Spring 2014 CMSC 304 – Social/Ethical Iss In IT

Contracts, Fellowships, Grants, and Sponsored Research

Forno, Richard, Forno, Richard. “Maryland Cyber Challenge Pilot Grant Scholarships,” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: DOD, NSA 12.900. (Sep 13, 2011 – Jun 30, 2012).

Forno, Richard, Forno, Richard. “2012 Maryland Cyber Challenge Competition (MDC3),” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: DOD, NSA 12.900. (Sep 11, 2012 – Sep 10, 2013).

Forno, Richard (Principal). “2014 Maryland Cyber Challenge Competition (MDC3),” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: DOD, NSA. (Sep 1, 2014 – Sep 1, 2015).

Sherman, Alan T., Forno, Richard (Co-Principal). “Supplement 2 to UMBC Cybersecurity Scholarship for Service Program and Innovations in Cybersecurity Education Workshop Series,” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: NSF. (Jul 1, 2015 – Sep 30, 2016).

Oyen, Meredith Leigh. (Principal), Forno, Richard (Co-Principal). “From Service to Study - Creating a Better Environment for UMBC Student Veterans,” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: UMBC Hrabowski Innovation Fund. (Jan 1, 2017 – Jun 30, 2019).

Sherman, Alan T., Forno, Richard (Co-Principal). “UMBC Information Assurance Scholarship Program, with Protocol Analysis Lab,” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: NSA. (Aug 24, 2018 – Sep 23, 2019).

Sherman, Alan T. (Principal), Forno, Richard (Co-Principal). “UMBC Cybersecurity Scholarship for Service Program Renewal,” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: NSF. (Sep 1, 2018 – Aug 31, 2023).

Finin, Timothy W. (Principal), Joshi, Anupam (Co-Principal), Sherman, Alan T. (Co-Principal), Forno, Richard (Supporting), Oliva, Linda M (Supporting). “Collaborative Research: EAGER SaTC-EDU: Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity: From Research to the Classroom,” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: National Science Foundation. (May 1, 2021 – Apr 30, 2025).

Intellectual Contributions

Orr, Selma, Sherman, Alan T., Peterson, Peter, Forno, Richard, Johns, Sydney. (2024). Shadow IT in Higher Education: Survey and Case Study for Cybersecurity.. 62 Cryptologia.

Norris, Donald F., Mateczun, Laura, Forno, Richard. (2022). Cybersecurity and Local Government. 254 London: John Wiley and Sons.

Forno, Richard. (2019). . Proceedings of SIGDOC '19 The 37th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication

Forno, Richard. (2018). . Wall Street Journal.

Forno, Richard. (2018). Political Realities of Cyber. The Edinburgh Companion to Political Realism Edinburgh University Press.

Forno, Richard, Pearson, Erika. (2017). . Proceedings of SIGDOC ’17 Association of Computing Machinery SIGDOC.

Forno, Richard. (2015). . 6. 40 USENIX ;login; Journal of the Advanced Computing Systems Association.

Forno, Richard, van Wyk, Ken. (2001). Incident Response. San Jose, CA: O'Reilly.

Presentations

Forno, Richard. Other. "Testimony to the Maryland Senate Economic Matters Committee regarding ‘Right to Repair’ legislation," Maryland Senate. (Jan 27, 2021).

Forno, Richard. Oral Presentation. "UMBC Testimony on state cybersecurity & the Maryland Technology Intern Program," Maryland Joint Committee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Biotechnology. (Jun 1, 2019).

Forno, Richard. American Association of Corporate Directors 2019 Conference. Lecture/Master Class. "Cybersecurity Challenges for Corporate Boards," American Association of Corporate Directors. (Jan 1, 2019).

Forno, Richard. SAP NS2 Summit. Keynote/Plenary Address. "The Dark Side of Data: When Information is Weaponized," SAP NA. (Oct 1, 2018).

Forno, Richard. Great Talks. Keynote/Plenary Address. "Cyber Wars, the Secrets, the Spies," Great Talks. (Dec 1, 2017).

Forno, Richard. Intelligence Community (IC) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Recruitment Summit. Other. "Growing and Sustaining Talent to Cultivate the Future Workforce," US ODNI. (Jun 1, 2017).

Forno, Richard. SIGDOC 2016. Keynote/Plenary Address. "The Chaos of Context: Presentation, Perception, and Agency," ACM SIGDOC. (Sep 1, 2016).

Forno, Richard. SchmooCon 2016. Keynote/Plenary Address. "Information Security Programs in Academia," (Jan 1, 2016).

Forno, Richard (Presenter). BSides Charm. Oral Presentation. "Point, Click, Score: Building and Running Student Cyber-Competition Organizations," BSides. (Apr 1, 2015).

Forno, Richard (Panelist). SchmooCon 2015. Keynote/Plenary Address. "Get Off My Lawn: Examining Change through the Eyes of The Old Guard," Schmoo Group. (Jan 1, 2015).