About me

Hi, my name is Chris Forbes, and I am a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and full-stack software developer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm passionate about building practical tools and open-source solutions that solve real-world problems in security, risk management, and developer productivity.

I published Mastering Third-Party Risk: A Practical Handbook for Managing Vendor, Third-Party, and Supply Chain Threats in Every Organization (https://a.co/d/03l9xXNK), and am working on a Comprehensive AI Security, Governance, Risk, and Compliance Program book targeted for Q2, 2026.

I am a featured speaker at national security conferences, including Black Hat, RSAC, DefCon, and InfraGard.

What I'm Building

I have contributed coding and testing support to dozens of larger open source projects, and started developing standalone tools that enhance developer workflows and bring enterprise-grade security frameworks
to broader audiences.

Developer Tools & Infrastructure

Here is a short list of my recent open source projects:

Beads-Kanban – A VSCode extension providing KanBan boards, table views, and data management built on the Beads framework (8 stars)

beads-tui – A fully interactive Rust-based text user interface for workflow management

cloudflare-cli-rs – A comprehensive Cloudflare admin CLI written in Rust covering all Cloudflare APIs

Security & Risk Management

I leverage my CISO experience to develop accessible security frameworks and educational resources for financial institutions and businesses navigating complex compliance requirements.

My Background

With 40+ years of experience leading and consulting to U.S. banks and credit unions, I bridge the gap between cybersecurity requirements and practical implementation. I'm a US Navy veteran who has worked at all levels of information technology, advanced electronics, and artificial intelligence.

Why Sponsor?

Your sponsorship helps me dedicate my full time and attention to developing tools and solutions that add value and make a difference:

Maintaining and improving open-source developer tools

Creating comprehensive security frameworks and educational resources

Building innovative Rust and web-based applications

Supporting the developer community with well-documented, practical solutions

All my open-source projects are MIT-licensed and freely available. Sponsorship allows me to invest more time in documentation, feature development, and community support.

Let's Connect

I'm always interested in collaborating with developers and security professionals. Whether you're using my tools, have feature suggestions, or want to discuss security frameworks, feel free to reach out through GitHub discussions or issues on any of my repositories.