CMMC vs SOC 2 vs HIPAA: which compliance framework does your Hawaii business actually need?

A plain-English decision guide for Hawaii SMBs: which framework applies, current 2026 deadlines (CMMC Phase 2, HIPAA Security Rule update), realistic Hawaii costs, and how to avoid paying for the wrong one.

SolarWinds Serv-U CVE-2026-28318: what Hawaii businesses should do before the June 19 deadline

CVE-2026-28318 hit CISA’s KEV catalog on June 5 with a federal deadline of June 19. The exposure check, Serv-U 15.5.4 Hotfix 1 plan, and interim mitigation for Hawaii businesses.

How should a Hawaii business prepare for IT downtime during hurricane season?

NOAA forecasts an above-normal 2026 Central Pacific hurricane season. The five-move business continuity plan every Hawaii business should run before peak in August and September.

CVE-2026-45657 Windows Kernel TCP/IP RCE: what Hawaii businesses should do now

A wormable, pre-authentication Windows Kernel RCE (CVSS 9.8) shipped in the June 2026 Patch Tuesday. The exposure check, patch priority, and interim mitigations for Hawaii businesses.

Secure Boot certificates expire June 2026: what Hawaii businesses must do before the deadline

The 2011 Secure Boot certificates start expiring June 24, 2026. Windows PCs update automatically — but Windows Server requires manual action. Here’s the readiness check and rollout plan.

Microsoft Entra passkeys are GA: the phishing-resistant rollout plan for Hawaii businesses

Passkey profiles and synced passkeys are now generally available in Microsoft Entra ID. Here’s how to roll passkeys out by group, enforce attestation for admins, and require them with Conditional Access.

Palo Alto GlobalProtect auth bypass (CVE-2026-0257): what Hawaii businesses should do now

An actively exploited PAN-OS GlobalProtect flaw lets attackers forge a VPN session in a specific configuration. Here’s the exposure check, the patch, and the interim mitigation for Hawaii businesses.

Patch triage signals that actually work (CVSS isn't enough)

A practical patch-prioritization framework for Hawaii businesses: use exposure, exploitability signals, and asset criticality (not just CVSS) to cut risk faster.

CIRCIA cyber incident reporting: what Hawaii businesses should do before the final rule

A coming federal rule will give covered organizations 72 hours to report a serious cyber incident and 24 hours to report a ransom payment. The rule is not final yet — which makes now the cheapest time to get your incident-response plan, detection, and evidence handling ready. Here’s the readiness checklist we run for Hawaii managed IT clients.

Exchange Online SMTP AUTH basic-auth shutoff: the December 2026 deadline for Hawaii printers and line-of-business apps

Microsoft’s revised January 27, 2026 timeline disables SMTP AUTH basic authentication by default in late December 2026. The population at risk is mostly machine-to-mail — multifunction printers, warehouse scanners, line-of-business apps, and scripts. Here’s the inventory and five-path migration decision tree (OAuth, High Volume Email, Azure Communication Services, on-prem relay, Microsoft Graph) we’re running for Hawaii managed IT clients.

Microsoft Azure MFA mandate: the July 1, 2026 deadline Hawaii businesses cannot postpone again

Microsoft’s Phase 2 mandatory MFA enforcement for the Azure Resource Manager layer — CLI, PowerShell, REST APIs, and Infrastructure-as-Code tools — reaches its final postponement deadline on July 1, 2026. Here’s the five-week readiness audit we’re running for Hawaii managed IT clients: role inventory, user-identity automation migration, break-glass FIDO2, and Conditional Access for Azure Management.

Using the CISA KEV catalog as a patching SLA for Hawaii businesses

CVSS tells you a vulnerability is dangerous in theory. CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog tells you it is being used against real organizations this week. Here’s how we wire KEV into a defensible patching SLA for Hawaii managed IT clients — inventory, daily monitoring, internal due dates, and exception governance.

AiTM phishing and Microsoft 365 token theft: a defense plan for Hawaii businesses

Microsoft’s April 2026 adversary-in-the-middle campaign reached 35,000 users across 13,000 organizations in 72 hours, with healthcare, finance, and professional services in the crosshairs. Ordinary MFA does not stop it. Here’s the phishing-resistant MFA, Conditional Access, and detection plan we’re running for Hawaii clients now.

Still on Windows 10 in May 2026? The ESU Year One plan for Hawaii businesses

Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. Seven months later, the fleet has not gone away — and Year Two ESU pricing doubles in October 2026. Here’s the practical inventory, enrollment, and Windows 11 migration plan we’re running for Hawaii clients still on Windows 10.

Verifying May 2026 patch compliance: day 3–7 checks for Hawaii IT teams

The first 48 hours after Patch Tuesday is deployment. The next several days are verification. Here’s the out-of-band evidence model we use for the May 2026 cumulative update — KB reconciliation, reboot validation, KEV monitoring, and exception handling that holds up to an audit.

Kerberos RC4 hardening (CVE-2026-20833): what breaks in April/July 2026 and how to fix it

Microsoft’s April 2026 updates start enforcing an AES-first posture for Kerberos on domain controllers when encryption types aren’t explicitly configured. Here’s what commonly breaks (service accounts, keytabs, Azure Files) and the remediation plan.

May 2026 Microsoft Patch Tuesday: Netlogon, CVE-2026-41089, and what to fix first

Microsoft’s May 12, 2026 release includes a critical Windows Netlogon RCE (CVSS 9.8) reachable over the network without authentication. Here’s the patch priority list we’re running for Hawaii managed IT clients this month, and how the timeline maps to CISA BOD 22-01.

Why most Hawaii businesses don’t need a bigger security stack

Most environments we audit have plenty of tools and not enough operational discipline. The fix isn’t another product — it’s configuration, identity, monitoring, and a tested runbook.

What a real 24/7 SOC actually looks like

The difference between a paid alert subscription and a SOC: detection engineering, threat hunting, and live human triage at three in the morning. Here’s how to tell which one you’re buying.

The five questions to ask a Hawaii MSP before you sign

Coverage, escalation, security operations, pricing, and exit terms. The contract is the easy part; the operational answers tell you the truth.

Identity is the new perimeter — here’s the unglamorous work

MFA on owner accounts, conditional access on the legacy admin, dormant accounts cleaned, privileged identity reviewed quarterly. Boring. Effective.

The five HIPAA gaps we still find in Hawaii clinics

Audit logs not reviewed, MFA missing on owner accounts, vendor access never reviewed, backups never restored, and an IR plan that exists only on paper.

Stopping partner-impersonation wire fraud at Hawaii law firms

The combination of email security, identity hardening, and partner training that closes the most common attack we see hitting firms in 2024–2025.