Nearly 100 people signed up to attend Hawaiian Telcom’s free educational session for businesses held Wednesday at the Entrepreneur’s Sandbox in Kakaako. It was the first in-person session in two years and focused on cybersecurity.

Hawaiian Telcom hosts free educational events known as “Hawaiian Telcom University” to help business owners and managers, as well as consumers, keep up with rapidly changing technology. Hawaiian Telcom University events were virtual during the pandemic.

Participants included Maverick Fernandez (Kamehameha Schools), Vincent Hoang (state of Hawaii), Eric Daley (HEMIC) and Jaspher Respicio (Hawaiian Telcom). The moderator was Michael Morales of Hawaiian Telcom.

The event opened with a session on “Cyber Threats Today — the State of Info Security” presented by Marcus Yano, Hawaiian Telcom’s vice president-business sales and technical consulting. Various breakout sessions were recommended for chief technology officers, chief financial officers, information technology directors and managers, network engineers, network administrators and business owners. The half-day event concluded with a panel offering tips to manage a business’s cybersecurity risk moderated by Michael Morales, director-business services consulting.

“In Hawaii, we’re very collaborative and it’s important to have conversations about the changes in cybersecurity risks and how to combat them,” Yano said.