Insights from the Engineering Floor

Technical guides, industry analysis, and operational best practices from BlackHawk Data's engineering and security teams.

Jan 2026 Cloudflare · Security

Why Your Cloudflare WAF Is Probably Misconfigured

The 7 most common WAF misconfigurations — and fixes that take 15 minutes but reduce risk by 90%.

Read article
Jan 2026 Managed Services

The Real Cost of Reactive Network Operations

Break-fix is dangerous. The true cost of reactive operations vs. proactive managed services.

Read article
Feb 2026 Networking · Fortinet · Cloudflare

Fortinet SD-WAN vs. Cloudflare Magic WAN: When to Use Which

When to deploy Fortinet SD-WAN, when to use Magic WAN, and when to combine both.

Read article
Feb 2026 Security · Healthcare

Zero Trust for Healthcare: A Practical Guide

Implementing Zero Trust without disrupting clinical workflows.

Read article
Mar 2026 Utilities · Security

NERC CIP Compliance Through Network Segmentation

Step-by-step guide to NERC CIP compliance through IT/OT segmentation.

Read article
Mar 2026 Managed Services

5 Questions Every CIO Should Ask Their MSP

Questions that separate genuine operational partners from alert forwarders.

Read article
Apr 2026 Datacenter · AI

AI Infrastructure: Is Your Datacenter Ready?

What it takes to build AI-ready infrastructure — and where most organizations fall short.

Read article
Apr 2026 Collaboration · Contact Center

Cloud Contact Center Migration: Lessons from 50+ Deployments

Top mistakes when migrating from on-prem to CCaaS — and the playbook that gets it right.

Read article
May 2026 Networking · Fortinet

The Modern Branch Network Stack

How to design a standardized, secure branch network with FortiGate + FortiSwitch + FortiAP.

Read article
May 2026 Networking · AI

GenAI and Network Configuration: What 25% Automation Means

Gartner predicts GenAI will handle 25% of network configs by 2027. What that means for your team.

Read article