Hall, Kistler & Company LLP, a Canton-based certified public accounting and advisory firm, is celebrating its 85th anniversary in 2026, marking nearly a century of service to businesses, individuals, and nonprofit organizations throughout Stark County and beyond.

CANTON, Ohio, Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Hall, Kistler & Company LLP, a Canton-based certified public accounting and advisory firm, is celebrating its 85th anniversary in 2026, marking nearly a century of service to businesses, individuals, and nonprofit organizations throughout Stark County and beyond.

Founded in 1941, Hall, Kistler provides tax, audit, accounting, valuation, and strategic advisory services. While 85 years in business is a meaningful milestone, firm leadership says the anniversary represents more than longevity.

“For us, this milestone reflects the relationships we’ve built and the responsibility we feel to the community that has supported us,” said Keith Arner, CPA, CVA. “We are grateful to the clients and team members, past and present, who have trusted us and helped shape our firm over the last 85 years.”

A Commitment Beyond the Numbers

From its earliest days, Hall, Kistler has maintained a strong commitment to strengthening the local community. The firm’s professionals serve in leadership roles, volunteer their time, and support initiatives that contribute to the region’s economic vitality and quality of life.

Through its work advising businesses, nonprofits, and families, HK has helped organizations grow responsibly, navigate change, and plan for the future. By supporting companies and individuals who invest in the community themselves, the firm’s impact extends well beyond the services it provides.

“We believe strong businesses build strong communities,” said Franklin Arner, CPA. “When our clients succeed, our community benefits. That belief continues to guide our work.”

Positioned for the Future

Throughout economic shifts, regulatory changes, and generational transitions, HK has remained a steady and trusted partner. The firm continues to invest in its people, technology, and service offerings to meet the evolving needs of clients.

With a multigenerational team and a long-term focus, Hall, Kistler is well-positioned to continue serving clients for years to come.

“As we reflect on the past, we are equally focused on the future,” said Seth Turner, CVA, CPA. “We are proud of our history and excited about the opportunities ahead as we work toward our 100th year and beyond.”

Expanding into Wealth Management

In keeping with its long-standing commitment to helping clients plan for the future, Hall, Kistler, is pleased to introduce HK Wealth Management LLC.

HK Wealth Management was created to help clients receive more coordinated guidance across taxes, investments, retirement planning, business transitions, estate planning, and long-term wealth management.

Through a strategic relationship with Pinnacle Advisors, HK Wealth Management combines the trusted tax and advisory relationship clients already have with Hall, Kistler and the wealth management platform, CFP® planning professionals, investment process, trust capabilities, technology, reporting, and operational support of Pinnacle.

HK will remain actively involved in the client relationship, helping ensure planning conversations stay coordinated and aligned with each client’s overall financial picture.

As Hall, Kistler celebrates 85 years, the firm extends sincere appreciation to the clients who have placed their trust in HK across generations and to the professionals whose dedication has built its reputation.

With nearly a century of history behind it and a clear vision ahead, Hall, Kistler remains committed to serving its clients and community for generations to come.

For more information, visit www.hallkistler.com.

Media Contact

Seth A. Turner, CPA, CVA, Hall, Kistler & Company, 1 330-453-7633, seth@hallkistler.com, www.hallkistler.com

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SOURCE Hall, Kistler & Company

WESTLAKE, Ohio, Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Equity Trust Company, a leading financial services company with over 50 years of experience, today announced the expansion of its Crypto IRA offering, giving retirement investors more ways to hold digital assets within a tax-advantaged account. The expanded lineup gives investors two dedicated ways to invest in cryptocurrency through an IRA, with $0 fees to open either account.

The Automated Crypto IRA is an AI-driven, algorithmic solution powered by award-winning Animus Technologies that Equity Trust IRA customers can access with just a $25,000 minimum investment, a fraction of the $250,000 minimum required of after-tax and institutional investors. Animus uses proprietary algorithms to continuously evaluate market conditions and automatically recommend and execute Bitcoin and Ethereum trades using predefined, rules-based investment models. According to Animus CEO, Maximilian Pace, “Our relationship with Equity Trust provides IRA investors access to automated, institutional-grade technology to maintain a disciplined crypto strategy inside their tax-advantaged account.” 

The Equity Crypto IRA is a self-traded account that gives hands-on investors the flexibility to buy, sell, and hold a broad range of cryptocurrencies. Investors who choose the self-traded Equity Crypto IRA place their trades through Equity Trust’s proprietary Digital Trading Platform, an integrated experience within the myEQUITY online account management system that allows investors to buy, sell, and hold a broad range of cryptocurrencies within their IRA. Through the Digital Trading Platform, Equity Trust provides access to a range of eligible digital assets across multiple categories, including large-cap cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), AI & blockchain infrastructure, payments & digital commerce, and blockchain innovation to meet the broad portfolio needs of crypto investors.

Security is foundational to Equity Trust. That’s why all digital assets are held using institutional-grade custody and cold wallet protection backed by specialty insurance coverage. This best-in-class approach delivers a secure, purpose-built solution that gives investors direct cryptocurrency ownership within a tax-advantaged IRA.

“As investors’ interest in digital assets continues to evolve, they’re looking for solutions that offer both innovation and confidence,” said George Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of Equity Trust Company. “Our goal is to give retirement investors greater choice in how they invest. Whether they want a fully self-traded experience with our Equity Crypto IRA or a more automated approach with our Automated Crypto IRA, our expanded offering meets investors where they are, backed by the security and custody solutions they expect from Equity Trust.”

For decades, Equity Trust has helped retirement investors diversify beyond traditional stocks and bonds by providing access to a broad range of alternative investments. Today, that same philosophy extends further with an expanded and enhanced cryptocurrency experience, giving eligible investors direct ownership of digital assets within their IRA through the Equity Crypto IRA and the Automated Crypto IRA — both supported by institutional-grade security.

To learn more about Equity Trust’s Crypto IRA solutions, visit https://www.trustetc.com/crypto-ira/

About Equity Trust Company
With more than 50 years of experience, Equity Trust Company has helped retirement investors diversify beyond traditional investments through self-directed retirement accounts. Equity Trust provides custody and administration services for a broad range of alternative assets, including real estate, private equity, private lending, precious metals, digital assets, and more.

Equity Trust Company is a directed custodian and does not provide tax, legal or investment advice. Any information communicated by Equity Trust is for educational purposes only, and should not be construed as tax, legal or investment advice. Whenever making an investment decision, please consult with your tax attorney or financial professional.

Newsroom

Sharae Richmond
Manager, Content Strategy
s.richmond@trustetc.com

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SOURCE Equity Trust Company

Global companies across the technology, finance, telecom, cybersecurity, manufacturing, and logistics sectors are among the organisations linked to the exposure

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Aug. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — CloudSek, an AI-native predictive cyber-intelligence company, today announced that it has identified more than 2,500 organisations that may have been potentially affected by a major AI supply chain incident involving LiteLLM in March 2026, with approximately 434,000 automated software-development pipelines linked to the exposure. LiteLLM is an open-source tool widely used by organisations to connect applications with artificial intelligence models.

The potentially affected organisations span some of the world’s most critical industries, including technology, cybersecurity, banking and financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing, consulting, logistics, and enterprise software.

CloudSEK’s exposure dataset includes high-confidence matches associated with major global organisations including NVIDIA, Samsung Electronics, Cisco Systems, Siemens, S&P Global, ServiceNow, Deloitte, Vodafone, X Corp, Zscaler, FedEx, Volkswagen, Thales and London Stock Exchange Group, among others. (Free Exposure Checker: https://exposure.cloudsek.com/ai-supply-chain-incident)

The significance of the incident lies not only in the number of organisations involved, but also in what may have been exposed inside their environments. Potentially accessible information included cloud credentials, source-code access, server keys, software-development secrets, AI API keys and other credentials that could give attackers access to critical business systems. For affected organisations, this could mean exposure far beyond a single AI tool.

If valid credentials were obtained, attackers could potentially:

Access corporate cloud environmentsEnter internal servers and systemsSteal proprietary source codeAccess or manipulate software-development infrastructureAbuse AI platforms using stolen API credentialsMove deeper into corporate networksUse legitimate company credentials to disguise malicious activityTarget customers, partners or suppliers through trusted access

The incident potentially exposed the digital keys to some of the most sensitive parts of an organisation’s technology environment.

CloudSEK stresses that appearing in the dataset does not automatically mean that an organisation was successfully breached or that data was stolen, but rather that information associated with the organisation was identified in the exposure and should be investigated urgently.

Thousands of Organisations Potentially Exposed in Just 40 Minutes

The incident occurred in March 2026 after cybercriminal group Team PCP compromised LiteLLM. Malicious versions of LiteLLM were reportedly available through the Python software repository PyPI for only around 40 minutes. Despite the short window, CloudSEK’s analysis identified approximately 434,000 CI/CD pipelines, automated systems companies use to build, test and deploy software, potentially connected to the exposure. CI/CD pipelines can automatically download software packages without a developer manually reviewing every component, making it possible for a malicious package to potentially spread across large numbers of corporate systems very quickly. For organisations using the affected versions, the malicious package could have operated inside development environments containing highly sensitive credentials.

What Potentially Affected Organisations May Have Exposed

CloudSEK identified several categories of sensitive information that may have been accessible from affected environments, including:

AWS credentialsGoogle Cloud credentialsMicrosoft Azure credentialsSource-code repository credentialsSSH keys used to access serversKubernetes access tokensCI/CD and deployment secretsEnvironment variables containing passwords and tokensLLM and AI API keys

For businesses, these credentials can be extremely sensitive because they are often what employees, applications, and automated systems use to prove their identity. If attackers successfully obtained them, they may not need to “hack” the company again. They could simply log in using legitimate credentials, creating a particularly serious risk because malicious activity performed through valid credentials can be much harder for security teams to detect.

The Victims May Remain at Risk Months After the Initial Attack

The original malicious package has been removed, but the security risk may not have ended if the attackers copied credentials while the compromised package was active. Removing LiteLLM does not automatically invalidate those credentials. A cloud key, API token or server credential could remain valid until the organisation itself changes or revokes it, leaving organisations potentially exposed during the March incident facing continued risk for weeks or months.

Stolen credentials could potentially be:

Used to access corporate systemsReused for future attacksSold to other cybercriminalsShared between threat groupsUsed to steal sensitive corporate informationUsed to compromise software delivered to customersUsed as an entry point for ransomware or other attacks

The potential consequences for affected organisations could include data breaches, intellectual-property theft, operational disruption, financial losses, regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage.

High and Medium Confidence: What It Means for Identified Organisations

CloudSEK classifies organisations according to the strength of evidence linking them to the exposure:

A high-confidence match means there are strong technical indicators—such as identifiable corporate domains, repositories, credentials or infrastructure—that clearly associate the exposed information with a particular organisation.A medium-confidence match means there are credible indicators suggesting a connection, but the available evidence is not strong enough to establish the association with the same level of certainty.

The classifications indicate how strongly CloudSEK can associate the exposed information with the organisation, not whether an attacker subsequently used that information. Neither high nor medium confidence should be interpreted as confirmation that the organisation suffered a successful cyberattack.

One Compromised Package, Thousands of Potential Victims

The incident demonstrates why software supply-chain attacks can have such a large impact. Attackers do not necessarily need to breach thousands of companies individually. They can target a piece of software that thousands of companies already trust and use. Once the compromised software enters automated development environments, it can potentially gain access to credentials and systems belonging to large numbers of organisations simultaneously.

The scale of this breach highlights how a single compromise in the AI software ecosystem can potentially create security consequences across thousands of businesses around the world.

Why AI Infrastructure Is Becoming an Attractive Target

The LiteLLM incident also shows how AI infrastructure is emerging as a valuable target for cybercriminals. Companies are rapidly connecting AI tools to their cloud infrastructure, internal applications, source code, databases, and business systems. As a result, compromising an AI gateway or related software may provide attackers with access to much more than the AI application itself. AI gateways, MCP servers, AI agents, and other AI infrastructure increasingly sit at the center of enterprise environments, connecting systems that previously operated separately, making the AI layer an increasingly attractive point of entry for attackers.

FBI Warning Highlights Continuing Concern

The FBI issued FLASH-20260702-01 on July 2, 2026, covering cybercriminal group TeamPCP, highlighting the continuing security concern surrounding the group and its activity.

CloudSEK is making its exposure research publicly available so potentially affected organisations can determine whether their infrastructure appears in the dataset and act before exposed access can be reused. Organisations identified in the exposure should investigate relevant systems, review access logs, and immediately rotate or revoke potentially exposed credentials.

CloudSEK Releases Free Tool for Potential Victims

CloudSEK has released a free exposure-checking tool to help organisations determine whether credentials or infrastructure associated with them appear in the identified dataset.

Full List of Potentially Affected Organisations:
https://exposure.cloudsek.com/ai-supply-chain-incident

Full Research Report:
https://www.cloudsek.com/blog/ai-supply-chain-breach-2500-companies-434000-cicd-pipelines

CloudSEK AIVigil: Monitoring Enterprise AI Exposure

CloudSEK’s AIVigil continuously identifies exposed AI infrastructure, leaked AI credentials, MCP servers, vector databases, AI-agent workflows, and unauthorized AI deployments. The platform combines CloudSEK’s cyber-threat intelligence with AI attack-surface monitoring to help organisations identify exposed systems, credentials, and possible attack paths before attackers can use them to gain wider access.

About CloudSEK

CloudSEK is an AI-native predictive cyber-intelligence company that helps organisations identify potential attack paths and exposed access before attackers exploit them.

Its platform combines digital-risk protection, cyber-threat intelligence, external attack-surface monitoring, AI attack-surface monitoring and third-party risk intelligence.

To learn more, visit https://cloudsek.com or write to info@cloudsek.com.

CloudSEK Media Contact

Shashank Shekhar
shashank.shekhar@cloudsek.com
+91 9811379924

Ankita Purkayastha
ankita.p@cloudsek.com
+91 8876142863

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SOURCE CloudSEK