About HashWhales

The people who manage your technology.

HashWhales is a founder-led IT support and cybersecurity provider in Arlington, VA. When you hire us, you work directly with the team that manages your network, secures your systems, and builds your website — no account managers, no offshore handoffs.

  • Founder-ledDirect access, no account managers
  • Arlington, VALocal to DC, MD & VA
  • CertifiedCompTIA Security+ engineering

Our Mission

At HashWhales, we manage the IT support, cybersecurity, and business technology that small and midsize companies depend on — networks, devices, backups, and security, plus the websites and software that run day to day. Our mission is to give businesses the reliability of an in-house IT department without the overhead: one accountable team, clear communication, and no jargon.

Founded in 2024 by Mustafa Aknan and headquartered in Arlington, VA, HashWhales has grown from a solo operation into a seven-person engineering team spanning backend, frontend, network engineering, and design — while keeping the standard it started with: hands-on healthcare IT experience in HIPAA-regulated environments and CompTIA Security+, Network+, and A+ certification, brought to every engagement from a small business's first website to a growing company's ongoing IT and security operations.

The People

Who you're working with

HashWhales is founder-led. The engineers below scope, build, and secure every project directly — no handoffs, no outsourcing. Call or text (571) 725-9944 and you reach the people doing the work.

Mustafa Aknan, Founder & Principal Consultant at Hashwhales

Mustafa Aknan

Founder & Principal Consultant

CompTIA Security+, Network+, and A+ certified engineer with a B.S. in Information Science (Cybersecurity minor) from the University of Pittsburgh, plus hands-on healthcare IT experience in HIPAA-regulated environments. Leads the scoping, build, security, and maintenance of every client project — and works with clients in English, Arabic, Russian, and Ukrainian.

Rui Cao, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer at Hashwhales

Rui Cao

Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Sets the technical architecture for client projects, runs code review across every active repo, and owns delivery timelines. B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh; background building production Spring Boot/React platforms and integrating AI-driven tools into engineering workflows.

Jackie Qian, Senior Front-End Developer at Hashwhales

Jackie Qian

Senior Front-End Developer

Leads front-end architecture for Mykefi, HashWhales' SaaS platform for restaurant and local-service operations, and has shipped React interfaces for UPMC's Street Medicine program. Pursuing a Master's in Information Systems & AI at Johns Hopkins' Carey Business School (B.S. Computer Science, University of Pittsburgh).

Joey Zhang, Backend Engineer at Hashwhales

Joey Zhang

Backend Engineer

Background in Java/Spring Boot backend systems and AWS cloud architecture, including workflow integrations for enterprise banking systems and cloud-based forecasting platforms. Pursuing a Master's in Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence at Johns Hopkins (B.S. Computer Science, Shanghai University).

Maksym Diachok

Front-End Developer & Integration

Full-stack developer with a background in Flutter, NestJS, and Unity, based in Ukraine. Handles front-end development and system integration across client projects. B.S. in Program Engineering, Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.

Kareem Akanan

Customer Support & Network Engineer

Network engineer and customer support lead. Interned at IBM in Frostburg, then spent four years (2020–2024) as a network engineer at Lockheed Martin. CompTIA Network+, AWS, and Cisco certified.

Kate Lamontagne

Designer & QA Tester

Designer and QA tester. Spent three years as a QA engineer at Vodafone, then earned a Master's in Information Science at George Mason University before joining HashWhales.

Our Philosophy

The Three Whales of Technology

Long ago, sailors told stories of a world carried on the backs of vast creatures who held the balance of the seas. In the digital age, we carry that same responsibility for your enterprise.

Cybersecurity — protecting the digital depths

Cybersecurity

The guardian of the depths. In an ocean where threats lurk as unseen predators, we harden your attack surface with glowing rigor. We ensure your data, secrets, and trust never drown in the abyss of vulnerability.

Software development — building digital cities

Software Development

The architect of progress. We build cities of code upon bridges of logic and creativity. Singing in the language of high-performance algorithms, we give life to the applications and platforms that drive your heartbeat of innovation.

Infrastructure & networking — connecting digital horizons

Infrastructure & Networking

The connector of horizons. We weave streams of light into a vast net that binds shores together. Without this pillar, the others drift alone; with it, your whispered goals are heard and realized across the global digital landscape.

What Sets Us Apart

Security-First Engineering

Every system we build is hardened from day one — secure headers, dependency scanning, OWASP Top 10 remediation, and least-privilege access controls.

Sub-1.2s Performance Target

We optimize for Core Web Vitals, CDN delivery, and server response time — targeting sub-1.2s TTFB on every platform we ship.

Transparent Pricing

Fixed-scope quotes with no hidden fees. You see the full cost before work begins, and scope changes require written agreement.

24/7 Monitoring & Support

We deploy synthetic monitoring, uptime alerts, and incident response runbooks — and we answer when something breaks at 2 AM.

OWASP-Audited Codebases

Every codebase is reviewed against the OWASP Top 10 before launch — injection flaws, broken auth, XSS, and SSRF closed before they reach production.

Zero-Downtime Release Process

CI/CD pipelines with blue-green deployments and automated rollback mean your users never see a maintenance window during a release.

Ready to harden your infrastructure?

Book a free technology audit and get an honest assessment of your security posture, performance gaps, and infrastructure risks — no sales pressure, no obligation.

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