8-K
SideChannel, Inc. (SDCH)
UNITED
STATES
SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON,
D.C. 20549
FORM
8-K
CURRENT
REPORT
Pursuant
to Section 13 or 15(d) of
the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): March 31, 2026
SideChannel,Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
| Delaware | 000-28745 | 86-0837077 |
|---|---|---|
| (State<br> or other jurisdiction<br><br> <br>of<br> incorporation) | (Commission<br><br> <br>File<br> Number) | (IRS<br> Employer<br><br> <br>Identification<br> No.) |
146Main Street, Suite 405, Worcester, MA 01608
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
(508)925-0114
(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):
| ☐ | Written<br> communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) |
|---|---|
| ☐ | Soliciting<br> material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) |
| ☐ | Pre-commencement<br> communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) |
| ☐ | Pre-commencement<br> communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).
Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Item7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.
On March 31, 2026, SideChannel, Inc. (the “Company”) issued a press release announcing the Company has integrated artificial intelligence into its sales, marketing, and cybersecurity delivery operations. The press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference. The information contained in any website is not a part of this Current Report on Form 8-K.
In accordance with General Instruction B.2 of Form 8-K, the information included in this Item 7.01, including Exhibit 99.1, shall not be deemed to be “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall such information be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act, or the Exchange Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such a filing. The information set forth under this Item 7.01 shall not be deemed an admission as to the materiality of any information in this Current Report on Form 8-K that is required to be disclosed solely to satisfy the requirements of Regulation FD.
Item9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits
(a) Exhibits.
| Exhibit No. | Description |
|---|---|
| 99.1 | Press release of the registrant issued on March 31, 2026. |
| 104 | Cover<br> Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document) |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| SideChannel, Inc. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date:<br> March 31, 2026 | By: | /s/ Brian Haugli |
| Name: | Brian<br> Haugli | |
| Title: | Chief<br> Executive Officer |
Exhibit 99.1
SideChannel Deploys AI Across Sales, Marketing, and Cybersecurity Delivery Operations
Publiccybersecurity firm applies AI-powered operations to scale vCISO delivery, accelerate go-to-market, and increase client coverage withoutproportional headcount growth
WORCESTER,MA / ACCESS Newswire / March 31, 2026 / SideChannel, Inc. (OTCQB: SDCH), the largest vCISO (virtual CISO) firm in North America, has integrated artificial intelligence into its sales, marketing, and cybersecurity delivery operations. The initiative is designed to increase the capacity and speed of each function without a proportional increase in headcount.
SideChannel now uses AI to support its vCISO practitioners with faster assessment generation, more consistent deliverable quality, and reduced administrative overhead. On the go-to-market side, AI-powered workflows handle prospect research, content development, and campaign execution at a pace that would otherwise require a significantly larger team.
The company has applied AI across three functional areas:
CybersecurityDelivery: AI assists vCISO practitioners in producing client assessments, policy documentation, and risk management deliverables. This reduces the time between engagement kickoff and initial findings, allowing each practitioner to manage more clients with consistent quality.
SalesOperations: AI-driven research and data enrichment ensures that every client conversation begins with a deeper understanding of their business, industry, and challenges. Clients experience faster proposal development, and follow-up that reflects their specific use case. Pipeline and deal management operate more efficiently behind the scenes, resulting in a more prepared team at every stage of the engagement.
Marketing: Content creation, SEO execution, and demand generation workflows are augmented by AI, enabling the marketing team to scale targeted content, campaigns, and partner-facing initiatives efficiently.
This approach reflects SideChannel’s broader strategy of using technology to maximize impact - the same operating philosophy that shaped its Enclave platform, which consolidates multiple security controls into a single product designed for IT teams without dedicated security staff. Importantly, AI adoption at SideChannel is paired with deliberate human investment. In April, the company will welcome Paige Roderick as Director of Growth Marketing, reflecting a growth strategy that treats technology and talent as complementary forces rather than competing priorities.
“We built SideChannel to make cybersecurity accessible. AI lets us apply that same principle to how we operate as a company,” said Brian Haugli, CEO of SideChannel. “Our vCISOs spend less time on document assembly and more time advising clients. Our sales team walks into every meeting, better prepared. Our marketing team drives more targeted, high-impact programs. That’s not hype - it’s operational leverage, and it’s measurable.”
SideChannel is in a deliberate transition from a services-led business to a platform-led company. AI adoption across internal operations supports that shift by allowing the firm to scale output and client coverage while managing costs carefully during the transition period.
“Every dollar we don’t spend hiring a third person to do what two people plus AI can handle is a dollar we invest in Enclave,” Haugli added. “That’s the trade-off we’re making-and it’s the right one for this stage of the company.”
SideChannel expects to continue expanding its AI-powered operations across additional functions in 2026 as part of its ongoing effort to operate at the efficiency required for a successful platform business.
SideChannel will host a Happy Hour event during SecureWorld, offering attendees an opportunity to connect with the company’s leadership team and learn more about its cybersecurity solutions in an informal setting. Details on timing and location are available upon request.
About SideChannel
Our mission is to make cybersecurity simple and accessible for emerging to enterprise companies, a market that we believe is currently underserved. We believe that our cybersecurity product and service offerings provide cybersecurity and privacy risk management solutions for our customers. We anticipate that our target customers will continue to need cost-effective security solutions. We continue to expand our catalogue of services and solutions to address the cybersecurity needs of our customers, including virtual Chief Information Security Officer (“vCISO”), cyber program strategy, zero trust, third-party risk management, compliance readiness, cloud security services, privacy, threat intelligence, managed end-point security solutions, and cybersecurity awareness.
We are marketing and selling Enclave, a proprietary software product that simplifies important cybersecurity tasks to achieve “microsegmentation.” By combining zero trust network access with certificate management and machine identity, Enclave seamlessly creates a unified security architecture that eliminates traditional network vulnerabilities. This integration enables IT teams to enforce precise access policies based on verified machine identities. Certificate-based identities allow a simplified management for any certificate-based communication, while the zero-trust framework continuously validates every connection attempt. This powerful combination delivers robust security without the typical management overhead, allowing organizations to implement sophisticated microsegmentation strategies with remarkable simplicity and minimal resource requirements. Learn more at sidechannel.com.
Investors and shareholders are encouraged to receive press releases and industry updates by subscribing to the investor email newsletter and following SideChannel on X and LinkedIn.
You may contact us at:
SideChannel
146 Main Street, Suite 405
Worcester, MA 01608
press@sidechannel.com
Forward-LookingStatements
Thispress release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management’s view of SideChannel’s futureexpectations, plans and prospects. In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words “believes”, “hopes”,“expects”, “intends”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “potential”, “could”,“should” or “may”, and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Examplesof forward-looking statements include, among others, statements relating to future sales, earnings, cash flows, results of operations,uses of cash and other measures of financial performance.
Becauseforward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause SideChannel’sactual results and financial condition to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Theserisk factors include, but are not limited to: that we have incurred net losses since inception, our need for additional funding, thesubstantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, and the terms of any future funding we raise; our ability to growrevenues from our Enclave product; our dependence on current management and our ability to attract and retain qualified employees; competitionfor our products; our ability to develop and successfully introduce new products, improve current products and innovate; unpredictabilityin our operating results; our ability to retain existing licensees and add new licensees; our ability to manage our growth; our abilityto protect our intellectual property (IP), enforce our IP rights and defend against claims that we infringed on the IP of others; therisk associated with the concentration of our cash in financial institutions at levels above the amount protected by FDIC insurance;and other risk factors included from time to time in documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but notlimited to, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. These reports are availableat www.sec.gov.
Otherunknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects that could cause actual results to differ materially from thoseprojected or represented in the forward-looking statements. Further, factors that we do not presently deem material as of the date ofthis release may become material in the future. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of thedate hereof. SideChannel cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. Accordingly, you should notplace undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, SideChannel undertakes no obligation to update these forward-lookingstatements after the date of this release, except as required by law, nor any obligation to update or correct information prepared bythird parties.