IT SPARC Cast

In this week’s IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes , John and Lou explore the intersection of AI, hardware, and IT freedom — from creative tension at EA to chipmaking disruption. First, Electronic Arts (EA) launches ReefGPT , an internal AI design tool meant to boost productivity across studios. Developers say it’s unreliable and fear job losses, while leadership insists AI is the future. John and Lou unpa...

In this special Halloween edition of CVE of the Week , John and Lou dive into a truly chilling scenario — a high-severity DNS poisoning flaw that could be the perfect setup for a wave of phishing attacks and credential theft across enterprise networks. The star of the episode: CVE-2025-40778 , a newly discovered vulnerability in BIND 9’s resolver logic . This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers...

In this week’s IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes , John and Lou explore the fast-moving world of AI, quantum computing, and cloud reliability. First up, OpenAI launches Atlas , an AI-powered browser with ChatGPT built in—complete with persistent memory, agent mode, and deep personalization. But as John warns, “If ChatGPT can see everything you do, that includes your company’s data.” Lou connects it to la...

In this episode of CVE of the Week , John and Lou unpack a fresh pair of vulnerabilities affecting one of the most common tools on Windows desktops — 7-Zip . Tracked as CVE-2025-11001 and CVE-2025-11002 , these directory traversal flaws allow attackers to craft malicious archives that can escape the extraction folder , overwrite arbitrary files , and potentially lead to remote code execution (RCE)...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John and Lou cover the latest updates from Ubiquiti, Google, and the global supply chain. First, UniFi Network 9.5 rolls out with Channel AI, a next-gen visualization tool that uses AI to map RF interference, optimize channels, and improve roaming performance. Add in wired port anomaly detection, Bonjour and multicast enhancements, and it’s clear—Ubiq...

A suspected state-sponsored attack has breached F5 Networks , compromising source code, customer data, and production systems . With F5 handling 85% of global load balancing , this could expose countless organizations to new zero-day vulnerabilities. John and Lou break down how it happened, what’s at risk, and what you should do right now if your infrastructure depends on F5 BIG-IP or related syst...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes , John and Lou break down three big stories that touch nearly every corner of enterprise IT—from power to code to storage. First, Ubiquiti expands into the UPS market with the new UniFi Uninterruptible Power Supply , combining network management integration, graceful shutdown control, and plug-and-play simplicity for small offices and home labs. Then,...

In this week’s episode of IT SPARC Cast - CVE of the Week , John Barger and Lou Schmidt dive deep into CVE-2025-49844 , a newly discovered and critical remote code execution vulnerability in Redis —the in-memory database that powers over 75% of cloud services . This flaw, dubbed “RediShell” , scores a perfect 10.0 CVSS and affects Redis instances using Lua scripting , allowing attackers to execute...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes , John and Lou dive into three stories that blur the line between security, AI, and sci-fi becoming reality. First, a jaw-dropping report reveals landlords using tenant-screening services to demand employee workplace logins —scraping paystubs directly from systems like ADP. It’s not only unethical—it’s potentially illegal. John and Lou unpack the secur...

In this eye-opening episode of IT SPARC Cast - CVE of the Week , John Barger and Lou Schmidt explore a shocking vulnerability that doesn’t exploit code — it exploits hardware. Specifically, they dive into how Intel and AMD’s Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), once hailed as unbreakable, can be compromised via physical attacks. From voltage glitching to signal probing, these advanced threats ar...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes , John and Lou break down three stories reshaping enterprise IT and beyond. Nvidia plans to pour up to $100B into OpenAI , funding 10 gigawatts of new data center capacity—raising big questions about power, infrastructure, and the AI arms race. Next, we explore a moon helium deal that marks the biggest-ever purchase of natural resources from space. A F...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week, John and Lou break down CVE-2025-20352 , a serious SNMP vulnerability impacting Cisco’s IOS and IOS XE software. Rated CVSS 7.7, this flaw allows attackers with read-only SNMP credentials to crash your system—and with admin credentials, it can escalate to full remote code execution as root . That’s right—root. We explain why this threat is more d...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes , John and Lou cover three stories that hit at the core of enterprise IT and the global tech economy. Ubiquiti expands its portfolio with a new UniFi NAS lineup , featuring everything from 2-bay PoE-powered appliances to rackmount Pro units with 10G and redundant power. The move puts UniFi in direct competition with Synology—but with its own unique twi...

In this week’s episode of IT SPARC Cast - CVE of the Week , John Barger and Lou Schmidt dive into CVE-2025-10585 , a newly discovered and actively exploited Chrome zero-day vulnerability that targets the V8 JavaScript engine. This type confusion flaw opens the door to arbitrary code execution — and yes, it’s already being used in the wild. With 70% of the browser market affected , this isn’t just...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes , John and Lou explore three stories that could reshape IT’s future. GitHub’s launch of SpecKit signals the end of “vibe coding” as we know it—ushering in a new era of spec-driven development that empowers product managers to become builders. Next, we dive deep (literally) into the nuclear startup Deep Fission, which just went public via a SPAC with a...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week , John Barger and Lou Schmidt unravel the truth behind PromptLocker — the so-called first “AI-powered ransomware.” Initially flagged by ESET and widely misunderstood as an active cyber threat, PromptLocker was actually part of a controlled academic research project from NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, known as “Ransomware 3.0.” We break down h...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes , John and Lou unpack OpenAI’s controversial decision to escalate certain ChatGPT conversations to law enforcement—and what that means for user privacy and corporate risk. They then turn to Shadow AI: the unsanctioned use of ChatGPT, Claude, and others by employees, and how enterprises can detect, monitor, and respond without overreacting. Finally, the...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week , John and Lou dive into a stealthy supply chain attack involving a malicious npm package impersonating NodeMailer. This package—nodejs-smtp—was designed to exploit unsuspecting developers by mimicking legitimate behavior while secretly stealing funds from popular cryptocurrency wallets like Atomic Wallet and Exodus on Windows systems . The attack...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes , John and Lou dissect the tension between privacy and surveillance as the FTC doubles down on encryption protection amid global pressures. Then it’s into the shadows as hackers weaponize generative AI to write malware, exploit zero-days, and outpace defenses. Finally, the hosts break down Nvidia’s record-shattering revenue report and explore what it m...

Russian state-sponsored hackers are actively exploiting a seven-year-old Cisco vulnerability—CVE-2018-0171—and turning forgotten infrastructure into surveillance tools. On this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week , John Barger and Lou Schmidt break down how outdated Cisco hardware is being targeted through the Smart Install feature and how the FSB-linked group “Berserk Bear” is using them t...

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John and Lou take on three stories that highlight where enterprise IT is innovating—and where it’s still falling short. Ubiquiti’s UniFi Network 9.4 is out, and it’s more than just an update. John breaks down how Object Networking simplifies dynamic policy management and monitoring, delivering enterprise-grade controls to SMBs without scripting. You’l...

This week on CVE of the Week , John and Lou break down the rising threat of QuirkyLoader , a new malware loader delivering Remote Access Trojans and info-stealers through DLL sideloading. But the real danger? It’s hiding in plain sight—QR codes. We explore the rise of quishing (QR code phishing), why QR codes are the new “USB drives in the parking lot,” and how both the IT and marketing teams migh...

In the Season 2 premiere of IT SPARC Cast - News Bytes, John & Lou return with a fresh batch of IT news and sharp insights. From the ethics of digital afterlives to AI-enhanced help desks, this episode dives into the weird, the practical, and the quietly transformative. First, they explore whether the dead should have a “digital delete button”, as tech platforms debate data rights for the dece...

We’re kicking off Season 2 of IT SPARC Cast - CVE of the Week with a critical vulnerability warning that should make every DevOps and IT leader take notice. This episode dives into the shocking discovery that 35 Docker Hub images still contain malware linked to the 2024 XZ Utils supply chain attack—highlighting massive blind spots in container security. John and Lou explore how this outdated explo...

In this season finale of IT SPARC Cast - News Bytes , John & Lou close out Season 1 with a jam-packed episode of enterprise IT updates. First up, Ubiquiti releases a self-hosted UniFi OS Server for MSPs and labs, letting users run powerful network tools on their own hardware—no licensing fees, no cloud lock-in. It’s a move that’s making waves in MSP and homelab circles alike. Next, they unpack...