Network Break

byPacket Pushers

NewsTechnology

Network Break keeps you informed with fast, focused analysis of IT news, products, tech trends, and business outcomes. Blending sharp commentary with a touch of humor, hosts Greg Ferro and Drew Conry-Murray sift through the weekly landslide of press announcements, product launches, financial reports, and marketing decks to find the stories worth talking about. You come away with the information and context to make smart decisions in your organization and career … all in the span of a (longish) coffee break.

Episodes(40 episodes)

CISA Says Harden Endpoint Managers; NVIDIA Launches GPUs for Orbital Workloads

Take a Network Break! We sound a red alert about a swarm of critical D-Link vulnerabilities. In this week’s news, CISA warns organizations to harden endpoint management systems in the wake of a cyberattack that used the target’s own Microsoft Intune system to wipe thousands of devices, Cisco rolls an NVIDIA ASIC into an N9100... Read more »

Published: Mar 23, 2026Duration: 22m 43s

Google Spins Out Fiber Business; HPE Networking Revenue Soars in Q1

Take a Network Break! We begin with listener follow-up on Cisco SD-WAN vulnerabilities and a report that Nvidia is investing billions to develop open-source AI models. In our Red Alert section we warn of multiple vulnerabilities in Veeam’s backup software for Windows and a couple of Chrome zero-days. We cover new features in Fortinet’s FortiOS... Read more »

Published: Mar 16, 2026Duration: 29m 39s

New Algorithm Claims Quicker Quantum Decryption; Nvidia Revenue Rockets Higher

Take a Network Break! Guest commentator Tom Hollingsworth joins Drew for today’s episode. We start with a double Red Alert from Cisco for its Secure FMC software. On the news front, Cato Networks adds adaptive threat prevention to its SASE offering that looks for seemingly innocuous signals that could add up to an attack, Google... Read more »

Published: Mar 9, 2026Duration: 45m 21s

New Juniper Routers Pump Up AI and Cloud-Scale Traffic; Anthropic Vs. DoD

Take a Network Break! We start with follow-up on the proper pronunciation of the US state of Nevada, and then sound the alarm about new research that gets around WiFi client isolation and could enable man-in-the-middle attacks. On the news front, AMD and Meta strike a massive deal in which AMD will sell its stock... Read more »

Published: Mar 2, 2026Duration: 52m 1s

Palo Alto Networks Nets Koi for AI Security; Quantum Networking Notches Research Wins

Take a Network Break! We start with follow-ups on secure browsers and data centers in space, and then sound the red alert about an RCE vulnerability in NLTK. On the news front, Palo Alto Networks acquires a startup that monitors endpoints for malicious packages, browser extensions, scripts, and other threats, Lumen debuts a multi-cloud gateway... Read more »

Published: Feb 23, 2026Duration: 30m 56s

Cisco Challenges Broadcom With 102.4Tb ASIC; Arista Reaches Record Revenues

Take a Network Break! We start with listener follow-up on data centers in space, and sound the Red Alert about a sandbox failure in Claude Code and a rash of Microsoft zero-days. On the news front, Cisco announces a 102.4Tbps switch ASIC in its Silicon One line of homegrown chips, and adds AI agent monitoring... Read more »

Published: Feb 17, 2026Duration: 42m 3s

Kubernetes Retires Ingress NGINX; Are Data Centers Headed for Orbit?

Take a Network Break! We start with a trio of follow-ups, including a correction regarding Mplify certifications, Cisco proposing new OSI layers, and free-space optics. Our Red Alert sounds off about a remote code execution vulnerability in the Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile agent. On the news front, Broadcom announces new silicon for wireless APs for... Read more »

Published: Feb 9, 2026Duration: 34m 49s

Microsoft Doubles Down on Custom AI Chip; CrowdStrike Brandishes Big Bucks for Browser Security

Take a Network Break! We’ve got Red Alerts for HPE Juniper Session Smart Routers and SolarWinds. In this week’s news, Microsoft debuts its second-generation AI inferencing chip, Mplify rolls out a new Carrier Ethernet certification for supporting AI workloads, and AWS upgrades its network firewall to spot GenAI application traffic and filter Web categories. Google... Read more »

Published: Feb 2, 2026Duration: 33m 41s

Cisco Builds Nexus Switch for Intel AI Chips; TeraWave Promises 6Tbps from Space

Take a Network Break! We start with a Red Alert in Oracle’s WebLogic Server Proxy Plugin for Apache or IIS, which has a severity score of 10. In the news, Fortinet warns that attackers have found a new exploit path against previously-patched vulnerabilities, Microsoft 365 services suffered an outage, and ServiceNow inks a deal with... Read more »

Published: Jan 26, 2026Duration: 44m 59s

Microsoft Buys Indulgences for Carbon Sins; Starlink Cleared for 7,500 More Satellites

Take a Network Break! This week we start with follow-up from a perhaps not-so-red Red Alert, and then cover two very-red Red Alerts. On the news front, Ruckus Wireless gets a new parent company, and sources say Extreme Networks may be interested in bringing Ruckus into its fold. AT&T rolls out an IoT management offering,... Read more »

Published: Jan 19, 2026Duration: 27m 21s

Meta Goes Nuclear; Arista Taps EVPN VXLAN for Massive Mobility Domains

Take a Network Break! The virtual donut factory is back from hiatus, and we’ve got a fresh batch to pass around as we discuss the week’s tech news. We start with an emergency patch for Cisco ISE, then dig into a set of new product announcements from Arista including a new ability to deploy wireless... Read more »

Published: Jan 12, 2026Duration: 28m 35s

2025 Wrap: Insatiable AI, the Worst Top 5, Space Networking Surges, and More

Take a Network Break! We close out 2025 with a look back at some of the stories and trends that captured our attention this year. We start with the top five vendors with the worst track records in 2025 for zero-days in critical enterprise infrastructure. On the news front, we discuss the insanity of the... Read more »

Published: Dec 15, 2025Duration: 48m 45s

AI and APIs Drive HPE's Dual-Platform WLAN Strategy; Dell, HPE Dangle VMware Alternatives

Take a Network Break! Our Red Alert calls out a dangerous vulnerability in the popular open-source React library. On the news front, HPE decides on a “both and” strategy for its two wireless portfolios and rolls out an option to let customers pick and choose among cross-platform features in Mist and Aruba Networking Central through... Read more »

Published: Dec 8, 2025Duration: 47m 6s

AWS, Google Link Public Clouds; Trading Data Center Has Zero Chill

Take a Network Break! We start with listener follow-up on Fortinet’s vulnerability numbering, and sound a red alert about an authentication bypass vulnerability in ASUS’s AiCloud service. AWS and Google announce a joint cross-cloud interconnect offering (other cloud providers are invited to play), Microsoft and Ciena pitch a new design to boost optical network resiliency,... Read more »

Published: Dec 2, 2025Duration: 36m 44s

Palo Alto Networks Acquires Chronosphere; New Agentic AI Products for Orchestration and Networking

Take a Network Break! We start with a relative path traversal vulnerability in Fortinet’s FortiWeb. We’ll move on to an acquisition by Palo Alto Networks, another hiccup from our friends at Cloudflare, some AI announcements by Itential and Gluware, and finish with first quarter 2026 fiscal results from Palo Alto Networks. AdSpot Sponsor: Itential ... Read more »

Published: Nov 24, 2025Duration: 47m 22s

Nokia Switches On AI Ops; IBM Seeks a Quantum of Advantage

Take a Network Break! Red Hat Samba server has a remote command execution vulnerability, and we cover some follow-up on fusion as a viable energy source (still a work in progress). On the news front, we search for signs in SoftBank’s sale of its Nividia stake, Mplify debuts a new certificate on carrier Ethernet for... Read more »

Published: Nov 17, 2025Duration: 44m 58s

Cisco Adds AI to Tech Support; Cryptography Hits a Post-Quantum Milestone

Take a Network Break! We start with a critical vulnerability in Cisco’s Unified Contact Center Express. On the news front it’s a Cisco triple play: the company brings AI to professional services and tech support with Cisco IQ, debuts converged infrastructure for the AI edge, and launches a new cert geared for running AI data... Read more »

Published: Nov 10, 2025Duration: 28m 59s

A Bouquet of AI Switches; DNS Strikes Again

Take a Network Break! We start with some educational content on Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, and sound the alarm about a sandbox escape affecting the Firefox browser. On the news front, a DNS issue triggers a major Azure outage that affected numerous services and caused problems around the globe, Palo Alto Networks announces enhancements to... Read more »

Published: Nov 3, 2025Duration: 29m 38s

Startups Take on Switch, ASIC Incumbents; Google Claims Quantum Advantage

Take a Network Break! Companies spying on…I mean, monitoring…their employees via software called WorkExaminer should be aware of a login bypass that needs to be locked down. On the news front, we opine on whether it’s worth trying to design your way around AWS outages, and speculate on the prospects of a new Ethernet switch... Read more »

Published: Oct 27, 2025Duration: 49m 32s

Broadcom Brings Chips to Wi-Fi 8 Party; Attorneys General Scrutinize HPE/Juniper Settlement

Take a Network Break! On today’s coverage, F5 releases an emergency security update after state-backed threat actors breach internal systems, and North Korean attackers use the blockchain to host and hide malware. Broadcom is shipping an 800G NIC aimed at AI workloads, and Broadcom joins the Wi-Fi 8 party early with a sampling of pre-standard... Read more »

Published: Oct 20, 2025Duration: 29m 16s