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PODCAST

IT SPARC Cast

IT SPARC Cast is a digest of the Enterprise IT news over the last week, with insights, opinions, and a little sarcasm from 2 experts each with over 20 years of experience working in IT or for IT vendors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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All Episodes

10:17

Android CVE-2026-21385: The IoT Devices IT Forgot to...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/03/06

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week, John Barger and Lou Schmidt dive into a newly exploited Android vulnerability that many IT teams may be overlooking.The issue centers around CVE-2026-21385, a high-severity vulnerability affecting Qualcomm graphics components used in Android devices. While the vulnerability requires physical access, it is actively being exploited in the wild, making it a serious concern for enterprise IT environments.But the real story isn’t smartphones.The bigger

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21:19

Anthropic Drops Safety Pledge, Open Source Security...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/03/02

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John Barger and Lou Schmidt break down three major stories shaping the future of AI, enterprise infrastructure, and software security.Anthropic revises its flagship AI safety pledge amid competitive pressure, open source registries warn they lack funding for basic security protections, and OpenAI scrambles for compute power as large-scale infrastructure plans stall.From AI governance and supply chain risk to infrastructure bottlenecks and power

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10:02

Conduent Ransomware Breach Hits 25 Million – HR &...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/02/27

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week, John Barger and Lou Schmidt break down a massive ransomware-driven data breach impacting Conduent, a major business process services provider that handles public sector programs, healthcare benefits processing, and corporate HR services.What began as reports of a 10.5 million record breach has now escalated to an estimated 25 million impacted individuals, with the ransomware group SafePay claiming responsibility and alleging over 8 terabytes of

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18:44

Anthropic vs. The Pentagon, HDD Sellout 2026, and...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/02/23

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John Barger & Lou Schmidt unpack three stories that expose the real friction points in enterprise IT: AI ethics in defense contracts, looming hardware shortages, and data governance risks in Microsoft Copilot.Anthropic and the Pentagon clash over Claude’s military use, Western Digital reports zero remaining HDD capacity for 2026, and Microsoft confirms a Copilot bug that summarized confidential emails. From supply chain strategy to SaaS risk

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9:27

Apple iOS/iPadOS/MacOS CVE-2026-20700 Zero-Day:...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/02/20

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week, John Barger and Lou Schmidt examine a critical Apple security vulnerability patched in iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS 26.3.The focus: CVE-2026-20700, a memory corruption flaw in Apple’s dynamic link layer that could allow attackers to break out of the sandbox and achieve remote code execution (RCE).Although exploitation requires physical access, the definition of “physical” in today’s hybrid enterprise world is broader than it

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22:42

UniFi 10.1, AI Data Centers Go Nuclear, and SpaceX...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/02/16

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John Barger & Lou Schmidt break down a week where enterprise IT collided with energy policy, nuclear power, and outer space. UniFi Network 10.1 pushes further into enterprise territory with improved scalability and Wi-Fi visibility. Meanwhile, the White House explores voluntary agreements to manage rising energy costs from AI data centers.Then things escalate: hyperscalers begin signing real contracts for next-generation nuclear power, and Elon Musk

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10:42

Windows Notepad RCE?! CVE-2026-2841 Exposes Windows...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/02/13

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week, John Barger and Lou Schmidt break down a shocking vulnerability: CVE-2026-2841, a Remote Code Execution (RCE) flaw in the modern Windows 11 Notepad application distributed via the Microsoft Store.Yes — even Notepad isn’t safe anymore.This vulnerability stems from a command injection flaw in the modern Windows 11 Store version of Notepad (11.x prior to patch). The issue allows malicious .md (Markdown) files containing crafted links or interactive

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22:19

Quantum Breakthroughs, AI Cloud Billions, and Apple’s...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/02/09

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John Barger and Lou Schmidt explore three stories reshaping enterprise IT strategy. From a quantum cooling breakthrough that could accelerate real-world quantum computing, to Oracle’s plan to raise $50 billion for AI cloud infrastructure, the episode highlights how fast the AI arms race is escalating.They also break down why the AI boom is starting to squeeze Apple’s famously strong profit margins—and what that means for device pricing, silicon supply,

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22:59

Why OpenClaw on Work PCs Puts Enterprise Data at Risk

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/02/06

Agentic AI systems like OpenClaw represent the future of automation, productivity, and intelligent workflows — but today, they also represent a serious and underappreciated enterprise security risk.In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week, John and Lou break down why running OpenClaw (and related platforms like MoltBook) on corporate hardware or with access to enterprise data is dangerous right now, even if the long-term vision is compelling.The discussion centers on three types of

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23:43

Work-From-Office Fallout, Rocket-Powered Data Center...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/02/02

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John Barger & Lou Schmidt break down three stories that reveal how enterprise IT is being reshaped by workforce realities, infrastructure constraints, and custom silicon. From mounting evidence that work-from-office mandates are driving top talent out the door, to a Los Angeles startup using SpaceX rocket technology to cool data centers without water, to Microsoft unveiling a massive new AI inference chip designed to scale efficiently.The discussion

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14:11

WhatsApp Encryption on Trial & AI Chat App Data...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/01/30

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week, John Barger and Lou Schmidt break format to examine two high-impact security and privacy stories that every enterprise IT and security leader should be paying attention to.First, we dive into a new lawsuit alleging that Meta can access or infer WhatsApp message contents, despite years of public claims that WhatsApp is fully end-to-end encrypted. We unpack what “access” really means in modern encrypted messaging systems, including metadata,

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28:32

ERP’s Inevitable Reinvention, UniFi Fabric, and Why...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/01/26

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John Barger & Lou Schmidt dig into three stories that highlight how enterprise IT is quietly—but fundamentally—restructuring itself. From executives questioning the long-term future of traditional ERP systems, to Ubiquiti introducing a new orchestration-driven take on network fabrics, to a grounded discussion on whether the AI bubble is real and why OpenAI may be far less fragile than critics assume.The conversation connects enterprise software

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9:39

VoidLink: The AI-Built Linux Malware Framework That...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/01/23

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week, John Barger and Lou Schmidt break from the traditional single-CVE format to examine VoidLink, a newly discovered Linux malware framework that represents a major shift in how cyberattacks may be built and executed going forward.Rather than focusing on one vulnerability, VoidLink is designed to chain together many smaller flaws across Linux, containers, and cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, GCP, Docker, and Kubernetes—creating a stealthy, long-term

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19:47

Apple Taps Google for AI, Copilot Pushback, AI...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/01/19

In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John Barger & Lou Schmidt break down a week of moves that signal where enterprise AI, cloud platforms, and data center infrastructure are really headed. From Apple officially leaning on Google to power its AI ambitions, to Microsoft giving IT admins the ability to remove Copilot, this episode highlights growing tension between vendor momentum and enterprise control.They also explore Google’s push to standardize AI-driven commerce through agent

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8:53

Cisco Secure Email Gateway CVSS 10.0 Zero-Day Via the...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/01/16

This week on IT SPARC Cast – CVE of the Week, John Barger and Lou Schmidt break down CVE-2025-20393, a CVSS 10.0 zero-day vulnerability affecting Cisco Secure Email Gateway (SEG) and related AsyncOS-based email security products.The flaw is actively exploited in the wild, remains unpatched, and—ironically—uses the spam filtering engine itself as the attack vector. With no user interaction required and evidence of nation-state activity, this vulnerability represents a worst-case scenario for

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23:27

CES Brings New CPUs, AI Agents, and Deep OS-Level...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/01/12

CES may be a consumer show, but this week it sent shockwaves through enterprise IT. In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John Barger and Lou Schmidt break down why nearly every major chip vendor chose CES to unveil next-generation CPUs, what Lenovo’s new agentic AI strategy means for IT teams, and why Microsoft embedding Copilot deep into Windows could fundamentally change how operating systems work.From Intel’s attempt at a comeback, to AMD and Qualcomm’s positioning against NVIDIA, to

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8:18

Ni8mare in n8n: CVSS 10 Workflow RCE Hitting...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/01/09

In the first regular IT SPARC Cast - CVE of the Week episode of 2026, John & Lou dive into a critical, actively exploitable vulnerability shaking the automation world. CVE-2026-21858—dubbed Ni8mare—targets the popular workflow automation platform n8n, earning a full CVSS 10.0 due to unauthenticated remote code execution.They break down how a content-type confusion bug inside n8n’s webhook processing engine allows attackers to fully compromise systems, why automation platforms are uniquely

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13:18

2026 Predictions: AI Reality Check, Quantum...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/01/05

In this special predictions episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John Barger and Lou Schmidt kick off 2026 by trading bold, unfiltered forecasts for enterprise IT, AI, cloud, energy, and geopolitics. With five predictions each—and no prior coordination—they round-robin through what they believe will define the next year in technology.From the deflation of the AI hype cycle and Apple’s inevitable AI acquisition, to quantum computing entering nation-state playbooks, nuclear power reshaping data

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18:40

The 5 Biggest IT Security Failures of 2025 (Cloud,...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2026/01/02

n this special CVE Year in Review episode of IT SPARC Cast, John Barger and Lou Schmidt break from the usual single-CVE format to count down the five worst IT security failures of 2025.From long-lived remote code execution flaws in enterprise networking gear, to a ransomware attack that shut down a global distributor, to systemic cloud outages that shattered the concept of “five nines” availability, this episode looks at what really went wrong—and why it matters heading into 2026.These weren’t

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20:40

CEOs Double Down on AI, Crystal Storage Goes...

IT SPARC Cast ·

2025/12/22

This week on IT SPARC Cast, John Barger and Lou Schmidt break down three stories shaping the future of enterprise IT—from continued AI spending despite questionable ROI, to radically new approaches to long-term data storage, and a major consolidation in the online learning market.⸻📰 News Bytes00:46– CEOs Keep Spending on AI Despite Spotty ReturnsDespite mixed financial outcomes, a growing number of CEOs plan to increase AI investment through 2026, viewing AI as strategically unavoidable rather than

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