Network Break
Packet Pushers
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 Drew Conry-Murray & Johna Till Johnson 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
Mentioned books
Nov 3, 2025 • 30min
NB550: A Cornucopia 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 »
Oct 27, 2025 • 50min
NB549: 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 »
Oct 20, 2025 • 29min
NB548: 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 »
Oct 14, 2025 • 31min
NB547: New Cisco Router Targets AI DCI; Salesforce Launches ServiceNow Competitor
Take a Network Break! We start with listener follow-up on security browsers, and then dive into a deep pool of Juniper vulnerabilities to pick two critical ones affecting Juniper Space. We also get an update from SonicWall that the breach of its cloud storage service affected all users of the service. Cisco announces a new... Read more »
Oct 6, 2025 • 51min
NB546: Meta Mulls GPU Startup Purchase; Indirect Prompt Injection Exacerbates AI Risks
Take a Network Break! We start with a two-part listener follow-up and sound alarms about a serious flaw in Termix and tens of thousands of still-vulnerable Cisco security devices. Alkira debuts an MCP server and AI copilot for its multi-cloud networking platform; Cato Networks releases a Chrome-based browser extension to help secure contractor and personal... Read more »
Sep 29, 2025 • 23min
NB545: CISA Orders Immediate Patch of Cisco Vulnerabilities; Firewall Upgrade Blocks Emergency Calls
There’s an abundance of vulnerabilities in this week’s Network Break. We start with a red alert on a cluster of Cisco vulnerabilities in its firewall and threat defense products. On the news front, the vulnerability spotlight stays on Cisco as the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issues an emergency directive to all federal... Read more »
Sep 22, 2025 • 27min
NB544: NVIDIA Buys $5 Billion of Intel Stock; Netskope Rides SASE IPO to an $8.8 Billion Valuation
It’s big-money deals and ever-more AI on this week’s Network Break. We start with a red alert from NVIDIA, which has rolled out a software upgrade to patch multiple bugs in its Triton Inference Server, one of which is a dangerous remote code execution vulnerability. On the news front, NVIDIA pledges a $5 billion investment... Read more »
Sep 15, 2025 • 30min
NB543: Splunk, ServiceNow Announce AI Agents; Data Center Spending Runs Amok
Take a Network Break! We start with a listener correction on Cisco’s history of wireless certifications, then dig into a couple of red alerts on Microsoft Defender and a backdoor in Outlook. On the news front, Cisco announces new AI agents and SoC packages for Splunk; F5 spends $180 million to buy an AI security... Read more »
Sep 8, 2025 • 25min
NB542: Hollow Core Fiber Outshines Glass; Broadcom Bags Big AI Bucks
Take a Network Break! We shine a red light on an AnyShare Service Agent API vulnerability and an active exploit against FreePBX. SASE vendor Cato Networks makes first-ever acquisition with purchase of AI security startup AIM, Microsoft researchers tout hollow core fiber tests that out-perform glass core fiber optics, and Wi-Fi 7 helps drive up... Read more »
Sep 2, 2025 • 30min
NB541: Cisco Gets Serious About Wi-Fi Certs; Is AI Infrastructure Ebullience Ebbing?
Take a Network Break! We start with follow-ups regarding the 7-year-old Cisco bug, risks of AI agents, and Anthropic forcing you to opt out or have your chats saved for five years. Then we highlight a serious vulnerability (which is being exploited in the wild) in Citrix NetScaler ADC and Netscaler Gateway systems. On the... Read more »
