On Call Sysadmin

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What do floppy disks, shadow AI, VMware, and 256-core processors all have in common?

They somehow made it into the same episode.

This week on On Call Sysadmin, we dig into some of the biggest and strangest stories happening in IT:

✈️ Why U.S. air traffic control is still working to move away from floppy disks

🤖 The growing problem of employees hiding their AI usage

🔎 Microsoft’s efforts to finally make Outlook search better

🛡️ AI-assisted vulnerability discovery and what it means for cybersecurity

🖥️ VMware’s attempt to win back smaller customers with vSphere Express

⚡ AMD’s continued push against Intel in the data center

Technology changes quickly, but sometimes the biggest challenge is dealing with the technology that refuses to go away.

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

• ATC starting to replace floppy disks [The Register]
• Shadow AI Usage in the workplace [Tech Radar]
• Outlook Search getting better [Microsoft]
• France blames Iran for grocery sabotage [Gizmodo]
• N-able cloud platform taken offline [Bleeping Computer]
• Linux maker says AI-patch boom has peaked [The Register]
• VMware returns to lower-end market [The Register]
• AMD to overtake Intel [The Register]

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

For the 13th episode of On Call Sysadmin, we figured Halloween was the perfect time to talk about the things that really scare IT people.

🔐 Compromised admin accounts

💀 Ransomware

🔥 Backups that don’t work when you need them

🧟 AI-powered cyberattacks

⚠️ And those terrifying words:“We detected unusual activity.”

In Episode 13, we share some real IT horror stories from our years in the trenches, look at threats organizations are facing today, and talk about the security fundamentals that can keep an IT nightmare from becoming a business disaster.

MFA. Separate admin accounts. 24/7 MDR. Aggressive patching. Immutable backups. Restore testing. And most importantly, having a plan before something goes wrong.

• The Backup Wasn't There: True IT Horror Stories
• University of New Mexico incident [Help Net Security]
• SafePay Ransomware [CISA]

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

• Virtual iPod [Apple]
• Internet infrastructure vulnerabilities galore [Wiz] [The Hacker News] [The Register] [Gamer's Nexus]
• Certificate Keys compromised [The Register] [ArsTechnica]
• ConnectWise/SkyKick backup fallout [The Register] [The Register]
• DeepSeek Ban [The Register]
• AI Designed viruses [The Register]
• Sharing is easier with SharePoint [Neowin]
• Apple Minions [Apple Insider]
• NVIDIA Personal AI Router (PAIR) [NVIDIA]
• AI still needs humans in the loop [The Register]

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

• Connectwise SkyKick Breach [Reddit]
• Microsoft CoPilot changes [NeoWin]
• Topgolf saves huge ditching Vmware [ArsTechnica]
• Hackers vs. Refrigerators [Dexerto][The Register]
• Flying Tesla Roadster [Fox Business]
• Firefox Enterprise [Mozilla]
• Password: "123456" [The Register]
• Everyone knows my password [The Register]
• Yandex in shambles [The Register]

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

• XP Pinball comeback [Windows Latest]
• New Surface Laptop Ultra [Engadget]
• Copilot Canvas AI for Excel [The Register]
• AI Recreating Office & Adobe Suites [ArsTechnica]
• OneDrive Changes [Windows Forum]
• Cloud Storage is not Backup [The Register]
• Vmware's Decline [The Register]

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

• Google ending ChromeOS support early [The Register]
• FBI Hacked by Shinyhunters, FBI strikes back [The Register]
• Cloudflare to issue quantum safe certificates [ArsTechnica]
• AI models keep posting public screenshots [The Register]
• Microsoft announces Linux containers on Windows [Windows]
• AI isn't taking jobs (yet) [ArsTechnica]
• Copilot+ PC going away [ArsTechnica]

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

• AI Investment and high prices lead to longer lifecycles [The Register]
• VMware exodus continues past 2029 [The Register]
• Google introduces the Googlebook [Engadget]
• HP reveals flagship AI laptop {VideoCardz]
• President announces AI Force [Gizmodo]
• IE Mode sunset for Edge in 2029 [Neowin]
• Google Gemini joins in on hacking [ArsTechnica]

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

• Windows September Update Failures [Windows Latest]
• Microsoft AI Code of Conduct [Microsoft]
• AI Safety and Development Pacing [CNBC][DarioModei][CNBC]
• Local AI Workstation Hardware [AMD][Nvidia]
• Apple iPhone Duo, iOS 27, macOS 27 [Apple]
• LG Smart TV Data Collection [GamersNexus]

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

• Outlook Feature - Change meeting organizer [Admin Droid]
• Microsoft to bounce email from outdated Exchange Servers [The Register]
• New ClickFix attack for copy-paste malware [Cybersecurity News]
• ChatGPT-6 rolling out to users [Wired]
• Nvidia to buy Hugging Face AI repository [Nvidia]
• New Nvidia RTX Spark devices coming in October [Windows Central]
• AMD AI Development box coming soon [Tech Radar]
• Microsoft developer OS edition coming soon [Windows]
• Apple Vision Pro improves Surgery [Mac Rumors] [Stryker]
• 153 million IDs leaked on the dark web [Engadget]

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Contact Brett and Brett at HarvestITSolutions.com

• CoPilot+ PCs features - what do you get? [Microsoft]
• School district uses AI to make $10 agenda. It does not go well. [NYPost]

• LinkedIn AI slop button used 1M+times in 3 weeks [TheRegister]
• Botnet uses TVs and other Android devices [Google]
• Google buys Spirit Air's Data to train AI [TheRegister]
• Mail limits for new Exchange Accounts to combat SPAM [LazyAdmin]
• New Apple Mac Mini and Mac Studio [Apple]