In this episode of IT SPARC Cast – News Bytes, John and Lou tackle a wild week in enterprise IT—from grounded aircraft disrupting hardware logistics, to open-source maintainers calling out Google, to sophisticated VM-based malware hiding inside Windows systems, to Santa Clara’s power grid collapsing under the weight of the AI boom.
First, a tragic UPS MD-11 crash in Louisville forces both UPS and FedEx to ground all MD-11 aircraft—creating ripple effects for enterprise sparing strategies and next-day hardware replacement SLAs. John and Lou explain how events outside the IT bubble can quietly break your uptime guarantees.
Then, the maintainers of FFmpeg publicly call out Google: either fund the project or stop flooding it with fuzz-generated bugs. The hosts explore the broader lesson: organizations relying on open source must contribute—code, money, or both.
Next, the team walks through a jaw-dropping Hyper-V evasion technique, where Russian hackers spin up hidden Alpine Linux VMs to run malware undetected by EDR tools. Lou calls it “one of the most clever attack chains we’ve seen in years,” and John argues that Windows security must evolve to detect surprise VM creation.
Finally, Santa Clara—Nvidia’s hometown—has data centers sitting empty because the city literally has no power left to give. With AI megaprojects like Project Stargate on the horizon, John and Lou warn that the grid crisis is about to become every CIO’s problem.
Show Notes
00:00 – Intro
NEWS BYTES
01:05 – UPS and FedEx Ground Planes After Louisville Crash
\t•\tA UPS MD-11 crashes, triggering a fleetwide grounding of MD-11 cargo aircraft.
\t•\tImmediate supply-chain impact for next-day server replacements and enterprise sparing.
\t•\tJohn and Lou highlight why IT leaders must monitor “non-IT” news that affects logistics.
\t•\tA reminder: SLA = logistics, and logistics depends on the real world.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ups-grounds-md-11-fleet-type-plane-louisville-crash-sources-say-rcna242711
04:19 – FFmpeg to Google: Fund Us or Stop Sending Bugs
\t•\tGoogle’s fuzzing system floods FFmpeg with nonstop bug reports.
\t•\tMaintainers say the project is overwhelmed and demand Google contribute.
\t•\tDiscussion: the ethical and practical responsibility companies have to support open source.
https://thenewstack.io/ffmpeg-to-google-fund-us-or-stop-sending-bugs
07:25 – Hackers Weaponize Windows Hyper-V to Hide Linux VM and Evade EDR Detection
\t•\tThreat actor Curly Comrades uses Hyper-V to run hidden Alpine Linux VMs.
\t•\tMalware (CurlyShell & CurlyCat) routes through host NAT, appearing as normal traffic.
\t•\tHard to detect: tiny VM footprint, few forensic artifacts, zero EDR visibility.
\t•\tJohn: Windows Defender should alert when a new VM spins up—“Did you mean to do this?”
https://thehackernews.com/2025/11/hackers-weaponize-windows-hyper-v-to.html
13:08 – Data Centers in Nvidia’s Hometown Stand Empty Awaiting Power
\t•\tTwo new Santa Clara data centers cannot turn on due to a power shortage.
\t•\tSignals a coming crisis as AI mega-facilities exceed grid capacity.
\t•\tPower costs and grid constraints may soon drive enterprise IT budgeting changes.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/data-centers-nvidia-hometown-stand-100009877.html
15:56 – Mail Bag & Wrap Up
IT SPARC Cast
@ITSPARCCast on X
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sparc-sales/ on LinkedIn
John Barger
@john_Video on X
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarger/ on LinkedIn
Lou Schmidt
@loudoggeek on X
https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-schmidt-b102446/ on LinkedIn
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