AI News for Network Engineers: MCP Servers + 4 Security Alerts

This episode is the audio from a YouTube video. Some segments reference on-screen demos. Watch the full video at https://youtu.be/PZOrS7CInsU Join the free G Talks Tech mailing list (new videos, lab files and guides): https://join.gtalkstech.com A lot happened in AI for network engineers in October. Cisco, Juniper and a pile of open source projects shipped ways for AI to touch your network. Some are read-only, and some can make changes. This roundup walks through the new MCP servers, the repos worth your time, the AI tool updates that matter if your AI can reach network gear, and the security advisories you actually need to act on. What you’ll learn Which vendor MCP servers are read-only (Meraki) and which can make changes (Catalyst Center, ThousandEyes, Junos) Why the API key you hand an MCP server decides more than the server does What Cisco’s Privileged Infrastructure Access is, and why just-in-time access for people and AI agents matters The open source repos worth a look: NetBox MCP, Netdryrun, fw-skills-share, NetClaw and Awesome Network Automation AI The Claude Code change for anyone whose AI can reach network equipment: hooks that fail closed What to check after the LiteLLM compromise, the backdoored Claude Code extension in Cursor’s marketplace, and the Cisco ASA/FTD zero-day Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:42 01 What the vendors shipped 00:59 Cisco Privileged Infrastructure Access 02:35 Vendor MCP servers: Meraki, Catalyst Center, ThousandEyes, Junos 04:55 02 Repos worth your time 06:12 NetClaw 07:07 03 Updates to your AI tools 07:42 GitHub Copilot Fusion and Ollama Flint 08:25 04 Security quick hits 09:08 Cursor marketplace backdoor 09:56 Cisco ASA/FTD patch reminder 10:20 Recap Heads up on this one: it’s a news roundup read off the vendor pages, so a few moments point at things on screen. Every story and link stands on its own in audio; the links are below, and the video has the pages if you want to see them. Links from the episode Vendor news and MCP servers Cisco, October 26 announcement: https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2026/m10/cisco-expands-partner-opportunity-with-new-cisco-360-program-updates-high-yield-customer-experience-offerings-and-ai-ready-innovations.html Cisco Privileged Infrastructure Access: https://blogs.cisco.com/security/cisco-rethinks-privileged-infrastructure-access Meraki MCP server (read-only): https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/cisco-meraki-mcp-official Catalyst Center MCP server: https://developer.cisco.com/codeexchange/github/repo/cisco-en-programmability/catc-mcp-oss/ ThousandEyes MCP server: https://docs.thousandeyes.com/product-documentation/integration-guides/thousandeyes-mcp-server Junos MCP server: https://github.com/Juniper/junos-mcp-server Open source NetBox MCP server: https://github.com/netboxlabs/netbox-mcp-server Netdryrun: https://github.com/netdryrun/Netdryrun fw-skills-share: https://github.com/JNPRAutomate/fw-skills-share NetClaw: https://github.com/automateyournetwork/netclaw NetClaw project site: https://automateyournetwork.com/netclaw/ Packet Pushers Heavy Networking 848, NetClaw: https://packetpushers.net/podcasts/heavy-networking/hn848-netclaw-your-open-source-network-assistant/ Awesome Network Automation AI: https://github.com/packetcoders/awesome-network-automation-ai AI tool updates Claude Code changelog: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/changelog GitHub Copilot Fusion: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-10-28-route-and-orchestrate-models-with-github-copilot-fusion/ Ollama Flint: https://ollama.com/library/flint Security MCP Inspector security advisories: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/security/advisories LiteLLM security incident: https://docs.litellm.ai/blog/security-incident-oct-21-2026 Cursor, Claude Code extension security notice: https://cursor.com/blog/claude-code-extension-security-notice Cisco ASA/FTD advisory: https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-asaftd-tunnel-dos-s6mgkb75 Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/gtalkstech