This Week in NET

Cloudflare

This Week in NET is Cloudflare’s weekly roundup exploring the Internet’s past, present, and future. Hosted by João Tomé with expert guests, it shares insights that matter to developers, businesses, and Internet enthusiasts alike. Follow us on X: @CloudflareTV and @Cloudflare Read our blog posts at blog.cloudflare.com Watch our full video library at cloudflare.tv/ThisWeekInNet

  1. 3D AGO

    Privacy in the AI Age: What's Really Changing in 2026 (with Cloudflare's CPO)

    In this episode of This Week in NET, host João Tomé is joined by Emily Hancock, Cloudflare’s Chief Privacy Officer and Data Protection Officer, for a wide-ranging conversation about privacy in 2026 and how the role has evolved in the age of AI. Emily explains how privacy officers shifted from GDPR compliance to broader data governance, responsible AI practices, cybersecurity collaboration, and cross-border data frameworks. We explore privacy by design, data minimization, vendor risk, government requests, warrant canaries, digital sovereignty, insider threats, and how AI is reshaping both attacker and defender capabilities. We also discuss Cloudflare’s approach to responsible AI, how teams use internal controls to avoid misuse of customer data, and why “human in the loop” remains essential for accuracy, safety, and trust. Check the Cloudflare Blog: blog.cloudflare.com 1:53 — Blogs roundup  3:58 — How the CPO role has evolved since GDPR 7:04 — From GDPR to AI governance 9:46 — Privacy + cybersecurity: breaches, notifications, preparedness 14:08 — “Fire doors” and incident containment 14:56 — Privacy by design & data minimization 20:07 — Government requests, due process, and transparency 22:08 — Warrant canaries & what Cloudflare will never do 23:17 — Digital sovereignty: localization and global differences 26:25 — Data Localization Suite & Metadata Boundary 28:06 — AI and privacy: rules, training, customer protections 29:35 — Cloudflare’s AI principles 31:32 — AI sovereignty & running inference close to users 32:19 — “AI as an intern”: accuracy and human review 34:31 — Protecting personal data when using AI 36:20 — What’s coming in 2026: regulation & fragmentation 38:37 — Insider threats & Zero Trust 40:33 — Emily’s privacy wish list for 2026

    42 min
  2. JAN 30

    Internet Disruptions & Iran’s Shutdown: Cloudflare Radar Insights (Storm in Portugal Included)

    In this episode, David Belson — Cloudflare’s Head of Data Insights — joins us to walk through the biggest Internet disruptions of late 2025 and early 2026. At the start, we also highlight several new posts on the Cloudflare Blog: Moltworker, a self-hosted personal AI agent built with OpenClaw (former MoltBot and ClawdBot) and Cloudflare’s Developer Platform; Post-Quantum Matrix Homeserver, a proof-of-concept encrypted messaging server running entirely on Cloudflare Workers; Route Leak Incident (Jan 22), what happened in Miami and how routing policy safeguards are being improved; Google’s AI Advantage, why crawler separation is needed for fair competition and better protection for publishers. We then go into the major Internet trends, including the storm-related disruption in three regions in Portugal this week. Our main focus is the government-directed nationwide shutdown in Iran.  Then we also go over Q4 2025 disruptions: repeated weather-driven outages across Africa and the Caribbean, submarine cable failures, DNS anomalies, and the persistent risk of centralized points of failure. David also explains how Starlink’s global footprint is reshaping Radar visibility — and why the Internet remains remarkably resilient despite a turbulent quarter. Mentioned blog posts:  Cable cuts, storms, and DNS: a look at Internet disruptions in Q4 2025Introducing Moltworker: a self-hosted personal AI agent, minus the minisRoute leak incident on January 22, 2026Building a serverless, post-quantum Matrix homeserver⏱️ Timestamps 0:30 — Weekly blog roundup (Moltworker, Route Leak, Google’s AI Advantage) 4:13 — Storm impact in Portugal: what Radar saw in Leiria, Santarém, and Coimbra 11:55 — Iran’s multi-week Internet shutdown: scale, signals, and how it unfolded 18:15 — The “National Information Network”: partial access, allowlisting, and blocked services 21:24 — Power vs. connectivity: how electricity failures show up as Internet outages 22:33 — Q4 global round-up: Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and cyclone-driven disruptions 30:32 — Technical failures: ISP issues, DNS problems, routing mistakes, and what Radar detects 33:47 — The future of Radar: Starlink visibility, provider-level metrics, and disruption heat maps

    35 min
  3. 12/16/2025

    Proactive WAF Vulnerability Protection & Firewall for AI + Multiplayer Chess Demo in ChatGPT

    In this episode of This Week in NET, we talk with Daniele Molteni, Director of Product Management for Cloudflare’s WAF, about how Cloudflare responded within hours to a newly disclosed React Server Components vulnerability — deploying global protection before the public advisory was even released. That speed matters. In just the first 11 days after disclosure, Cloudflare observed more than 1 billion exploitation attempts related to React2Shell, with sustained pressure averaging over 4 million hits per hour, and peaks far higher. Threat actors quickly integrated the vulnerability into large-scale scanning and reconnaissance, targeting even critical infrastructure. If you run React, upgrading is urgent. Daniele explains how WAF rules are built, how new payload logging improvements help customers understand real attack traffic, and what’s coming next in 2026 — including Firewall for AI, fraud detection, and safer, gradual rule rollouts. To close the episode, Systems Engineer Steve James gives a hands-on demo of a real-time multiplayer chess app running inside ChatGPT, built with the Agents SDK and Cloudflare Workers. Mentioned blog posts: React2Shell and related RSC vulnerabilities threat brief: early exploitation activity and threat actor techniquesCloudflare WAF proactively protects against React vulnerabilityGet better visibility for the WAF with payload logging

    26 min

About

This Week in NET is Cloudflare’s weekly roundup exploring the Internet’s past, present, and future. Hosted by João Tomé with expert guests, it shares insights that matter to developers, businesses, and Internet enthusiasts alike. Follow us on X: @CloudflareTV and @Cloudflare Read our blog posts at blog.cloudflare.com Watch our full video library at cloudflare.tv/ThisWeekInNet