
That’s what the F.B.I. recommends you do to prevent Russia-Linked malware from infecting your home or office internet router. By rebooting the device, it will temporarily disrupt the malware if it’s present.
According to a recent New York Times piece, the Russian malware will block web traffic, collect information that passes through your home and office router and will disable devices entirely. It was reported that Russia infected hundreds of thousands of internet routers.
The FBI recommends for small or home offices to:
– Reboot your router device
– Upgrade your device’s firmware
– Select a new secure password
– Disable any remote-management settings
According to the intelligence division for Cisco, an estimated 500,000 routers in at least 54 countries had been infected by the Russian malware. Affected devices from manufacturers included Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear and TP-Link.
The Justice Department has seized the web domain responsible for the malware’s “command-and-control infrastructure.”