It is good practice to reboot your electronics every now and then. I have been doing it for years. On Sunday right before I go to sleep i restart my Motorola router and get it ready for all the heavy traffic that my family throws at it during the week, from Netflix movies, Hulu shows, my kids’s Online gaming , Xbox live, PlayStation, wii u , iPhone iPad, laptops, desktops, smart TVs, internet phone, and all other electronics and updates… all connected 24/7 so you can imagine why I do a weekly refresh.
Yesterday, while browsing online I came across an article that is titled ” Reboot your router now to flush out malware, says the FBI ” . the article mentioned that hundreds of thousands of routers worldwide has been affected by a malicious malware called VPNFilter malware and the FBI has advised consumers and office managers in the US to reset their network boxes to try and flush out at least part of the malicious code. please read the FBI public announcement below.
The FBI recommends any owner of small office and home office routers power cycle (reboot) the devices. Foreign cyber actors have compromised hundreds of thousands of home and office routers and other networked devices worldwide. You can read the entire FBI Public Announcement “
Cisco’s security team has said more than 500,000 routers have been hit in over 54 countries worldwide, with a particular focus on the Ukraine. The FBI statement recommends performing a reboot cycle your router(s) so you can flash what ever you may have in the router’s memories. Change your passwords and disable the remote management settings.
I won’t be able to talk about steps on how to change your passwords nor disabling the remote settings since there are tons of makes and models out there ( you just need to use search using Google or Bing and search for how to … for your specific router). However, to restart a router it can easly be done in same fashion as showing in this video I found on Youtube. It is easy and simple and I recommend to do it once a week.