Designing for reuse
Doghouse – FOSS Firmware
Adopting FOSS firmware can keep your hardware out of the landfill.
Recently, an article by Bruce Schneier, CTO of IBM Resilient, came across my desk discussing some of the issues around home broadband routers. Apparently, on May 25th, the FBI asked people to "reboot their routers" as various pieces of malware were running in these routers and causing havoc with the Internet. The malware was very sophisticated, to the point where it had (more or less) a software backplane and could install new "plugins" to create even more mischief. Mr. Schneier stated that the malware was probably not the creation of your classic "basement cracker" but was instead a product of an intense program by a government.
Unfortunately, rebooting the router did not really fix the problem, as the malware was still infecting the lower levels of the router firmware, so at a minimum, the user would have to "reset to factory settings" (destroying the sometimes complex set of configuration and passwords) or (more likely) install new firmware, which is completely outside the abilities of most residential users of broadband routers, even assuming that the makers of the router are still updating the firmware or are even in business.
Mr. Schneier therefore recommended that, if the router does not have firmware updates, the best course of action is to throw away the old router and buy a new one, which is what several of my less computer-savvy friends did.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora 43 Has Finally Landed
The Fedora Linux developers have announced their latest release, Fedora 43.
-
KDE Unleashes Plasma 6.5
The Plasma 6.5 desktop environment is now available with new features, improvements, and the usual bug fixes.
-
Xubuntu Site Possibly Hacked
It appears that the Xubuntu site was hacked and briefly served up a malicious ZIP file from its download page.
-
LMDE 7 Now Available
Linux Mint Debian Edition, version 7, has been officially released and is based on upstream Debian.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Reaches EOL
Linux kernel 6.16 has reached its end of life, which means you'll need to upgrade to the next stable release, Linux kernel 6.17.
-
Amazon Ditches Android for a Linux-Based OS
Amazon has migrated from Android to the Linux-based Vega OS for its Fire TV.
-
Cairo Dock 3.6 Now Available for More Compositors
If you're a fan of third-party desktop docks, then the latest release of Cairo Dock with Wayland support is for you.
-
System76 Unleashes Pop!_OS 24.04 Beta
System76's first beta of Pop!_OS 24.04 is an impressive feat.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.