Your Asus router may require an urgent update to protect against sticky botnet

pcgamer.com:

Asus has issued a warning to owners of some of its routers asking them to download a recent firmware update to help protect against new malware targeting its products. Asus recommends measures be taken immediately to prevent your network being infected with the botnet malware, known as Cyclops Blink, though is investigating a more permanent fix.

In a security bulletin on the Asus website, the company outlines the best way for users to strengthen their defences against Cyclops Blink. These include: resetting the device to factory default settings, updating the device to the latest firmware version, changing the admin password, and disabling Remote Management (should be disabled by default).

The affected Asus products are: 

The products noted as GT are seriously beefy gaming routers, and some of the RT ones are pretty chunky routers, too.

Cyclops Blink is a persistent advanced modular botnet that is tough to shake off once it has a hold on your system. Trend Micro has performed a deep-dive into the malware and exactly how it operates, which I recommend you give a read if you're into this sort of stuff—it is fascinating to know thy enemy. Essentially, though, it sets up a route of communication between an infected device and the attacker's servers, and is able to cipher and send data to these servers as it pleases.

In the case of the exact Asus variant of these malware, it can actually access a device's flash memory. That means it will have pretty much unfettered access to a machine once infected. It also means that the malware can actually survive factory resets. Though as Asus notes, flashing a device should finally be rid of the malware, but how often do most users flash their entire routers?

The malware itself is