Networks

Quietly extends waivers to 2029 after realizing it was about to leave millions of devices unpatched

America's telco regulator has seen some sense over its ban on foreign-made routers, deciding that existing devices should continue receiving software and firmware updates after all.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has extended waivers covering certain foreign-made routers (and drones) already operating in the US, pushing the update deadline to at least January 1, 2029. Without the extension, updates would have been blocked as early as 2027.

The biggest practical security risk with routers is not only who made them, but whether they remain patched... The original restriction risked creating exactly that problem: millions of deployed routers frozen in time, unable to receive security fixes

Back in March, the FCC updated its Covered List to include all foreign-made consumer routers , prohibiting the approval of any new models.…