Yahoo Tech: I Review Routers for a Living. Don’t Buy a Router Right Now

That’s why I think the wise move here is to wait on buying one if you can. Keeping your router’s firmware up-to-date is an essential part of securing your home network. If you buy from a router company that doesn’t get an exemption from this ban, you risk having an unsecured device a year from now.

It’s an ironic side effect of an order that is ostensibly designed to keep Americans safer: They may no longer be able to get the latest security fixes.

“If you’re limiting the ability of people to get security updates, then you’re making the problem worse, not better,” Alan Butler, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told me. “A lot of those routers are going to turn into pumpkins in a year unless they extend this waiver.”

Read more here.