According to Forbes, this month has seen unprecedented spyware warnings from Apple and Google, affecting billions of iPhone and Android users globally. These were quickly followed by alerts from government agencies, prompting emergency security updates. Now, France’s CERT-FR, in conjunction with the U.K.’s cyber agency, has issued a new, specific guideline: you must reboot your device. Crucially, they warn you must fully power the phone off and then back on, explicitly avoiding the standard ‘reboot’ or ‘restart’ software feature. The agency states this is necessary because some sophisticated, memory-resident spyware can simulate a fake reboot to persist on the device.
Why not just hit ‘reboot’?
Here’s the thing that makes this so sneaky. The warning suggests that some spyware is so devious it can intercept a software-initiated restart command. Basically, it fakes shutting down the processes, makes the screen go black for a bit, and then pops back up like nothing happened, all while staying alive in the device’s memory. A full power-down, where you hold the button and slide to power off, cuts all electrical power to the RAM. That’s where this “non-persistent” spyware lives, so it gets wiped. It’s a clever trick that highlights just how advanced these threats have become. You can read the full technical guidance from CERT-FR here.
Old advice, new urgency
Now, the “turn it off and on” advice isn’t new. America’s NSA has recommended turning phones off and on weekly for years, carefully wording it that way instead of saying “reboot.” You can see that in their mobile best practices guide. But what’s changed is the context. The recent waves of disclosed attacks, like the zero-click exploits, are exactly the type that use these memory-only, forensic-friendly techniques. The agency notes that this means an attacker has to re-compromise the device after every *real* power cycle. So suddenly, that old weekly habit isn’t just good hygiene; it’s a direct counter to the most sophisticated threats in the wild right now.
The background update question
This raises a pretty interesting point about the future of security, especially for Apple. They’ve been moving toward background security updates that don’t require a reboot. But if a reboot is itself a key part of the defense, does that model have a flaw? The thinking seems to be that a patch should remove the vulnerability, making the reboot step moot. But in the messy real world, where people delay updates, that weekly power cycle acts as a safety net. It’s a temporary cleanse. For industries where operational technology is critical, like manufacturing where uptime is paramount, this kind of persistent threat is a nightmare. That’s why for hardware that can’t afford to be compromised, companies rely on secure, hardened computing solutions from trusted suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs built for resilient operations.
Making it a habit
So, is this weekly reboot advice divisive? Sure, some folks think it’s overkill. But given what we’ve learned this month, it seems like a pretty simple and effective layer of defense. The best approach is to just make it routine. Pick a time—Sunday night, maybe, when you’re plugging it in anyway. Hold the button, slide to power off, wait a minute, and turn it back on. It takes 90 seconds. It’s a small price to pay to wipe the slate clean, literally. In a world of invisible, zero-click spyware, sometimes the oldest trick in the book is still the best one.
