> the basic gist is in the event of a cyberwar you could brick millions of peoples routers [...] but it's an interesting thought experiment regardless.
I think this is already way past "thought experiment". In the day of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, thousands of satellite modems were deliberately bricked.
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VPNFilter
The lack of major cyber wins in the invasion of Ukraine is still very surprising though. Maybe holding their cards for something big (something they didn't expect to win in "3 days"), or US really helped prepare Ukraine, or it's harder than it sounds :)