Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is an Internet Protocol version which is designed to succeed IPv4. Till now IPv4 is still in use and world over efforts are under process to shift to IPv6.The main reason for this shift to IPv6 is inadequacy of IPv4 to accommodate the growing demands of IP addresses. Besides, network security is also integrated into the design of the IPv6 architecture.
The Indian government has recently released the roadmap for IPv6 deployment in the country in a time bound manner. Indian citizens would be able to start using IPv6 services by March 2012.
All the Telecom and Internet Service providers are required to become IPv6 compliant by December-2011 and offer IPv6 services thereafter.
However, cyber security issues of IPv6 cannot be ignored. Many security solutions don’t support IPv6 very well today. Many IPS vendors are “light” with their IPv6 signatures and v6-based anomaly detection is also light. Support for IPv6 amongst SIEM vendors varies widely. And then, there’s network management – how well does your console support IPv6?
We must also not forget that a complete tool set to attack the inherent protocol weaknesses of IPv6 and ICMP6 with an easy to use packet factory library is openly available.
Any shift from IPv4 to IPv6 must keep in mind all the aspects.
