The 128-bit IPv6 addressing format offers 340 sextillion IP addresses, making it extremely future-proof. But, that’s not all; IPv6 is also considered a protocol of better reliability, security and privacy. Also, IPv4 packets are often blocked by corporate firewalls because they could potentially carry malware.
Today’s networks, whether they have IPv6 deployed in them or not, are largely IPv6-compatible. All modern operating systems and network devices employ IPv6 dual-stacks, in which IPv6 is turned on by default.
According to the State of Internet IPv6 Adoption Visualisation published by Akamai, India tops the list of all countries with 59.7% IPv6 connections.
How Does IPv6 Handles Many Security Concerns upfront?
Actually, IPv6 is vastly different from IPv4, often in complex and subtle ways.
(1) The IPv6 operating systems create automatically two IPv6 addresses.
One IPv6 with randomised MAC address in the suffix to hide the device identity and be used for web surfing so that nobody can identify who is connecting to its web site.
And another IPv6 with real MAC address which is only used for end-to-end encrypted applications. Such services, for the time being, are non-existent but will be available with the next wave of internet innovations.
(2) IPv6 has a privacy protocol to protect end-user privacy.
The current internet (v4) lacks effective privacy and effective authentication mechanisms beneath the application layer. IPv6 remedies these shortcomings by having a few integrated options that provide security and privacy services.
(3) IPv6 can run end-to-end encryption.
While this technology was retrofitted into IPv4, it remains an optional extra that isn’t universally used. The encryption and integrity-checking used in current VPNs, especially required for work-from-home applications, is a standard feature in IPv6, available for all connections and supported by all compatible devices and systems. Widespread adoption of IPv6 will, therefore, make man-in-the-middle attacks significantly more difficult.
(4) IPv6 also supports more-secure name resolution.
The Secure Neighbour Discovery (SEND) protocol is capable of enabling cryptographic confirmation to confirm the identity of the host at the time of the connection. This renders Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) poisoning and other naming-based attacks more difficult. And, while it isn’t a replacement for application or service-layer verification, it still offers an improved level of trust in connections. With IPv4, it is fairly easy for an attacker to redirect traffic between two legitimate hosts and manipulate the conversation or, at least, observe it.
(5) IPv6 promises better reliability and security
As IPSec, a protocol for authenticating and securing all IP data, is built into IPv6 as a default. Though IPv4 also offers IPSec support as an optional feature, it is mandatory in IPv6. IPSec consists of a set of cryptographic protocols designed to provide security in data communications. IPSec has some protocols that are part of its suite: AH (Authentication Header) and ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload). The first provides for authentication and data integrity, the second, in addition to these, also for confidentiality.
This Article Was Written & published by Meena R, Senior Manager - IT, at Luminis Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd, India.
Over the past 16 years, Meena has built a following of IT professionals, particularly in Cybersecurity, Cisco Technologies, and Networking...
She is so obsessed with Cybersecurity domain that she is going out of her way and sharing hugely valuable posts and writings about Cybersecurity on website, and social media platforms.
34,000+ professionals are following her on Facebook and mesmerized by the quality of content of her posts on Facebook.
If you haven't yet been touched by her enthusiastic work of sharing quality info about Cybersecurity, then you can follow her on Facebook:
Click Here to follow her: Cybersecurity PRISM