IPv6 Transition

Still Waiting for IPv6

It's now been a decade since the world officially ran out of blocks of IP addresses. In early 2011 the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) announced that it had allocated the last block of IPv4 addresses and warned ISPs to start using the new IPv6 addresses. But here we are a decade later and not one of my clients has converted to IPv6. more

IPv6 Security Myth #6: IPv6 is Too New to be Attacked

Here we are, half-way through this list of the top 10 IPv6 security myths! Welcome to myth #6. Since IPv6 is just now being deployed at any real scale on true production networks, some may think that the attackers have yet to catch up. As we learned in Myth #2, IPv6 was actually designed starting 15-20 years ago. While it didn't see widespread commercial adoption until the last several years, there has been plenty of time to develop at least a couple suites of test/attack tools. more

Are We Slowly Losing Control of the Internet?

I have long been intrigued by the question of how do we turn the internet into a lifeline grade infrastructure... My hope that this will occur soon or even within decades is diminishing. Most of us observe, almost daily, how even well established infrastructures tend to crumble when stressed, even slightly... I was at the O'Reilly Etel conference last week. The content was impressive and the people there were frequently the primary actors in the creation and deployment of VOIP. However, not once during the three days did I hear a serious discussion by a speaker or in the hallways about how this evolving system would be managed, monitored, diagnosed, or repaired. more

IPv6 Security Myth #7: 96 More Bits, No Magic

This week's myth is interesting because if we weren't talking security it wouldn't be a myth. Say what? The phrase "96 more bits, no magic" is basically a way of saying that IPv6 is just like IPv4, with longer addresses. From a pure routing and switching perspective, this is quite accurate. OSPF, IS-IS, and BGP all work pretty much the same, regardless of address family. Nothing about finding best paths and forwarding packets changes all that much from IPv4 to IPv6. more

IETF 85 Begins Next Week In Atlanta - Here Is How To Follow Along

The 85th meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) begins next week in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Over 1000 engineers, maybe as many as 1400 or more, from all around the world will gather in various working groups to discuss and debate issues relating to the open standards that define the Internet's infrastructure. more

Department of Commerce Cancels IANA Contract RFP

The United States government has cancelled IANA Request for Proposal (RFP) SA1301-12-RP-IANA according to an updated page made today on the FedBizOpps website. The change -- time stamped Mar 09, 2012 2:44 pm -- states: "The Department of Commerce intends to reissue the RFP at a future date, date to be determined (TBD). Interested parties are encouraged to periodically visit www.fbo.gov for updates." more

Silvia Hagen: It’s Not About IPv6 Transition But Urgent Integration

As the IPv4 address pool is rapidly reaching exhaustion, Silvia Hagen, a leading expert on IPv6 and the author of O'Reilly's book, "IPv6 Essentials," stresses that a primary step towards IPv6 address space is not about "transition" but "integration". IPv4 and IPv6 are going to co-exist for many years to come and so what companies need to do, in the first place, is to look at their IPv4 landscape and identify areas of priority, Hagen said in a recent interview with CircleID. more

The IPv4 Market - 2018 Mid-Year Report

The number of IPv4 transactions and volume of IP addresses flowing to and from organizations in the ARIN region in the last 6 months put 2018 on track to be the most active year in the history of the IPv4 market. Nearly 25 million numbers were transferred in the first half of this year, more than doubling the volume of numbers transferred by this time last year and continuing the level of market activity in the last half of 2017 when just over 28 million numbers were transferred. more

IPv6 Security Myth #4: IPv6 Networks are Too Big to Scan

Here we are, all the way up to Myth #4! That makes this the 4th installment of our 10 part series on the top IPv6 Security Myths. This myth is one of my favorite myths to bust when speaking with folks around the world. The reason for that is how many otherwise well-informed and highly experienced engineers, and others, hold this myth as truth. It's understandable, really. more

Scarcity of IPv4 Addresses

My friend Kurtis writes in his blog some points he has been thinking of while discussing "when we run out of IPv4 addresses". In reality, as he points out so well, we will not run out. It will be harder to get addresses. It is also the case that unfortunately people that push for IPv6 claim IPv6 will solve all different kinds of problem. Possibly also the starvation problems in the world... more

IPv6 Security Myth #3: No IPv6 NAT Means Less Security

We're back again with part 3 in this 10 part series that seeks to bust 10 of the most common IPv6 security myths. Today's myth is a doozy. This is the only myth on our list that I have seen folks raise their voices over. For whatever reason, Network Address Translation (NAT) seems to be a polarizing force in the networking world. It also plays a role in differentiating IPv4 from IPv6. more

IPv6 Security Myth #2: IPv6 Has Security Designed In

Today we continue with part 2 of the 10 part series on IPv6 Security Myths by debunking one of the myths I overhear people propagating out loud far too much: That you don't need to worry about security because IPv6 has it built into the protocol. In this post, we'll explore several of the reasons that this is in fact a myth and look at some harsh realities surrounding IPv6 security. more

The Trouble With 6to4

In the transition from IPv4 to IPv6, the preferred solution for network endpoints is to have both native IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity (also called dual-stack connectivity). If a site cannot get native IPv6 connectivity, however, the IPv4 network endpoints can choose from a number of conversion technologies to connect to the IPv6 Internet. The most commonly used conversion mechanisms are 6to4, Teredo and tunnel-brokers. At recent RIPE meetings there have been claims that 6to4 connectivity is quite often broken. We were interested to find out how broken it really is. more

A Look Inside the Emerging Private IPv4 Market

A significant quantity of unused, previously allocated IPv4 addresses are becoming readily available for re-distribution to IP network operators in need of the depleted addresses. Network World has published a report that takes a look at this emerging private market that's allowing companies with excess numbers to sell them to those in need. more

IPv6 Security Myth #1: I’m Not Running IPv6 so I Don’t Have to Worry

Now that IPv6 is being actively deployed around the world, security is more and more a growing concern. Unfortunately, there are still a large number of myths that plague the IPv6 security world. These are things that people state as fact but simply aren't true. While traveling the world, talking to the people who've already deployed IPv6, I've identified what I believe are the ten most common IPv6 security myths. more