We tend to make a number of assumptions about the Internet, and sometimes these assumptions don't always stand up to critical analysis. We were perhaps 'trained' by the claims of the telephone service to believe that these communications networks supported a model of universal connectivity. Any telephone handset could establish a call with any other telephone handset was the underlying model of a ubiquitous telephone service, and we've carried that assumption into our perception of the Internet. On the Internet anyone can communicate with anyone else - right? more
Wouldn't it be nice if turning on IPv6 really was 'press one button and the rest is magic' easy? For some things, it is. If you're talking about client-side, enabling an IPv4-only home service on DSL or fibre really can be this simple, because all the heavy lifting is being done inside your ISP: you're not enabling IPv6 in the network, you're turning on the last mile. It was knocking at your door and you just had to let it in. more
A few weeks ago I came across an old interview of me by ITespresso.fr from 10 years back entitled "IPv6 frees human imagination". At the time, I was talking about the contributions IPv6 was expected to make and the challenges it had to face. After reading the article again, I realized that it has become a little dusty (plus a blurred photo of the interviewee :-)). But what caught my attention the most in the interview was my assertion: "If IPv6 does not prevail in 2006, it's a safe bet that it will happen in 2007". Wow! more
Time for another annual roundup from the world of IP addresses. What happened in 2015 and what is likely to happen in 2016? This is an update to the reports prepared at the same time in previous years, so let's see what has changed in the past 12 months in addressing the Internet, and look at how IP address allocation information can inform us of the changing nature of the network itself. more
Global IPv6 deployment just passed a major milestone over the past few days when Google's IPv6 adoption statistics showed over 10% of users connecting to Google's sites coming in over IPv6. Considering that only two years ago I wrote here on CircleID about IPv6 passing the 3% adoption mark, this is a great amount of growth to see! If you look on the "per-country" tab of Google's stats you will see that in some countries deployment is much higher. For example, around 25% in the USA, Portugal and Germany, 31% in Switzerland and 44% in Belgium. more
When I last year failed to take a picture of the Christmas goat before it was taken down, I decided this year to take a pic every minute, just to be on the safe side. A shortened movie based on these pics of the 2015 Christmas Goat can be find on YouTube. The clip on YouTube also shows that in the early morning of December the 27th the goat was set on fire and burned down in minutes. more
It's like a vanity license plate, but for your IP address. Previously under IPv4 DNS registration, users were limited to only using numbers. However, with the height of IPv6 underway users are getting creative with their newfound use of characters. Although you can only use characters A-F, it only takes a little creativity to find ways around this. more
It's Apple's Developers Conference time again, and in amongst the various announcements was week, in the "Platforms Status of the Union" presentation was the mention of Apples support of IPv6. Sebastien Marineau, Apple's VP of Core OS told the conference that as far as IPv4 addresses are concerned, exhaustion "is finally here", noting that this already started in 2011 in the Asia Pacific while in North America IPv4 address exhaustion is imminent. Sebastien noted that it's really important to support IPv6 in devices and applications these days... more
In those circles where Internet prognostications abound and policy makers flock to hear grand visions of the future, we often hear about the boundless future represented by "The Internet of Things". This phrase encompasses some decades of the computing industry's transition from computers as esoteric piece of engineering affordable only by nations, to mainframes, desktops, laptops, handhelds, and now wrist computers. Where next? more
Internet Protocol addresses fill two unique roles. They are both identifiers and locators. They both tell us which interface is which (identity) and tell us how to find that interface (location), through routing. In the last myth, about network scanning, we focused mainly on threats to IPv6 addresses as locators. That is, how to locate IPv6 nodes for exploitation. Today's myth also deals with IPv6 addresses as identifiers. more
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
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 5th African Peering and Interconnection Forum (AfPIF) gets underway today, August 26, 2014, in Dakar, Senegal, with a packed agenda full of sessions focused on the future of peering and interconnection in Africa. There are sessions targeted at Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), infrastructure providers, content creators and policy makers and regulators. The event goes through Thursday, August 28, 2014. more
In a video interview conducted during the NSCS ONE conference, Paul Vixie CEO of Farsight Security further discusses the topic of his presentation titled: "Defective by Design -- How the Internet's Openness is Slowly Poisoning Us". more
The recent NANOG 61 meeting was a pretty typical NANOG meeting, with a plenary stream, some interest group sessions, and an ARIN Public Policy session. The meeting attracted some 898 registered attendees, which was the biggest NANOG to date. No doubt the 70 registrations from Microsoft helped in this number, as the location for NANOG 61 was in Bellevue, Washington State, but even so the interest in NANOG continues to grow... more
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