Former IPv6 specifications () required all nodes to include support for IPsec. Should I expect increased usage of IPsec with IPv6? IPv6 might also lead to VPN traffic leakages if VPN implementations without appropriate IPv6 support are employed. This means that nodes in your network may already employ IPv6 for local traffic, and they might also inadvertently employ IPv6 for non-local traffic if an attacker enables global IPv6 connectivity on your network. Therefore, regardless of whether your network has global IPv6 connectivity or not, most nodes on your network probably support IPv6. Your network is, most likely, dual-stack and not IPv4-only. Where such lack of parity exists, the ability to produce secure/resilient deployments is hindered. Whilst there have been improvements in this area, it is normally still the case that there is a lack of parity in terms of features and/or performance when considering IPv4 and IPv6 support in security devices and tools. In that sense, there is obviously much more experience and confidence with deploying and operating IPv4 networks than with deploying and operating IPv6 networks - and this has a concrete impact on the security properties of the resulting deployments.įinally, implementation of IPv6 security controls obviously depends on the availability of features in security devices and tools.

Whilst there has recently been significant work to mitigate vulnerabilities in the IPv6 protocol specifications, they have not yet received the same level of scrutiny than their IPv4 counterparts - hence there might still be protocol design flaws to be addressed.īesides the intrinsic properties of the protocols, the security level of the resulting deployments is closely related to the level of expertise of network and security engineers. In some cases, vulnerabilities are based on flaws in the actual protocol specifications - whether because the standards specify vulnerable mechanisms, or because they lack appropriate advice to prevent vulnerable implementation approaches. For obvious reasons, the IPv4 protocols have benefited from the work of security researchers for much longer, and thus IPv4 implementations are generally more robust than their IPv6 counterparts. Over time, this process of finding and patching vulnerabilities results in more robust implementations. Typically, security researchers find vulnerabilities in protocol implementations, which eventually are “patched” to mitigate such vulnerabilities. Most security vulnerabilities related to network protocols are based on implementation flaws, such as the so called “buffer overflows” or the failure to graciously process specially-crafted packets. Confidence/experience with the protocols.In that sense, there are a number of aspects to consider: However, a more interesting and practical question is how IPv6 deployments compare to IPv4 deployments in terms of security.

If one compares IPv6 and IPv4 at the protocol level, one may probably conclude that the increased complexity of IPv6 results in an increased number of attack vectors – that is, more possible ways to perform different types attacks.

Whether IPv6 deployments are more secure than their IPv4 counterparts.

Whether the IPv6 protocols are (specifications wise) more secure than their IPv4 counterparts, or,.No, but the question (as such) is probably irrelevant and rather imprecise since it may refer to at least two very different things: This document is organized as a list of frequently asked questions about IPv6 security, providing answers and highlighting the most important aspects of IPv6 security. Given the scale at which IPv6 must be deployed, it is important that the possible security implications of IPv6 are well understood and considered during the design and deployment of IPv6 networks, rather than as an afterthought. The Internet Society recognises that global deployment of the IPv6 protocol is paramount to accommodate the present and future growth of the Internet.

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