An Internet IPv6 Transition Plan

Mon Jul 30 23:29:40 UTC 2007

On Jul 29, 2007, at 5:02 AM, Peter Dambier wrote:
> I am pessimistic. The malware will find its way.
>
> It is port 25 smtp that goes away and takes part of the spam away too.

IPv6:25 will not work, or will not be accepted?  There are IPv6  
translators that dynamically share IPv4 address space.

> Ways have been found to drill holes into NAT-routers and firewalls,  
> but they are working only as long as it is only you who wants to  
> break out of the NAT. As soon as the mainstream has only left rfc  
> 1918 addresses p2p will stop.
>
> I see lots of p2p-ers already communicating via IPv6 tunnels. They  
> are prepared.

An ISP must provide at least some flavor of IP address, even  
addresses that might be shared.  Dealing with shared IP address space  
by tunneling with IPv6 addresses is a feature built into Windows  
Vista, where XP can be updated to provide this as well.  With Vista  
being remarkably slow, who can tell when a delay might be due to  
malware.  These systems will always chat with Internet "peers" to  
keep NAT holes open.  Knowing when network traffic is abnormal has  
become a new problem.

IPv4 address space shortages will not reduce spam or malware.  Expect  
even greater amounts of nefarious network traffic.  IPv6 and a  
massive amount of tunneling is likely to overwhelm efforts to monitor  
nefarious traffic.  It seems doubtful IPv6 address black-hole lists  
will adequately deal with a future of such complex topology.

Will the Internet become fragmented into the Internets?  Perhaps bang  
addressing will see a comeback.

-Doug