Where does rogue IPv6 traffic come from?
IPv6 traffic gets on your network because many operating systems–including Microsoft Vista, Windows Server 2008, Mac OS X, Linux and Solaris — ship with IPv6 enabled by default. Network managers have to disable IPv6 on every device that they install on their networks or these devices are able to receive and send IPv6 traffic. “We’re probably talking about 300 million systems that have IPv6 enabled by default,” estimates Joe Klein, director of IPv6 Security at Command Information, an IPv6 consultancy. “We see this as a big risk.” Experts say it’s likely that network managers will forget to change the IPv6 default settings on some desktop, server or mobile devices on their networks. At the same time, most organizations have IPv4-based firewalls and network management tools that don’t automatically block IPv6 traffic coming into their networks. “The most common IPv6-based attacks that we’re seeing right now are when you have devices on the edge of your network that are dual stack, which m
