IPv6 and IPv4

IPv6 and IPv4 

Many engineers called to get know about IPv6 & IPv4. IP (short for Internet Protocol) specifies the technical format of packets and the addressing scheme for computers to communicate over a network OR, An IP (Internet Protocol) Address is an alphanumeric label assigned to computers and other devices that connect to a network using an internet protocol. This address allows these devices to send and receive data over the internet. Every device that is capable of connecting to the internet has a unique IP address.

There are currently two version of Internet Protocol (IP): IPv4 and a new version called IPv6. IPv6 is an evolutionary upgrade to the Internet Protocol. IPv6 will coexist with the older IPv4 for some time.

What is IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4)?

IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4) is the fourth revision of the Internet Protocol (IP) used to to identify devices on a network through an addressing system. The Internet Protocol is designed for use in interconnected systems of packet-switched computer communication networks. IPV4 header format is of 20 to 60 bytes in length, 

IPv4 is the most widely deployed Internet protocol used to connect devices to the Internet. IPv4 uses a 32-bit address scheme allowing for a total of 2^32 addresses (just over 4 billion addresses).  With the growth of the Internet it is expected that the number of unused IPv4 addresses will eventually run out because every device -- including computers, smartphones and game consoles -- that connects to the Internet requires an address.

A new Internet addressing system Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is being deployed to fulfill the need for more Internet addresses. IPV6 header format is of 40 bytes in length

IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) is also called IPng (Internet Protocol next generation) and it is the newest version of the Internet Protocol (IP) reviewed in the IETF standards committees to replace the current version of IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4). 

IPv6 is the successor to Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4). It was designed as an evolutionary upgrade to the Internet Protocol and will, in fact, coexist with the older IPv4 for some time. IPv6 is designed to allow the Internet to grow steadily, both in terms of the number of hosts connected and the total amount of data traffic transmitted.

IPv6 is often referred to as the "next generation" Internet standard and has been under development now since the mid-1990s. IPv6 was born out of concern that the demand for IP addresses would exceed the available supply.

The Benefits of IPv6

While increasing the pool of addresses is one of the most often-talked about benefit of IPv6, there are other important technological changes in IPv6 that will improve the IP protocol:

·        No more NAT (Network Address Translation)

·        Auto-configuration

·        No more private address collisions

·        Better multicast routing

·        Simpler header format

·        Simplified, more efficient routing

·        True quality of service (QoS), also called "flow labeling"

·        Built-in authentication and privacy support

·        Flexible options and extensions

·        Easier administration (say good-bye to DHCP)

The Difference Between IPv4 and IPv6 Addresses

An IP address is binary numbers but can be stored as text for human readers.  For example, a 32-bit numeric address (IPv4) is written in decimal as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be zero to 255. For example, 1.160.10.240 could be an IP address.

IPv6 addresses are 128-bit IP address written in hexadecimal and separated by colons. An example IPv6 address could be written like this: 3ffe:1900:4545:3:200:f8ff:fe21:67cf.

Did You Know...? IPv6 in the News: (April, 2017) MIT announced it would sell  half of its 16 million valuable IPv4 addresses and use the proceeds of the sale to finance its own IPv6 network upgrades.

Make Your Internet Faster

How To Make Your Internet Faster (Windows XP, Vista, 7,8)

Slow internet connection is the annoying thing that many people don't want to have. If your internet download speed is slow or your internet connection took long time to load the page, so you are not viewing your Security Camera / DVR. Don't worry today we will teach you how to make your internet faster by change DNS server in the control panel. There are many tricks and tips that also can increase internet speed, but we will show you the effective one.

In here we will walk you through step by step on how to change DNS servers that can increase your internet speed to maximum. Make sure to follow the step correctly for better result.

Step 1 : Open Control Panel

Step 2 : Go to Network and Internet >>> Network and Sharing Center

Step 3 : Click on Local Area Connection >>> Select Properties

Step 4 : Find and double click on "Internet Protocal Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)"

Step 5 : Tick on "Use the following DNS server addresses"

Step 6 : Fill up the DNS server like the same down below :

Preferred DNS Server : 8.8.8.8 
Alternate DNS Server : 8.8.4.4

or

Preferred DNS Server : 208.67.222.222
Alternate DNS Server : 208.67.222.222 

Step 7 : Click OK and Restart your computer.

Cleaning Up Your Computer

No matter how fast your internet is, If there are a lot of junk files and temporary files in your system, Your internet speed and system performance will drop. Also, there are many program installed in your computer and running on the background, Those programs that running in the desktop can slow down your internet speed also.

If you have many junk files and unnecessary programs installed in your PC, you should delete them out of your system.

Scan For A Virus

Virus is a main problem that causes your fast internet to run slow. Running your system with a virus can slow down your system performance, decrease your internet speed, and cause many more problems. If there are virus in your system, make sure to scan and get rid of it. You should scan for your system once a week for better security.

IPv6 Security - Why You Should Care About It

IPv6 security solutions help you proactively identify, assess, and fix IPv6 security threats. Even organizations that still use IPv4 can be significantly and unknowingly impacted by IPv6 security, as many devices are enabled by default for IPv6. If not properly tested, these devices can actually represent a significant risk and an attack path for hackers. IPv6 security solutions have been specifically designed to help organizations identify, manage and fix IPv6 security threats.

Some interesting facts. There is actually more people living on the entire planet, than there are currently IPv4 addresses. What is an IPv4 address? The analogy I like to use is, think of your phone book, and we've run out of phone numbers. IPv6 is basically a new area code or a new phone number that we are starting to hand out. An IPv6 is the parallel world in IP addresses, in numbers that you need to run websites. Most people actually don't care about IPv6. It's interesting that they don't, because quite frankly, they should. Let me tell you why.

There is some early adopters in the industry, such as Telco companies, higher education, and federal agencies. The reason why these are early adopters is because, in the case of Telcos, they really are the backbone of our next generation Internet, media, and telecommunication exchange. Higher education is provisioning their students, and Federal agencies are actually mandated by law, in some industries and some sectors of Federal starting deploying IPv6. Many other industries haven't yet. They don't feel like it applies to them. They don't think IPv6 is relevant for them. What's interesting actually is that they probably should, because even if they are not running IPv6 networks, there are many, many devices on our IPv4 environments and networks that are, by default, configured to run both on IPv4 and IPv6.

They ship from the factories with both enabled. If you don't know that, you might not even know that you have these devices on your network. Why is that important? Because, that could open up a potential door for an attacker actually to take advantage of this information, to come in through IPv6 into our environments, and do some damage and breach your environment.

What's challenging about IPv6 security overall? Fundamentally, there are three main things. As we just discussed, they are very difficult to detect. Very often, we don't even look for them. If you don't look for them, you are not going to find them. Secondly, it's very difficult to actually run IPv4 and IPv6 in parallel. This is quite complex. It requires a lot of technical skills. Many organizations just haven't started looking at that yet, so it's very complex. Thirdly, because there's a lot of uncertainty and misinformation around IPv6, it's actually an ideal threat factor for attackers to come in and leverage this misinformation, to take advantage and breach your environments. Those are the three challenges with security.

Now, what recommendations can we provide to you? Number one, get educated. Get smart about IPv6. There are a number of white papers out there. There's a number of webcasts out there that can help you to better understand what to do about IPv6, and how to handle that from a security perspective, as well as overall how you can deploy it in your networks. Secondly, find out if you have IPv6 environments, even if you are not running an IPv6 environment. You can use solutions such as vulnerability scanners or discover tools that will help you to understand if you have IPv6 enabled devices on your network. If the answer is, "Yes, I have them," make sure that you turn off these devices, because that will help you prevent potential attacks from happening. The analogy I would use, it's like you have your house. You have your front door which is locked, but all of a sudden, you have a back door that you are not even looking at, that has an open door. Make sure you lock that back door as well, to protect your environment.