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The Ghost in Your Machine: IPv6 Gateway to Hackers
By Kim Zetter EmailJuly 18, 2008 | 8:10:00 PMCategories: Cybersecurity
Ipv4_vs_ipv6

It may be years before the new internet protocol IPv6 takes over from the current IPv4, but a security researcher is warning that many systems – corporate and personal – are already open to attack through channels that have been enabled on their machines to support IPv6 traffic.

Joe Klein, a security researcher with Command Information, says many organizations and home users have IPv6 enabled on their systems by default but don't know it. They also don't have protection in place to block malicious traffic, since some intrusion detection systems and firewalls aren't set up to monitor IPv6 traffic, presenting an appealing vector through which outsiders can attack their networks undetected.