Security issues in PIV6 and solutions for these issues
https://ilokabenneth.blogspot.com/2014/01/security-issues-in-piv6-and-solutions.html
Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published 6/1/2014
INTRODUCTION
The
most widely used version in internet protocol is the IPv4 (which is used to
represent internet protocol version 4), and it can be traced back to the 1970s.
Although this protocol has been adopted for long, there are well known
limitations such as the limited IP address space and lack of security. IPv4 are
specified on 32-bit IP address fields that are rapidly running out in spaces as
a result of high adoption. There is also the need to note that the only
security feature available in the IPv4 security option is the secured platform
it provides for hosts to send restrictions that are related to handling and
security parameters1.
Considering
the discussion above on the fact that the IPv4 doesn’t have enough security
features, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) have been on the working
to provide the IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) version in order to tackle
the limitations on the IPv4, and also integrate more performance features,
configuration and network management solutions2. The elements contained
in the IPv6 has been defined by numerous Requests for Comments (RFCs) such as
RFC 24602 (IPv6 Protocol), RFC 48613 (IPv6 Neighbour
Discovery), RFC 48624 (IPv6 Stateless Address Auto-Configuration),
RFC 44435 (Internet Control Message Protocol for IPv6 (ICMPv6)), RFC
42916 (IPv6 Addressing Architecture), and RFC 43017
(Security Architecture for IP or IPsec). IPv6 is famously known as the next
generation Internet Protocol (IPng). There are a number of differneces between
IPv6 and IPv4 and such differences are as outlined below:
Header format for IPV4
Header format for IPv6
From
the above comparison, it can be seen that a number of new features have been
introduced in the IPv6, and these features can be summarised as:
1. A
new header format
2. A
much bigger disk space as compared with the IPv4
3. A
hierarchical addressing and routing infrastructure that is efficient
4. A
combination of both stateless and state address configuration
5. IP
security
6. Better
support for quality of service (QoS)
7. A
new protocol for interaction of neighbouring node
8. Enhanced
extensibility
Cleary,
it can be seen from the comparative analysis above that the IPv6 boost higher
security features as compared with the previous version, and one might be
tempted to easily conclude that such system will cover all needed security
issues in Internet Protocol and online access, however such is not the case as
there are still a number of considerable threats in the IPv6 which arises from
inefficient or arguably ineffective security leakages.
Purpose of the study
The
main purpose of this study is to understand the security issues that are
associated with IPv6 as compared with the earlier version of IPv4. As described
above, the later version (v6) possesses a number of advantages in terms of
advanced features when compared with the earlier version (v4), but it is still
very important to understand that this doesn’t serve as a ultimate guarantee
for eliminated risk as there are clear indications that the IPv6 still have
numerous weaknesses. As such, understanding these weaknesses is very important
because it will serve as the right platform for creating necessary paradigm
that will ensure higher security in the internet world in the future.
Research questions
In
order to achieve the research purpose describe above, a number of questions
will be addressed as the right guideline from which the research objectives
will be meet and these questions are?
1. What
are the differences between IPv4 and IPv6?
2. What
are the security issues in IPv6?
3. How
can these issues be solved?
Research design and
approach
This
research paper will be developed by adopting 4 chapters. The first chapter will
be the introduction, which will lay down the foundation of what the paper is
all about, research objectives, research questions and how the research will be
conducted.
Following
this will be the second section that will present a review of relevant
literatures on security issues as they are related to the IPv6. This section
will not be centred on the negative aspects of the security issues. Instead, it
will look into both the negatives and positives.
The
third section is the methodology, which describes how the primary research will
be conducted, and following this section is the research analysis that presents
a detailed analysis of the research conducted. Conclusion is the last section
which is a general overview of the whole research.
Limitation
The
underlying fact is that no matter the level of standards or specification
adopted in a given research process, there are always limitations on such
project as to what is acceptable in the research process and findings made from
such research. As such, this paper is no exception. The limitation for this
paper comes in the form of the scope. It must be noted that there are numerous
security issues in the internet, but the only focus presented in this paper is
on issues related with the adoption of IPv6. Although such a presentation can
easily help the readers with understanding of the issues in the new internet
protocol and how to resolve, it doesn’t present any understanding of other
related internet issues that might not actually be a product of internet
protocol and as such security is still not fully enhanced in the
“netvironment.”
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW: SECURITY
CONSIDERATIONS
As
stated in the chapter one above, a number of security issues that were lacking
in the IPv4 has been fixed with the new version of IPv6, but that doesn’t
eliminate the fact that a number of issues still prevail in the new system, and
as such the focus of this chapter is to understanding the security issues that
have been enhanced in the IPv6 and the issues that still prevail.
IPV4 SECURITY ISSUES
SOLVED IN IPV6
Massively sized IP
address space
When
attackers start exploring sites to lay down their threats on, the first attempt
involves employing scanning of ports as a scouting technique in order to gain
as much information possible about the network of the targeted victim3.
The scanning period for the entire IPv4 based internet had been estimated to be
in the period of 10 hours with adequate bandwidth8, in consideration
of the fact that IPv4 addresses are only 32 bits wide. This is where the new
disk scape in IPv6 becomes of importance as it has been dramatically increased
to 128 bits, and this creates a high barrier for attackers that desire to scan
the whole ports comprehensively. Additionally, such scanning even if the
attacker decides to proceed with it will require higher bandwidth and as such
it is also an additional barrier to attackers.
In
any case, it is still importance to understand that port scanning investigation
technique currently adopted in IPv6 is the same as what is obtainable in IPv4,
besides the longer space that it now comes with. On that note, it can be stated
that best practices adopted in IPv4, such as filtering internal-use IP
addresses in the routers’ border and filter un-used services through firewall
should be continued in the IPv6 network in order to enhance the security
features in such networks.
Cryptographically
Generated Address (CGA)
With
the new standards set by IPv6, it has now become possible to bind a public
signature key to any given IPv6 address. The new IPv6 address produced from
such process is known as a Cryptographically Generated Address (CGA)9.
The benefit of such cryptographication is that it ushers in added security
protections for the IPv6 neighbourhood router discovery technique, and also
allows the user to make available “prove of ownership” for any given IPv6
address that is the property of the defined users. This is a very important
difference in comparison with IPv4, as it is impossible to retrofit this
important function in the IPv4 as a result of its currently limited disk space.
There are three main advantages offered by the Cryptographically Generated Address
(CGA):
1. It
makes it much harder to spoof attach or steal IPv6 addresses.
2. It
makes it possible for delivery of messages signed with the owners’ private key.
3. It
doesn’t need upgrading or modification in the overall network infrastructure.
Enhanced IP Security
(IPsec)10
IP
security is the medium through which interoperable, cryptographically and
higher quality based security services are provided for traffic under the IP
layer3. It is also known as IPsec for short. While this feature is
optional in IPv4, it has been made mandatory in IPv6. It enhances the original
IP protocol by ushering in authenticity, integrity, confidentiality and control
of access to each IP packet through the adoption of two protocols in the form
of: AH (authentication header) and ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload)3.
This new feature is enhance the security of IPs and gives users better
protection in terms of hacker and crackers attacking their networks.
Replaces ARP with
Neighbour Discovery (ND) Protocol
Under
the settings of IPv4, the layer two (L2) is not bounded statically with the
layer three (L3) IP address. As such, the L3 can be run on top of any L2 media
without inflicting any significant changes in the protocol system. The
establishment of connection between the L2 and L3 is made with a protocol named
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), and it establishes dynamic mapping between
L2 and L3 addresses on the local network section. In any case, the ARP has a
number of security issues such as ARP spoofing. In the IPv6 protocol
development, the need for ARP is eliminated because the interface identifier
(ID) of the layer three in the IPv6 is derived directly from a device-specific
L2 address (MAC Address). In the IPv6, the layer three (L3) is used in a
combined forma with its locally derived interface ID portion on a universal
level. As such, the security issues that are featured in the ARP as contained
in IPv4 are eliminated in the IPv6. There is a new protocol known as Neighbour
Discovery (ND) Protocol for IPv6 is defined in RFC 486111 as a replacement to
ARP11.
Basically,
the underlying elements from the above discussions are that the IPv6 features
numerous improvements that enhance the security system of users. In the modern
business setting, security is very important as a result of the fact that
numerous businesses are taking to the internet as a means of expanding their
operations through the increasing features powered by internationalization and
globalization. Besides the businesses, the internet world is growing with new
“netizens” that made use of the internet for their own personal reasons and
reveal important information about themselves in the process of their
interaction in the internet. Added to this is the fact that “netcriminals” are
not easy to spot as they perform their delirious acts under the cover of their
roof and anonymously through adoption of numerous configurative paradigms that
makes them evidentially invincible. As such, it becomes clear that increasing
security of the Internet Protocol is the right way forward and that is what the
new IPv6 is intended to do. In any case, this new and improved version of IP
system still has its own security features that can still leave “netizens” at
risk of attack and other threats.
SECURITY ISSUES IN THE
IPV6 AND WAYS TO MANAGE THESE ISSUES
IP addressing structure
The
addressing structure adopted in IP is used to define the architecture of the
given network. In cases where the addressing structures are properly planned,
potential risks that are associated with the new features in the IPv6 are
reduced significantly. As such, the addressing structure is of high threat if
not well planned because the new features integrates numerous dynamic systems
that are not present in the IPv4 and such integration now means that the new
system needs redesign of addressing structure which will be different from what
is obtainable in the IPv4 and this new redesign will entail new formatting and
potentially new applications which might not be easily understood by most of
the end users. The solution now becomes taking into consideration a number of
factors in addressing the IP structure of IPv6 to ensure full functionality and
enhanced security. There are a number of factors that needs to be considered
when designing an IPv6 network and these factors are3:
Hierarchical addressing
and numbering plans
The
numbering plan is used to describe how the IPv6 allocations are segregated by
the user or organization. For instance, if a given user is granted with a 16
subnet bits (/48) address block, this will offer the user an opportunity to
support 65,000 subnets. The fact is that a good numbering plan can be used to
access control lists and firewall rules in the operations security, as well as
easily identify the ownership of sites, links and interfaces. The solution to
this as recommended by HKSAR3 is that the user should plan and
create a site hierarchy by considering the following subnet methods:
1. Numbering
subnets sequentially
2. VLAN
number
3. IPv4
subnet number
4. Network’s
Physical location
5. Functional
unit of an organisation (Accounts, Operation, etc)
Problems with trackable
EUI-64 addresses
Basically,
the IEEE EUI-64 address12 is a representation of new standards in
network interfacing addressing as adopted in IPv6. The network interface’s (MAC
address) physical address is the input in algorithm that is used to generate
EUI-64 address. By adopting the EUI-64, an attacker can actually reveal the
make and model of a given remote machine, and make use of such information
target attacks on that particular machine. This is a very big issue with the
IPv6 as such cases where an attacker is successful by adopting the method
discussed above will entail high danger for the owner of the targeted machine.
Additionally, once access has been made to the machine, other functionality
might be also predefined by the attacker and the end point is that the machine
will be basically responding to the attacker’s command even without the
knowledge of the owner. For instance, it can be sending detailed analysis of
further actions in the machine to the attackers define destination through
invincible routes that the owner might not easily notice or might not ever
notice. In order to reduce such risk, non-predictable addresses need to be used
in the production of cryptographic algorithm (e.g. Cryptographically Generated
Address) or assigning addresses with DHCPv6.
Unauthorized IPv6
Clients
There
are IPv6 supports for most of the modern operating systems or equipment, and it
can be easy as well as hard to notice sometimes as to where the use of the IPv6
protocol is enabled. As a result of highly extended capabilities of IPv6, and
the potential of an IPv6 host having a number of global IPv6 addresses, the
possibility to provide an environment that makes it easy to access the network
level for attackers is increased if the access controls are not properly put to
functions. Definitely, it becomes clear that such a risky measure is
significant as it will make the attack function easer and put users at high
risk. On that note, it is very must important to reduce the potentials for such
and it can be done through the following measures:
1. Locate
and disable any IPv6 enabled equipment
2. Detect
and block IPv6 or IPv6 tunnel traffic at network perimeter
3. Include
IPv6 usage policies in the organization’s security plan
Neighbour Discovery and
Stateless Address Auto-configuration
As
discussed earlier, it was sated that Neighbour Discovery (ND) is the system
used to replace the ARP of the IPv4, and stateless address auto-configuration:
that allows the IPv6 to be automatically configured whenever it is connected to
an IPv6 network is a very significant DHCP-like function provided in ICMPv6.
These new kits are both powerful and flexible options in the IPv6 protocol. In
any case, the ND can still be a subject of attack that can potentially cause IP
packets to move in unexpected places3. There are also potential for
denial of services to prevail. Additionally, attacks can also be used to allow
nodes to intercept and optionally be used to modify packet data that have been
designed for another node. Although it is possible to protect this with IPsec
AH, RFC 375613 (IPv6 ND Trust Models and Threats) are also used to
define the type of networks that the secure IPv6 ND techniques will be allowed
to function in. These three different models of trust can be used to roughly
correspond to secured corporate intranets, public wireless access networks, and
pure ad hoc networks. As an additional note, it is important to note that the
SEcure Neighbour Discovery (SEND) protocol are predesigned with the right
paradigm to usher in a secured neighbour discovery with a predefined
cryptographic method.
In
the IP networks (v4 and v6), the neighbour discovery mechanism as well as the
solicitation of routers adopts ICMP. The ICMP of the version 4 functions as a
separate protocol on the outside of IPv4, but the ICMP of the version 6 is
inside the IPv6 and integrated to run directly on the top of IPv6 protocol, and
this can also result to a number of security issues.
The
exchange of ICMPv6 messages on the top of the IPv6 protocol for enriched
vitality in the “network health” messages and environment solicitations are
very important for communication in IPv6. Well, this can easily be abused
through sending of fake and carefully crafted messages for service denial,
re-routing of traffics, or some other malicious activities3. The
recommendations made by the IPv6 for security reasons is that all ICMP messages
need to be done through IPsec AH, that are capable of ushering in integrity,
authenticity and anti-relay functions.
In
order to avoid such attacks that are related to neighbour-discovery, it is
recommended that the critical system be specified as static neighbour entries
in their default routers, instead of adopting the ND3. However, this
will need the implementation of some administrative efforts in order to be
crowned as a success.
Twofold operations
Users
can easily change their IPv6 whenever they so desires, with the IPv6 being
gradually deployed while the IPv4 will also be supported on the same nodes for
legacy clients and services. Such a dual protocol, environment created by
dynamism in the IPv6 also increases the complexity for operations as well as
security issues. In any case, there are existing measures in IPv4 that can be
maintained while the same level of coverage will be applied to the IPv6. In
order to reduce these issues, there is a need for the user to implement
security measures consistently for both versions. During operations, the
administrators also need to be aware of significant threats and vulnerabilities
in both versions and adopt necessary measure to reduce and possibly eliminate such
risks.
Common attacks in IPv4
and IPv6
From
the above analysis, it can easily be deduced that the new IPv6 is not capable
of solving all security problem. On a fundamental aspect, it cannot prevent
attacks on layers that above its network layer in the protocol stack. Some of
the attacks on networks that IPv6 cannot handle are3:
1. Application
layer attacks: Attacks that are performed on the application layer (OSI Layer
7) which can include buffer overflow, viruses and malicious codes, web
application attacks etc.
2. Password
guessing and Brute-force attacks on authentication modules.
3. Rogue
devices: unauthorized devices introduced into the network. A device may be a
single PC, but it could be a switch, router, DNS server, DHCP server or even a
wireless access point.
4. Denial
of Service: The problem of denial of service attacks is still in existence with
the IPv6.
5. Attacks
using social networking techniques such as email spamming, phishing, etc.
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1. Chapter
introduction
In
this chapter, the focus will be to define the approaches that will be adopted
in the primary research. This chapter will detailed how the primary research
will be conducted and the steps as well as set standards for the primary
research.
3.2. Research purpose
The
purpose of this research is to conduct an in-depth study of the issues in IPvv6
with experienced IT personnel, identifying the issues in the new version and
how these issues can be enhanced in order to offer better internet security.
3.3. Research
philosophy
Research
is an important aspect of any academic experience and career goal. This is
because it enhances the knowledge base and understanding of the person who is
undertaking the research process and it also helps to broaden the understanding
of subjects that are generally complex in nature. Research is the root form
which new theories are created an existing one critic to understanding their
level of applicability with respect to changes and new trends in the modern
environment.
3.4. Research approach
The
approach for this research paper is qualitative approach. In accordance with Sage publications (2013), the qualitative approach to
research is a unique background that is used to foster precise ways of asking
questions and particular ways for thinking through problems. Common questions
that are asked in qualitative researches are designed to provide answers as to
how, why and what factors that influences the issue being review. Qualitative
research is a very exciting landscape that is interdisciplinary in nature and
comprises of wide perspective and practices used for generating knowledge.
Researches from all across filed in the social and behavioural use adopts
qualitative research – and it is important to understand that the context of
this paper is also based on social and behavioural studies. Additionally, the
research process involved in qualitative is usually given the centre stage and
this means that the searcher have high potential of focusing on the subject
matter in review and applying all necessary approaches to ensure that the
research is usually gathered towards achieving set objectives through set
parameters that can be used to measure the success of the research
process.
Basically
the essence of qualitative research is built around the tyranny of numbers it
has abandoned for the purpose of creating enigma in words. instead of creating
a “Yes” or “No “ approach to research methodology, qualitative research allows
the audience to offer opinion based on a clear definition of what they perceive
to be the problem and how they wish to solve the problem in the long run. It is
often seen as being rooted in the non-tangible domain, which is based on
experimental and intuitive researches studies that are fundamental in natures.
In
accordance with Hiat (1986), p, 737),
qualitative works are in constant and dynamic flux, but in essence it is moving
towards some of the end-point in modern evolutionary way, numerous efforts have
been made by the different researchers in order to establish a concrete meaning
on the qualitative dimensions and it also serve as an integrative function from
which the researchers develop an absolute understanding in the context of the
subject being studied.
The
reason for choosing qualitative research is because of its numerous advantages
over quantitative research in social research. One of the advantages that
qualitative research has is the exploratory approaches it adopts with the use
of open-ended questions and probing that allows participants to contribute in
the research process with their own words instead of being forced to choose
from a group of fixed response that might not always be in line with what they
wanted. Such an approach means that the responders for this research will have
the opportunity of:
It allows for
expandable answers – qualitative research
will allows responders to expand their answers in order to meet their full
understanding, perception and perspective about the subject being reviewed.
Such an opportunity will mean that they will be able to contribute significantly
towards a revolutionary analysis of the whole research approach and it will
also help the research to develop a more concise conclusion on the topic being
studied. As such, it can be argued the research approach will contribute
significantly towards the findings that will be made from this paper, as the
responders will be able to present their own general understanding of the
topic, instead of being forced to choose from fixed answers.
3.5. Research strategy
The
strategy for this research will be an exploratory research method which is
conducted in the form of an in-depth study with the responders. Exploratory
research is a form of research which is designed to explore different aspects
of the topic being studies. The word “exploratory” implies that it doesn’t
focus on any general objective as to meeting some specified points, but instead
it is diverse in its approach to review by offering the opportunity for
researchers to understand different aspects of the study section and explore
other areas that might have a direct influence on finding from the research.
In-depth
study on the other hand is a form of interviewing in which the research chats
with the responder one-on-one in order to understanding their views about the
projected changes from the research hypotheses. Such a close discussion will be
enhanced by adopting necessary strategies to ensure that the responders feel at
ease and peace with the researcher in order to make them comfortable with the
research process and also enhance their possibilities of contributing to the
research process positively. Such approach will include a discussion of the
importance of the study, which will then persuade them to contribute
significantly towards the research process.
The
main reason for adopting an in-depth form of exploratory research strategy in
this qualitative research is because the topic being reviewed doesn’t have a
common ground for judgement. Food intake amongst Indian women while it might be
guided by the food culture of Indian as discussed previously will still vary
form one person to another as there are different factors that influences an
individual’s choice of food. For instance, while there might be well
established cuisines in the Indian culture, there might be difference in
appetite and availability and it will definitely influence the consumption
pattern to a very significant point. As such, exploratory research is the right
antidote for understanding these changes in its basic form and then analysing
the finding based on designed hypotheses in order to
3.6 Data collection
Many factors needed to be considered
in the qualitative phase of the study. One of these important factors was to
obtain genuine data and naturally occurring conversations during the interview.
The researcher’s role here was to neutrally and objectively record the
interactions using the qualitative investigation tools. All the observations
were noted. The conversations were recorded. This is an advantage because it
allowed the research to interpret findings from the research process based on
individual responses gathered. Saville-Troike (1982) mentioned
that if the observer is absent, the observer would not be able to observe
[hear] what would have been taking place (p.113). The writing of notes was
conducted unobtrusively the whole interview which took place in a period of 10
to 20 minutes between the responders. Throughout the interview process, the
researcher wrote down the statements made by the interviewees.
Delamont
(2002) in Fieldwork in Educational Setting explains that recording what
was said throughout the observation should be done as discreetly as possible,
if possible not word for word but some key words or phrases would be helpful to
jog the memory later.
In
conducting the quantitative research, many important elements and aspects were
considered. A questionnaire is merely a ‘tool’ to bring together and accumulate
information about a specific aspect of interest. It contains a list of
questions. This composed questionnaire contains two parts; Part 1 has four questions
regarding general personal particulars whereas Part 2 is divided into 2
sections, Section A and Section B. There are three questions which require
short answers in Section A. Section B contains 4 parts. Part a discusses the
past food intake pattern and practices amongst responders, Part b asks about
what is presently obtainable in food intake practices and patter, Part c is
about the influence of culture on food intake practices and patter, and Part d
is about the projected future trends in food intake practices and patterns. All
the questions in Part B are answered using open ended questions that allows the
responder to elaborate more in relation to answered provided in the research
process. The responders were supposed to answer all the questions.
A
questionnaire needs to have clear and understandable instructions, therefore;
the instructions for this questionnaire were written clearly in order for
better understanding of the participants. Questionnaires must always have an
exact reason which is related to the objectives of the research. Thus, the
objectives of this study were written on the front page and the title of
Section A and Section B explained what were the objectives of the questions and A
pilot study was first conducted to check people’s understanding and ability to
answer the questions, highlight areas of confusion and look for any routing
errors, as well as providing an estimate of the average time each questionnaire
will take to complete. Therefore, the first pilot study using this questionnaire
showed that the instructions were not precise and clear. The participants did
not know how to answer the questions as there were many redundant questions.
This was then amended to remove the redundancy and repeated questions in
different forms. After amending it, a second pilot study was done. This showed
improvement as there were no questions asked which caused any doubts. The second pilot study was considered to be
successful. The participants involved were then given the final erosion of the
questionnaire. They were informed about the aim of the questionnaire in order
to understand the questions.
3.7. Data analysis
Preceding
the data gathering process is the analysis which is designed to understand the
information gathered from the data. The analysis part in qualitative research
is different in quantitative research. This is because; quantitative adopts a
number based approach in which the responders are forced to choose between
agreeing and disagreeing. This is different in quantitative research which is
more of an interview form that the responders can actually offer any form or
answer to the asked questions. Analysing qualitative research can take
different format and the format chosen basically depends on the researcher and
the form of questions asked.
For
this paper, the form of analysis chosen is based on interpretational
(objective) analysis. This is a situation in which the response gathered are
individually interpreted in relation to the actual meaning that the responder
presents in the whole research process. This is because, the meanings presented
can actually be different from one responders to the other, and it makes
individual interpretation very important as it is the only way that the
research can actually gain full insight into what the responder actually means.
In
any case, the interpretation process for all the responses gathered is similar
because the interpretations are based on linking findings to the set research
objectives. Such an approach means that the research is actually able to
centred findings in a more tailored way that makes it easy to identify common
variables from all of the findings. Analysing the finding with common variables
will also help to prove the stated hypotheses and it will also increase the
chances of achieving the research objective through an inter-relational
interpretation of idea in a way that it creates coherence between data gathered
and actually meaning generated from the gathered data.
3.8. Ethical
considerations
In
the course of gathering and analysing the data, numerous ethical issues were
reoccurring. Primary research has been characterized with numerous ethical
issues, and the reason is because some researchers are always trying to ensure
that gathered data and finding from analysis meet their set objectives.
However, this was not applicable in this paper. Some of the ethical issues
encountered and addressed are:
3.8.1 Proposing answers
for responders – since this is a face-to-face
survey, responders who had issues with the questionnaire asked questions.
During the course of addressing responders’ questions, the interviewer might
directly or indirectly influence their answers by focusing more on the negative
or positive influence of the answer. In order to eliminate such ethical issue,
the interviewers were trained on ensuring that they don’t deviate from the
focus of the questionnaire and don’t interfere with the responders’ choice by
either directly or indirectly convincing them to present a particular answer
through their explanation of the questions.
3.8.2 Manipulation of
data - the gathered data re really hefty and
not all people approached had intension of complying. As such, there was also a
temptation of the interviewer to fill the unanswered questionnaires or
manipulate the gathered data to ensure favourable findings. However, the
research have been trained numerously on the importance of ensuring reliability
by keeping data genuine and the influence of manipulated data on the quality of
a research. As such, none of these unethical practices was conducted in this
research.
3.8.3. Chapter summary
The
design of any research paper is very important because it plays an important
role in determining whether the paper will be able to achieve its set
objectives. As such, this paper was not different in any form because it is
important to design the research process in a way that assurance is ensured
about the high potential of meeting set objectives and impacting positively in
the field of the research.
This
chapter focuses on detailing the research process, and such focus meant that
all the research variables were discussed as well as how these variables will
be loaded into the research paper. Other features such as the responders
profile and the data gathering process.
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS
4.1. Chapter
introduction
The
focus of this chapter is to analyse all gathered data. As describe earlier,
this is a qualitative research and the findings from the research will be
objectively analysed. The implication is that data gathered from the whole research
process will be analysed individually, and it will eventually aid in the
overall understanding of the research paper. In any case, the analysis will be
done in such a way that the actually objectives of the paper and stated
research hypotheses are incorporated into the analysis.
4.2: Pattern for
gathering response and its influence on actual response provides
The
responses were gathered by the research in a written form. The researcher was
close by the responder with a laptop and was typing in the answers presented by
the responder. As such, there might be cases where the actual response was not
written as stated by the responder, but the fact still remains that the meaning
if the same. For instance, where a responder made grammatical errors in the
response, the research made necessary corrections before putting in the
response into this paper.
4.2. Response analysis
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Introduction:
Good day sir. Please
I want to thank you very much for bringing out your time to participate in
this study. The main purpose is to understand the security issues in IPv6 and
how these issues can be solved.
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BIO-DATA
AND SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
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Age = 33
Gender = Male
Race = Indian-Malay
IT experience = 6
years
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QUESTION
1
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What
is your view about the modern internet environment?
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On my own opinion, it
is getting congested in the sense that the internet is really being adopted
across the world and the information readily available are very huge now that
it is uncountable and you can live a life time without every seeing some of
the information in the net.
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How
do you think this congestion affects IP address?
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You need to
understand that the functionality of IP is based on the system and not
actually on a general sense. What am I trying to say? The thing is just that
every system has its own IP as issued by the internet provide, so if the
internet is getting congested then the IP address will suffer because it will
be very bulk and as such slowdown connection and exposes innocent people to
internet attacks.
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Really?
Attacking people’s computer with their IP? Please tell us more about how this
is possible.
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Yes. It is possible
and actually easy. Because the every computer have their own specific IP,
when a hacker gets access to these IP, the hacker can actually configure them
in such a way that the information contained in the computer are sent to the
hacker’s desired destination.
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Is
IPv6 better than IPv4?
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Yes it is better and
the reason is because it has more disk space and as cub offer higher
security, higher speed and more information available in the internet.
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What
are the security issues with IPv6 and how can they be resolved?
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IPv6 brings along
with it some level of dynamism and this comes with numerous security issues.
One of the most significant issue is that two people can actually be using
the same IP and it puts the innocent at the risk of being hacked. These
issues can however be solved by creating a level of static nature in the
system. For example, the IP can be configure to disable any discovery tool.
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Interpretation
The
main understanding from this interview is that the current internet environment
is increasingly becoming open as a result of the fact that people are adopting
internet technology across the globe. On that note, the now IPv6 is better in
the sense that it offers higher disk space, but the increase in dynamism now
means that higher risk exit and these risk can be reduced by configuring the
system in order to ensure that access to the IP is denied.
Conclusion
The
need to understand the security level of internet is becoming vital as a result
of the increase in adoption, which increases risk in cases where these security
issues are not well looked into. This is the ground from which this research
paper was developed, and it is based on the objective of understanding the
security issues with the new IPv6 and how these issues can be handled. On that
account, it was discovered that the level of dynamism offered by the new
internet protocol brings along with it security issues in the sense that two
users can be using the system at the same time. Some of these issues as
discussed come in the form of poor structure, open sources codes, and IP
visibility. Even with the disk space, the IPv6 can still be hacked with the
same formula for hacking the earlier version, with the only limitation being
that it will take longer time. In order to reduce the issues, it recommended
that users should:
1. Use
standard, non-obvious static addresses for critical systems;
2. Ensure
adequate filtering capabilities for IPv6;
3. Filter
internal-use IPv6 addresses at border routers;
4. Block
all IPv6 traffic on IPv4-only networks;
5. Filter
unnecessary services at the firewall;
6. Develop
a granular ICMPv6 filtering policy and filter all unnecessary ICMP message
types;
7. Maintain
host and application security with a consistent security policy for both IPv4
and IPv6;
8. Use
IPsec to authenticate and provide confidentiality to assets;
9. Document
the procedures for last-hop traceback; and
10. Pay
close attention to the security aspects of transition mechanisms.
Even
with the issues discussed, the conclusion is that the IPv6 offer higher
security.
References
1
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0791.txt
2
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2460
3
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4861
4
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4862
5 http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4443
6
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4291
9 Cryptographically Generated
Addresses (CGA) is specified in RFC 3972 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3972.txt).
12
EUI is an acronym for Extended Unique Identifier, e.g. “3BA7:94FF:FE07:CBD0” is
an EUI-64 identifier in colon hexadecimal notation.
14
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3056
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