Study and Comparison of Network Security in IPv4 and IPv6

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the next generation internet protocol which is still in its transition phase from IPv4. The present paper not only discusses about the necessity of IPv6 which resulted from the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses but also present the study and comparison of various security issues in IPv4 and IPv6. It is clearly understood that today the IPv4 public addresses have been exhausted and there is clear need for transition to IPv6 which is necessary to remain connected with Internet. On the other hand, the migration process to IPv6 has strong impact on the network security. Although, IPv6 provides various innovative features which help to provide network security but because of infancy stage, it is also considered as a dangerous weapon that the attacker can use. In IPv4, various threats like viruses, worms, botnets and attacks like DoS, Fishing and Spoofing are independent of the Internet Protocol version used. In order to minimize the threats, more security measures are required. Firewall policies, network security rules must be hardened. As the IPv6 is new, the applications designed for IPv6 as well as the software are not yet field proven. They may contain bugs or errors that can become vulnerable to the network security. Also the quick transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is not possible and may span in years. With time and support, IPv6 when implemented will provide security on the equal level as todays IPv4 and even higher.