Ars Technica: The Declaration of IPv6 Independence

Iljitsch van Beijnum at Ars Technica presents a compelling case why companies should not wait to transition over to IPv6 from IPv4.

The simple fact is that as long as you have IPv4, no matter how convoluted to configure or hard to obtain it is, it's less work than a complete migration. That's unfortunate, because sticking to IPv4 only means a future filled with more limitations, and hence more hacks to keep things running, while a collective move to IPv6 would fix everything once and for all.

So how do we break the vicious cycle? Simple: start planning now to turn off IPv4 as soon as you can. But wait a minute... how do I do my Google searches, read all those great Ars articles, or send the latest LOLCAT links to my friends? Won't client computers suffer? The short answer is maybe. The long answer is that IPv6 can get you where you need to be, and if not, a translation box (such as an HTTP proxy) can translate from IPv6 to IPv4 on your external network. For home users, this is too much trouble for right now. For medium and large businesses, as well as enterprise environments, the move could save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

The one thing I really like about IPv6 - personally - is that it may signal an end to Network Address Translation. As the family member most likely to be called in when someone has a computer problem, it will hopefully signal an end to going around and port configuring home routers so that they'll work with World of Warcraft.

Network World: Is securing your network worth the money?

Er… yes?

Oh, wait, is this a rhetorical question?

Using technology from Tiversa to gather and categorize tens of thousands of P2P searches and files related to the top 30 U.S. banks, the researchers found "significant information risk firms and individuals face from P2P file sharing networks" such as Gnutella, FastTrack and edonkey. They found that end users are often lazy or poorly organized, leading to internal company documents as well as partners' documents being revealed. "For one bank, we found a spreadsheet with 23,000 business accounts including their contact names and addresses, account numbers, company positions, and relationship managers at the bank," the report states.

Geez, next thing you'll tell me that they also found a bank's security review process manual.

"Also found: one bank's security review process manual."