Cyberattack-IPV-6

The new internet protocol IPv6 will vastly increase the number of internet addresses available. Whilst IPv4 allows around 4 billion addresses, IPv6 increases this to around 3.4x1038. A major motivation for additional address space, apart from the fact that most of the currently available addresses are already allocated, is that it is foreseen that in the near future the will be an explosion in the number of devices that directly access the internet, each of which will have its own unique IP address

Some obvious examples are mobile phones and cars. Already many mobile phones are used to access the internet via their network provider but currently the connection to the internet is via a system that is similar to Native Address Translation (NAT), which has a considerable number problems. Neither will it be long before all new cars have an IP address and are permanently connected to the internet. Self organising sensor networks will become commonplace and used for such diverse activities as monitoring the environment to public health care. Each node of this network will require an IP address. Items marked with RFID tags (Radio Frequency Identification) will also require IP addresses so that they can be monitored and organised.

In the home the television and the refrigerator will have IP addresses, as will the central heating system and your lighting circuits, intruder alarms, door lock and even your curtains. The internet will become ubiquitous and the connectivity will be almost infinite.

This of course created a massive vulnerability the cyberattack; so much so that the US government is investing $30 million into countermeasures against such a perceived attack. One of their concerns is hardware viruses that could be incorporated into chips. This could then be activated over the internet and used to launch massive coordinated cyberattacks from such items as televisions and refrigerators.This might sound like science fiction but the American Defence Department is taking it very seriously. Effectively they are carrying out research into the ultimate antivirus software in order to protect the integrity of tomorrow's internet.