IPv6 and the End of the World

There’s always been a certain amount of conspiracy theories when security type events happen or instances where there is secrecy. There are those who don’t buy the ‘reported’ reason a security event (like a breach) occurred, those who claim to have inside information or just those who see a story and draw their own conclusions. The following is my take (Satire Alert) on Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol v6 and the end of the world as we know it. That can affect our security, right?!?

Recently there have been more than the usual number of articles about IPv6 and the need to deploy it soon since the v4 blocks are almost gone. Yes we’ve been hearing this for years (RFC2460 was defined in December 1998) but now the hype may be over as indicated in this article. There are many security enhancements in v6 nicely covered here but that’s not where I’m going.

In my first blog post on DevCentral, aptly titled First Post, I introduced psilva’s prophecies. I’ve been in the Internet industry since ’94 and while not a ‘know it all’ I have seen my share of changes and have seen a bunch of ‘ideas’ over time come true. For instance, I had always thought that the Internet would eventually become our entertainment delivery method and some 14 years later, that’s the case. That’s not that wild as I’m sure many of you figured it was only a matter of time once we started to see streaming video and broadband to the home. In that First Post, I offered my prediction of how our nomenclature might change over the next 50-100 years. That now, we no longer give our full name/address for contacting/correspondence as we’ve done in the past – we just give email. The idea was that over time, our current first/last naming convention might dissolve to where we are known as users@domains or a single string of characters. Twitter is enforcing that with their @namingconventions.

IPv6, at 128-bits (v4 is 32-bit), gives us the ability to assign an IP address to just about anything – heck, all the portable mobile devices we carry each need one and consumer appliances like TVs, refrigerators, thermostat, DVRs, garage door openers, coffee machines and just about any electronic item could potentially have an IP address. Schedule your toaster via a Web GUI to perfectly brown your bagel when you get home. You can already control your lights and alarm systems over the internet. In addition, each one of us, worldwide, would be able to have our own personal IP address that would follow us anywhere.  Hold on, I’m getting a call through my earring but first must authenticate with the chip in my earlobe. That same chip, after checking my print and pulse, would open the garage, unlock the doors, disable the home alarm, turn on the heat and start the microwave for a nice hot meal as soon as I enter. I could chip my child (like the dog) to be able to GPS their behind if they are not at the movies as indicated. Not so farfetched. That doesn’t sound so sinister, psilva, how can that be the beginning of the end?

OK, now the fun begins.  While not a Nostradamus follower, although  History/Discovery Channels have covered him often, he does have something to say about numbers. You might remember he got a lot of press and was the subject of spam after 9/11 due to this quatrain which his followers say indicates that he predicted that disaster. Conspiracy? He was very much into numbers and also indicated that when we are all identified as numbers, that will be an sign of the impending doom. We do have a numbering system in the states called a Social Security Number, which is our Gov’t identity and very much linked to our own security. With IPv6, now the entire world can be identified by number and thus fulfills psilva’s prophecy #2.  The timing is right also.  2012 is getting a lot of play as the end of time.  Both the Mayans and Nostradamus feel that 2012 is the end of days and Hollywood has taken notice.  Now this does slightly negate my 1st prophecy since I’m giving our name change around 50 years but 2012 does sound about right for a full IPv6 transformation so it does fit nicely with doomsayers – if you’re into conspiracies.

ps

• #20 out of 26 Short Topics about Security
• previous stories: 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13.5, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1