Juniper Networks Report Describes IPv6 Security Issues & Transition Strategies for U.S. Government Agencies

IPv6 lack of backward compatibility with IPv4 poses security risks; Juniper report suggests topics for "end-to-end" security transition plans

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR), the leader in high-performance networking, today announced the release of An IPv6 Security Guide for U.S. Government Agencies. The report describes key issues and best-practices for government CIOs, CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers), IT directors, program managers, and system administrators responsible for ensuring their agencies’ successful transition to Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). This is the fourth volume of Juniper’s "IPv6 World Report Series" a compilation of lessons learned from Juniper’s extensive experience in networking and security best practices for government and commercial customers.

Executive summaries and copies of the IPv6 World Report Series are available at www.juniperIPv6.net.

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has mandated that all federal government agencies transition their network backbones to IPv6 by June 30, 2008. The mandate is driven by the government’s drive toward IP convergence to support rapidly evolving needs in real-time e-government transactions and services, enhanced data transmission capabilities, and demand for more IP addresses.

"IPv6 will make possible an IP-converged future in which agencies can support collaborative architectures, net-centric warfare, enhanced mobility and continuity of operations" says Scott Hastings, former CIO of the Department of Homeland Security US-VISIT program and now a partner with Deep Water Point, LLC. "IPv6 will also have the potential to expose and address security vulnerabilities in agency networks. The Juniper IPv6 World Report Series provides government network security managers with a step-by-step roadmap on what potential security vulnerabilities to expect and how to mitigate them during the complex transition"

Highlights of Volume 4 of Juniper’s report series include a breakdown of IPv6 security phases, benefits of IPv6 security, and recommendations for initial IPv6 deployment architectures. The report also offers an overview of critical security implementation issues such as training, compliance testing, and the proper governance and policy needed to make the transition.

"As our new report describes, IPv6 will enhance security architectures for government agencies while enabling a number of next-generation applications" says Haywood Talcove, Vice President, Public Sector Americas for Juniper Networks. "As agencies implement IPv6, they’ll move away from centrally-administered security architectures, and toward node-level, ’end-to-end’ services. This will require new thinking about security, and greater integration with policy-based networking"

The Juniper Networks IPv6 World Report Series was launched in January 2006 to provide extensive insight and counsel for U.S. government agencies’ transition to IPv6. The first volume focused on overall transition planning, while Volume 2 highlighted the importance of understanding IPv6 technology requirements to enable the next generation Internet. The third volume addressed critical routing and addressing issues during transition.

Organizations contributing to the report include government civilian and defense agencies, research and development networks and private industry. Additionally, the report received significant direction from organizations that have successfully implemented IPv6 in Asia and other areas of the globe.