Editor's note: IPv6 auto-configured addresses have raised concerns about the security and privacy consequences of IPv6 addressing. IPv6 auto-configured addresses have three security implications: They allow attackers to reduce the search space when performing address scanning attacks, they allow correlation of node activities within a network and they can make host tracking easier. Security engineer and consultant Fernando Gont discusses ways to counteract these issues, adding that more work is warranted.

IPv6 incorporates two different mechanisms for address configuration: stateless address auto-configuration (SLAAC) and stateful