When ISPs start expanding their network to reach unserved subscribers, homes, or businesses, they may quickly run into a roadblock they hadn’t budgeted for: a lack of IPv4 addresses. IPv4 exhaustion has been a topic of discussion in the industry for over two decades.

Group-IB, a global cybersecurity firm, conducted a deep dive into exposed digital assets discovered in 2021. Group-Attack IB’s Surface Management team examined instances hosting internet-facing databases as part of the research.

The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is made simple. Due to a lack of backward compatibility, IPv6 compatibility is required across every element of communication: devices, networks, and content. With IPv6 adoption uneven in all these elements, communication service providers must continue to support customers’ connectivity to IPV4 resources regardless of their plans for migrating their own infrastructure to IPv6.

The pandemic will erase years of resistance by late adopters, social institutions and businesses that previously hadn’t bought into the “digital transformation” argument.