Qualys announced at Security B-Sides Las Vegas that FreeScan – a popular free service that allows organizations to scan web sites or publicly facing IP addresses for vulnerabilities, malware and SSL issues – now includes support for IPv6.

IPv6 is the new communications protocol developed to succeed IPv4 due to IP address space limitations.

While organizations adopt IPv6 and utilize its new features to improve network performance and connectivity, the proliferation of devices poses new challenges for security that many organizations may not be prepared to face.

For example, if there is a lack of expertise in IPv6 networking, deploying IPv6 ready devices, such as desktops and laptops with modern operating systems, can cause problems as IPv6 traffic may bypass firewalls, intrusion detection systems and other security protections, allowing IPv6 traffic to reach unintended recipients. In addition, as IPv6 adoption grows, it could increasingly become a target for attackers.

Powered by the QualysGuard Cloud Platform, FreeScan is an easy-to-use service that allows customers to perform security scans on web sites or publicly facing IP addresses. The scan results provide guidance on remediation to fix identified vulnerabilities and remove malware infections.

“We are pleased to add IPv6 support to FreeScan to help organizations securely adopt IPv6 by providing them a free and useful service,” said Philippe Courtot, chairman and CEO for Qualys.