Exploring the Discovery Process of Fresh IPv6 Prefixes: An Analysis of Scanning Behavior in Darknet and Honeynet
Internet-wide scanners can efficiently scan the expansive IPv6 network by targeting the active prefixes and responsive addresses on the hitlists. However, it is not clear enough how scanners discover fresh prefixes, which include newly assigned or deployed prefixes, as well as previously unused ones. This paper studies the whole discovery process of fresh prefixes by scanners. We implement four DNS-based address-exposing methods, analyze the arrival sequence of scans from distinct ASes, and examine the temporal and spatial scan patterns, with darknet and honeynet. Over six months, our custom-made darknet and probabilistic responsive honeynet collected 33 M packets (1.8 M sessions) of scans from 116 distinct ASes and 18.8 K unique source IP addresses. We investigate the whole process of fresh prefix discovery, including address-exposing, initial probing, hitlist registration, and large-scale scan campaigns. Furthermore, we analyze the difference in scanning behavior by ASes, and categorize the scanners into three types, honeynet-exclusive, honeynet-predominant and balanced, based on the respective ratio of scans to darknet and honeynet. Besides, we analyze the intentions of scanners, such as network reconnaissance or scanning responsive targets, and the methods they used to obtain potential targets, such as by sending DNS queries or using public hitlist. These findings bring insights into the process of fresh prefixes attracting scanners and highlight the vital role of responsive honeynet in analyzing scanner behaviors.