IPv6, next Internet protocol after IPv4, is under deployment in the Internet. It is strongly based on the Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) mechanism. First, it allows two IPv6 nodes to communicate, like the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) mechanism in IPv4, but it brings new functions too, as IPv6 address autoconfiguration. So, the security of this mechanism is critical for an Internet based on IPv6. The security mechanism standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is Secure Neighbor Discovery (SEND). It is based on the use of cryptographical identifiers, IPv6 addresses named Cryptographically Generated Addresses (CGA) and generated from a public/private keys pair, and X.509 certificates. The goal of this PhD thesis is the study of such cryptographical identifiers, CGA addresses, as well as SEND using them, and their potential re-use to secure IPv6. In a first part of this thesis, we recall the main features of the IPv6 protocol. In a second part of this thesis, we are interested in the reliability of the main known mechanism using the CGA addresses, SEND. In a third and last part of this thesis, we present different uses of cryptographical identifiers to secure IPv6
