Cyber risks that can threaten the metaverse

The Metaverse

"The successor to mobile internet" - that's how Mark Zukerberg defined the metaverse in his Facebook connect keynote address. Not a new concept by any means, metaverse started making headlines as Meta (Previously Facebook) announced that the main focus of the company is going to focus on unlocking the potential of the metaverse and revolutionize how users perceived the internet. Facebook wants the new metaverse to take users on an exciting journey that will alter the way they interact, work, shop, and connect with the world around them instead of being restricted to just passive consumption and reaction.

First coined in the 1992 novel Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson, metaverse was a virtual world used by the residents of a 21st century dystopian future Earth. It was depicted as a planet-encircling market where users could roam around as avatars of their liking and participate in a virtual real estate market. Having been used in multiple contexts over the years, it can be defined rather ambiguously as the combination of augmented and virtual reality worlds that can be accessed through either a browser or a headset which allows people to have real time interactions and experiences even across large distances. Since the exact definition of the metaverse is still developing, many of the modern conceptions revolving around the multiverse require it to have 3 elements - a VR interface, digital ownership and avatars.

Currently, the metaverse we refer to is actually a series of individual metaverses set up by different companies and governments. We are yet to find the relevant technologies and processing power to club all these disconnected metaverses to one single unified network. Even so, the metaverse is sure to revolutionize how people experience the digital landscape in the upcoming future.

Cybersecurity risks that come with the metaverse

Even with all its pomp and flair the metaverse is not without its share of trouble. With any new technology comes an assortment of threats associated with it. Being relatively new, most companies are not aware of these risks or the precautions they will have to take before hopping in the race to jump on the metaverse bandwagon. These are some of the risks that experts think will affect the metaverse the most:

• Identity theft: Everyone in a metaverse is given the choice of customizing and personalizing their avatar. The avatar is what connects the user in the real world to the virtual universe created by the metaverse. Without stringent verification measures connecting the avatar to its associated real life identity, the metaverses can be subject to identity theft and all the ramifications that come with it. Hackers can also target hardware devices like VR headsets and controllers to obtain biometric data like fingerprints, iris scans, and facial geometry data which could lead to catastrophic consequences.
• Social engineering attacks: Without enough security measures, hackers can hijack avatars of other users and use the hijacked avatars to get their hands on confidential information, make money by selling off digital assets that belong to the user etc.They may also use the avatars to target family, friends and co-workers of the user who are familiar with the avatar and use it to commit social engineering attacks on them. One way to combat this problem is by introducing multiple verification methods to gain access to the avatar like MFA and biometric access.
• Lack of data control and governance: Being a mix of both virtual reality and augmented reality, there is a lot of user data in a metaverse. The mixed reality (MR) prototypes can monitor a lot of things like body movements, brain wave data, and what users see, speak or interact with to name a few. This data needs to be protected and can compromise the stability of the entire metaverse if it falls into the wrong hands. Companies jumping on the metaverse bandwagon will have to deploy data protection and governance models like the Zero Trust model and IT regulatory standards to protect the data of both the users and the company.
• Ransomware threats: The information metaverse users have to part with is significantly higher than what they usually share while using the internet. The exchange of such a huge amount of data will significantly increase the number of ransomware attacks aimed at the metaverse.

Since it is a relatively new platform, we cannot comprehend the new forms of attacks and threats the metaverse will be subject to. With new regulations and measures that are being introduced by companies, hackers are constantly trying to find new ways to take advantage of the purely digital world that a metaverse is. Companies with a metaverse presence have to always be aware of newer threats and constantly upgrade their security to provide users with a secure and positive experience.