Metaverse Causes Concern Among Cyber Security Experts

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Once digital property gains value in the virtual world, the risk of cyber-attacks, hacking, theft, ransomware and phishing will noticeably increase without proper cyber security measures. Unprotected entry into the metaverse, a merging of diverse virtual spaces and the physical world, will cause cybercrime to become much more common. 

More and more companies are beginning to invest in the metaverse, a digital universe that will allow users to create digital avatars and interact with others and the world around them. These advancements bring many dangers regarding cyber crime and a rise in breaches, data exfiltration, exposure of sensitive information and more. The more value put into this concept, the more difficult it is to protect it. Often organizations get “sucked into” the metaverse, due to it being a relatively new technological concept and the various opportunities it presents. According to zawya.com, IT and cybersecurity experts are seriously concerned that most of them are rushing to establish their presence without a proper cybersecurity strategy. 

The Metaverse will attempt to create an immersive virtual world that combines augmented and virtual reality, including economic and social spaces where users from anywhere in the world can enjoy a wide range of content and experiences. A real-world experience online. This, according to cybersecurity experts, also significantly exposes individual internet users and brands that are playing in that space to a plethora of risks that could lead to a surge in cases of account hacking and tampering, phishing and asset theft.

The risks will not only occur on a massive scale, but targeted device hackings will also pose a high risk to users. Device security should remain high on the cyber protection priority list as threats and breaches to devices are likely to worsen and could subsequently also have actual terminal consequences in the physical world. Hacking to specific metaverse headsets might cause seizures, hurt the vision or hearing of the user, as well as expose their physical location, noted Candid Wüest, VP of Cyber Protection Research, Acronis.

Without proper cyber security measures, cyber criminals will be able to locate and create loopholes for exploitation and infiltration of private networks. They could also use the metaverse to spread malicious information, such as politically motivated deep fake news.

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