Virtual universe – Metaverse: New technology, old worries

Cybersecurity company Check Point said that in 2021, the number of cyberattacks in a week targeting enterprise networks increased by 50% compared to 2020.

Prabhu Ram, Head of Information Industry Group at research and consulting firm CyberMedia Research, said that users easily fall victim to deepfake techniques (impersonation by artificial intelligence technology) and avatars being stolen. hack in the metaverse virtual world.

Big companies like Meta (parent company of Facebook) and Ralph Lauren (famous fashion brand) are racing into the virtual world, but unless the cybersecurity risks in the metaverse are completely addressed, It is difficult for companies to achieve the success they are hoping for.

“As the contours and potential of the metaverse are still not fully realized, public concern about issues like privacy and security in this world remains limited to a few informed companies. about technology,” Ram said.

“As new attack doors emerge, today’s basic security models need to be rearranged to identify, verify, and secure in the metaverse.”

Identity safety

In February 2022, JPMorgan released a report highlighting identity protection and user privacy as important factors for interacting and transacting in the virtual world.

“Verifiable logins should be built to make it easier to identify community or group membership, or to allow configuration of accesses to different locations in the virtual world.” , citing a report by JPMorgan.

Gary Gardiner, Director of Security Design for the Asia-Pacific region at Check Point Software Technologies, also agrees with the statement stated in the report.

He said that Internet security thinking needs to be applied to the metaverse, and security protocols must be as user-interactive as possible.

People can use blockchain technology to identify users, or “use tokenizations tied to an organization, or biometric information in wearables to increase trust for people.” users really know who they are talking to,” suggests Gardiner. In addition, the “small exclamation mark” on top of avatars can also be a warning sign that the character is not trustworthy.

Data breach

The fact that users in the virtual universe leave data traces everywhere will lead to the same problem as in the real world, when people’s privacy is invaded by technology companies.

The 2018 scandal involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica revealed that the data of millions of users was collected and used without consent. In the virtual universe, even more data can be exploited, if there are no strict regulations to protect users.

According to Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life, an online world that allows people to play, eat and shop virtual, warns that, when users are wearing virtual reality devices, organizations can collect data such as their head and eye movements or voice.

“This means that within seconds, we can identify you as the person wearing the device. This poses a potentially serious problem for privacy in the virtual world,” Rosedale said.

What can be done?

Billionaire Bill Gates once predicted that within the next 2-3 years, most meetings will turn to the metaverse

According to Gardiner, to ensure safety when operating in the virtual universe, companies need to focus on employee training. “The weakest point of any organization from a security perspective, is the user,” he explains. In the event of an attack against the metaverse, the user is in a proactive position if they are trained and aware of any suspicious signs.

Both Rosedale and Gardine agree that, while businesses should implement risk reduction strategies, maintaining privacy is dependent on the security foundation and safety model provided by the metaverse. .

For example, on LinkedIn, a professional career networking website, users need to have the feature of using a “network of trust” to easily exchange information and build trust with others, in Rosedale’s opinion.

Meanwhile, Gardiner said the companies involved in the metaverse design must work together to develop a common standard that allows security protocols to be effectively implemented.

“The foundation of the metaverse needs to be built solidly because otherwise users will lose trust and eventually leave it,” he concluded.

According to Vinh Ngo