Metaverse: Experts' concerns over privacy threats
There’s no denying that the multiverse is one of the most promising technological trends of recent years. Although the concept seems quite complex, the idea of literally being inserted into a fully virtual environment to consume content, collaborate and interact with other people is finally shifting closer toward reality. However, it's not all roses, and experts have already raised a series of concerns regarding this new phenomenon.
The truth is that proposals behind the multiverse really do create new risks and threats to users' privacy and cybersecurity. Companies involved in the creation of such digital environments must pay attention to these issues, while Internet users, too, will need to be careful when embarking on this unknown land and be aware of the dangers it may pose.
More data than ever before
One of the concerns related to the popularization of the multiverse is excessive data collection – and we don’t mean the information already collected nowadays, like names, email addresses, postal addresses, and and so on. Most metaverse projects involve the use of advanced electronic devices, such as virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) goggles, and an array of other sensors geared towards making the experience even more "realistic".
But stop and think about how much telemetry information these gadgets might be able to capture. Based on user pupil dilation and heartbeat analysis, an advertising network can identify which type of advertising is most effective for a certain individual. More data collection and more data use also set a precedent for more leaks and interceptions by cybercriminals.
This is a robbery... A digital robbery!
And speaking of cybercriminals, the evolution of cybercrime is keeping pace with the metaverse. First of all, it is worth remembering that most of these digital environments are being built on a solid foundation in the crypto economy. You can purchase non-fungible tokens (the famous NFTs) and use blockchain smart contracts to buy virtual real estate for values approaching real-world property prices, for example.
However, blockchain networks are not invulnerable, and attacks and scams have already been detected within the metaverse in which the buyer of a digital asset pays for that asset but doesn’t receive it – not to mention the other relatively simple ways to steal cryptocurrencies. More often than not, these scams also include the use of social engineering to persuade the victim to close a deal.
And there is much more...
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Since there are still no metaverse-specific legislations (protecting the victims and criminalizing wrongful acts in this "cyber world"), it looks like that over the next few years we can expect a lot of growing pains before the situation stabilizes.
