You may not feel like your online life is changing as you scan through your various social media platforms, click on to read reviews of the new restaurant down the block, or log on to your favorite virtual retailer to buy a birthday present for your mother.
Zuckerberg recently renamed Facebook Meta.
Microsoft is now in the process of paying approximately $70 billion for Activision Blizzard. Ralph Lauren, the legendary fashion business, has introduced a collection of virtual clothes and accessories. The metaverse is a new, upgraded version of the internet that employs virtual reality and augmented reality (AR/VR) to give a fully immersive online experience.
“You,” as your online avatar, may work, play, get an education, shop, and connect with pals — all while feeling as if you’re truly there. According to experts, the metaverse will both increase and introduce a variety of new cybersecurity concerns.
Protection of your Identity
Each user develops a digital avatar that they can use to interact with other users in the metaverse. The real person it portrays will be able to use their personally identifying information (PII) and other sensitive information to make purchases, perform work, and even receive healthcare because this avatar is ostensibly both unique and safe.
Furthermore, the user can communicate with others in the virtual world and collaborate with coworkers in a virtual workplace through the avatar.
The issue is that if a hacker manages to access your avatar, they will effectively have access to all of your private offline information, including your financial accounts and personally identifiable information (PII). This has the capacity to increase identity theft to previously unheard-of levels.
But identity theft in the metaverse can also go in a different, and much more sinister direction. This type of identity theft, known as “deepfaking,” in which criminals impersonate others, is particularly concerning. Your connections and reputation could be ruined if hackers take control of your avatar, and they might even endanger your offline safety. Celebrities and regular people have both been included in deepfake videos created online using technology that is so advanced that it is practically hard to tell the difference between the deepfake and the real person.
Scams in Cryptos
According to estimates, criminals stole more than $14 billion in bitcoin in just 2021. NFTs and cryptocurrencies can be acquired, swapped, spent, or lost in the metaverse in a similar way to how fiat money is used in the real world, but the process starts with buying them with fiat money. The metaverse will run on its own currencies, including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and additional non-fungible token kinds (NFTs).
Biometrics Hacks
Among the most concerning cybersecurity threats in the Metaverse. Because the metaverse functions through VR/AR, there is a risk of biometric hacking. Critics argue that if platforms like Meta have access to voluminous biometric data on its end-users, then those data archives may be hacked or sold without the end user’s consent.
This is a particular concern given the history of nefarious data collection practices by entities such as Facebook.
Considering Physical safety
Since their senses are no longer registering their actual physical world, users’ physical safety is jeopardized by the immersive experience of the metaverse. A hacker can alter the Metaverse environment so that the user responds physically while being unaware of their surroundings. This might even result in life-threatening circumstances, as hackers could theoretically trick end-users into walking into traffic or down a flight of stairs in the offline world.
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