As the buzz surrounding the emergence of what has become known as the 'metaverse' increases, many are raising concerns about the potential risks in an environment where the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds continue to blur - and amongst those sharing this alarm is weforum.org.

"Addressing the necessity of constructing trusted ecosystems within the technologies developed for the metaverse is a critical consideration," it states. "These trusted ecosystems will constitute building in algorithms, structures, frameworks, regulations and policies within hardware and software development cycles to address the distinct elements of safety, privacy and security within the DNA of the technology."

SERIOUS RISKS EMERGING
With Microsoft, Google and, most recently, Disney all working towards a profoundly augmented reality, there is real potential for an explosion of growth to an already trillion-dollar market. That is where security concerns arise for Francis Gaffney, director of Threat Intelligence at Mimecast. "Despite claims that virtual worlds will be subject to the forthcoming Online Safety Bill and stringent UK regulation, the risk of any new techno-logical revolution should not be under-estimated and serious risks are emerging as more users adopt the metaverse concept," warns Gaffney.

As companies in the metaverse can monitor physiological responses and biometric data, such as voice recognition and heart-rate sensors, there is much concern that the vast amount of data collected and stored online will form an increasingly attractive target for the growing number of advanced cyber criminals. "This depth of information being stored online means that theft of metaverse user accounts, their unique access, or biometric data will become commonplace in the virtual world," he adds, "as cyber criminals look to either steal or 'spoof' biometric data and commit identity theft."

As we shift from stealing passwords to stealing fingerprints and move towards crimes being committed through digital transactions, the virtual world is becoming increasingly difficult to police, he says. "Another target for criminals will be new cryptocurrencies. Each metaverse uses its own economy, giving rise to countless new cryptocurrencies. In these virtual economies, portability and secure exchange offices are required. Maintaining security of these will be a major challenge as threat actors will be hoping to launder 'money' and exploit currency exchanges in this domain."

Additional security consideration includes exposing younger users to harm, grooming and radicalisation in a setting with little regulation and the growing trend of 'hacktivism'. "While, a serious violation can lead to a ban, there's nothing stopping these individuals from creating a new account," Gaffney points out. "Having a persistent avatar linked biometrically to a person in the physical domain may go some way to limit this, but this raises debates around individual human rights and privacy."

THE FIGHTBACK
So, how do we deal with the ongoing and ever more complex challenges around data storage and security? "The metaverse must differentiate themselves from the competition by providing 'good security'," he advises.

"To achieve this, preparatory work needs to be done by security organisations to understand the risks and deploy the right cybersecurity resources, in order to establish a virtual environment that everyone can enjoy safely and without consequence."