“Metaverse is an exciting and futuristic concept that is creating enormous opportunities for enterprises as well as innovators. However, enterprises that are considering operating in that space should also be wary of the imminent cyber threats that come with new innovations. As soon as a digital property in the 3D universe, for instance, becomes of value, cases of account hacking, theft, ransomware and phishing will also increase significantly. Partly to blame will be the lack of a solid cyber protection strategy to safeguard private and confidential information from potential attackers,” said Candid Wüest, VP of Cyber Protection Research at Acronis.
According to the Acronis Cyber Protection Week Global Report 2022, cybercriminals are exploiting IT complexity to launch catastrophic cyberattacks. With most users still not fully aware of the magnitude of the cyber threats they are facing in the wake of increased metaverse adoption, daily data theft (credit card, identity, passwords, etc.), malware, and phishing attacks are likely to increase by 200% by 2024 due to unpreparedness or lack of a cyber protection master plan.
Main risks
Device security remains high on the cyber protection priority list as a platform and device hacking is widely expected to soar as the metaverse uptake also skyrockets. Threats and breaches to devices are likely to worsen and could subsequently also have actual terminal consequences in the physical world.
