“For individual users of Metaverse, hacking of metaverse-enabled devices like specific headsets, for instance, can cause seizures, if someone is epileptic. It can also hurt their vision or hearing at least temporarily as well as expose their physical location, and more,” noted Candid Wüest. Metaverse will not have entirely new security issues as it will have similar issues as the gaming industry. The explosive popularity of gaming, which is arguably the biggest segment of the entertainment industry, with over three billion regular participants, paints a picture of just how lucrative the metaverse can become for cybercriminals based on the number of users it can attract.
Data regulation
The lack of data collection and usage regulation has also emerged as a possible enabler of cyber threats within the virtual reality platform. This, IT security experts warn, could create a myriad of loopholes that cybercriminals could exploit to infiltrate private networks and gain unrestricted access to sensitive data from enterprises and individuals.
With regulation lacking, cybercrime could become the fastest-growing type of crime currently valued at ??US$1-2 trillion and growing at a faster rate. However, despite the commitment by social media giant Meta that it will invest US$50 million in external research that will primarily focus on privacy and security in the metaverse – including a partnership with the National University of Singapore, to investigate data use – more still needs to be done, especially by enterprises to secure their data.
