Could The Metaverse Bring New Cyber Risks? Here’s What Companies Can Do To Prevent Them

The metaverse has drawn hype in recent months, with major companies rushing to get their foot in the door. But unless cybersecurity risks in the metaverse are addressed, these companies may not see the success they’re hoping for, say industry experts.

“Since the contours and potential of metaverse are yet to be fully realized, the overt concerns around privacy and security issues in the metaverse remain confined to only a few ‘tech-aware’ companies,” said Prabhu Ram, Head of the Industry Intelligence Group at CyberMedia Research. “As new attack vectors emerge, they will require a fundamental realignment of today’s security paradigms to identify, verify and secure the metaverse.”

JPMorgan released a white paper in February which recognized user identification and privacy safeguards as important elements for interacting and transacting in the metaverse: “Verifiable credentials [should be] easily structured to enable easier identification of fellow community or team members or to enable configurable access to varying virtual world locations and experiences,” it reads.

Other experts agree that the same mindset for internet security needs to be applied to the metaverse and that adding security protocols should be as user-interactive as possible. This helps create a level of trust so people can know and verify who they’re interacting with.

Meanwhile, companies involved in designing the metaverse will have to work together to establish a common standard that will enable security protocols to be deployed effectively.

(All information was provided by CNBC)

Check out the industry-leading META Business podcast where we discuss the intersection of business and the metaverse