The metaverse vulnerability is growing faster

As virtual worlds and augmented reality platforms develop into what its creators call the "metaverse," users and businesses will be presented with entirely new categories of security risks and pitfalls. The emergence of Metaverse in 2022 is already sparking conversations about regulation, privacy guardrails, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities at government, industry, and societal levels. However, will this virtual universe evolve without addressing all of its risks? The recent conversation surrounding metaverse might lead to the next incarnation of the internet.

It is positioned to deliver the promise of an immersive, next generational virtual 3D world that can connect all sorts of digital environments virtually resembling the actual world we live in. Metaverse is going to impact cybersecurity in 2022. Ever since the concept of metaverse became the talk of the town, cybercriminal activity has caught on, especially the rising NFT scams. These scams deploy social engineering attacks which are not going away any time soon. There will likely be a rise in such attacks as the metaverse continues to take shape. Many of the risks that developers and companies face will be the same ones that many current sites and web applications deal with.

Tech companies continue to rush buggy software code out of the door which developers haven't had time to secure properly because being first to market matters much more than protecting the data and privacy of their customers. And as a result, privacy leaks are so common that most consumers are so jaded they simply shrug their shoulders and keep doing business with whichever company was breached this time around.

From VR headsets to other types of devices that augment the experiences, the infrastructure required to support this new environment is exponentially more extensive than what exists today and the real challenge with every endpoint is that bad actors will be looking for ways to exploit those endpoints either to take over identities on the network or block access through denial-of-service attacks. The metaverse is going to house an extensive collection of sensitive data. IN turn, there will be a probable rise in hacking.

Moreover, scammers continue to up their game. Whether they are dealing with phishing or ransomware or data theft, most police won't understand the crime and even if they do the crooks will either disappear into another jurisdiction or even turn out to be working for a government; hard to chase either way. Furthermore, many organizations will need to prepare ahead and implement the use of penetration testing and threat hunting.

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA