10 metaverse threats CIOs and IT leaders should address

In the 1992 novel Snow accident, people sought to escape the desolation of everyday life into what author Neal Stephenson called “the metaverse,” a unified and truly immersive digital existence. However, this metaverse was no utopia, and danger and chaos lurked there, just like in real life.

It’s hard to imagine people confusing any of today’s Metaverse platforms with the realistic platform Stephenson portrayed. Nevertheless, today’s VR-based worlds pose a number of risks. From security issues to the high environmental costs of blockchain and AI, business and technology leaders face a range of issues as they advance their metaverse strategy.

Metaverse Dangers, Not Just Benefits

University of Maryland Global Campus leaders include those working on metaverse issues.

Students enrolled in select fall courses at the University of Maryland Global Campus will be the online school’s first cohort to learn in a “metacampus.” UMGC’s pilot program, conducted in collaboration with VictoryXR and using Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headsets, will provide a digital twin campus for both in-person and online students.

UMGC leaders expect the immersive program to provide benefits such as allowing students to view artistic masterpieces as if they were seeing the art in the actual museums where they hang, said Daniel Mintz, department chair in information technology at the university and one of the lead faculty members of its Metaverse initiative.

But these advantages do not make it unnecessary to deal with the real dangers.

To this point, UMGC is working to protect the new metacampus from the types of cyber threats that bombard traditional enterprise IT today, Mintz said.

Metaverse pilots like the one at UMGC give technologists and business leaders not only a glimpse of the platform’s potential benefits, but also a look at the downsides and dangers.

Although much of the current discussion about the dangers of the metaverse is speculation, there is real concern about the darker side of the metaverse, said Kenny Ching, an assistant professor at WPI Business School.

Here are 10 of these potential metaverse dangers.

1. Increased third-party data collection

Metaverse platforms are likely to increase the potential scope and quantity of personal data collected by third parties. These massive amounts of data are a goldmine that tech companies and marketers can potentially exploit.

The more data you put online, the larger your digital footprint, meaning you take on more risks.

As companies use third parties to access and use the metaverse, executives need to understand what data those companies collect about their employees, customers and partners and how third parties store and use that data, Mintz said.

For example, as part of protecting the UMGC metacampus, leaders must answer important questions about the level of responsibility in protecting student information from companies that want to market and sell data, Mintz said.

2. Countless privacy issues

Metaverse platforms require greater online reliability, which is why addressing privacy questions is critical.

“The more data you put online, the bigger your digital footprint, so you take on more risks,” Ching said.

Additionally, industry observers say that in addition to collecting traditional data like unique names and addresses, Metaverse platforms will also collect more newer types of data like voice recordings.

Companies need to think about how they determine what data they collect and store, what level of protection they need and how they secure it, said Jenai Marinkovic, founder of Tiro Security, a boutique cybersecurity firm. At the same time, executives have limited legal guidance on some of these issues.

“We don’t yet have clear definitions of what constitutes personal data in the metaverse,” Marinkovic said.

3. More complex and sophisticated access and identity management

Adding complex passwords to a VR experience tends to degrade the user experience.

Access and identity management appear to be both more complex and challenging in the metaverse, Marinkovic said.

“Each provider has their own way of handling access and identity management. They are not consistent, and adding complex passwords to a VR experience, for example, tends to harm the user experience,” said Marinkovic, who is also a member of ISACA’s Emerging Trends Working Group.

4. Cybersecurity risks

Metaverse platforms pose many of the same cyber risks as current web applications. Additionally, the extended reality hardware that many Metaverse platforms rely on will create new vulnerabilities for corporate networks and opportunities for hackers to exploit data.

IT leaders must grapple with the difficult question of whether organizations are adequately equipped to detect, contain, and remediate malicious code in their Metaverse projects.

“The whole world around malware is a big threat,” Marinkovic said.

5. Coordinate incident response issues

A related challenge that enterprise leaders must consider when planning and rolling out metaverse initiatives is what incident response will entail in the new digital world.

“We haven’t modeled the threats and our responses yet: What would a breach look like? How should this be communicated? How do you react?” said Marinkovic. “If you have a metaverse [presence]You need people inside and outside the [metaverse] World.”

IT leaders need to understand how their teams work together inside and outside a Metaverse platform to manage response to a Metaverse incident, she said.

“We don’t have a way to have these teams work together yet,” Marinkovic said.

6. Problems due to a high level of anonymity

For some, the main appeal of metaverse realities is the ability to assume an identity separate from the reality of everyday physical life. This high level of anonymity creates opportunities for bad actors.

Research on the topic is still in its early stages, and it’s not clear what mechanisms organizations could use to keep anonymous avatars out of their metaverse worlds, Ching said.

Anonymity already enables fraud and Social media abuse and the Internet in general. Metaverse platforms will likely make this even more widespread.

“Widespread anonymity could trigger a range of potentially negative behaviors,” Ching said.

Researchers are studying a number of expected metaverse issues, he said.

7. Harassment and Assault

Closely related to the question of anonymity is the way in which metaverse platforms can enable new forms of personal aggression. Harassment in virtual worlds and assaults are already one Growing problem.

Immersive experiences, particularly those supported by haptic technology that transfers the touch experience from the virtual world to the user, raise questions about how to respect personal boundaries and how to anticipate circumstances in which such incidents might occur, Marinkovic said .

Answers to these questions are not always obvious, especially in more nuanced situations, she said. Case in point: She was once on a forum where users were testing haptic technology by shaking each other’s hands until a participant expressed discomfort with that type of touch.

8. Lower user alertness

Despite the potential dangers of metaverse platforms, some users may relax their caution in virtual situations.

As Metaverse risks increase, users may not demonstrate the same vigilance for cybersecurity threats in these immersive environments that they have been trained to bring into their work environments, Mintz said.

“When they use this type of entertainment, they obviously don’t think about security issues, so we have to think about what kind of security we can build in.” [metaverse initiatives] to counteract that,” he said.

9. Possibly reduced productivity

Some business and IT leaders are exploring metaverse platforms for potential efficiencies, but should not take such gains for granted.

The research is also examining whether people really are just as productive when they interact with each other virtually, Ching said.

Some research shows that without physical interactions and the physical signals that enable them, people may actually be less efficient than when they work closely together in real life, Chang said.

10. Widening the digital divide

Metaverse platforms require access to and use of other technologies such as: B. VR headsets and even special bodywear with haptic technology, which creates a barrier to entry for anyone who does not have the means to pay for such technologies.

Metaverse initiatives could exclude lower-income people from related experiences and opportunities, Mintz said. The physicality of the metaverse could also exclude people with certain disabilities, particularly if alternative access options – such as internet versions – are not available.

Caution is advised

As metaverse initiatives proliferate, business leaders would do well to consider how these risks can be mitigated.

“There is a safe way to do this, and that’s the way we do it with other new technologies – learning, training, starting with use cases that don’t reveal anything too risky,” Marinkovic said.