After the renaming of Facebook to Meta, virtual meta-universes (metaverses) have been discussed globally. International brands and even countries are planning to open their offices and implement projects in the virtual world. Over the past few years, the term metaverse has become very popular - it is mentioned in the context of Fortnite, Microsoft, Roblox, Minecraft, Balenciaga andNike, as well within AR and VR technologies.
The term metaverse was coined by science fiction writer Neil Stevenson in 1992 in his novel Snow Crash. Stevenson's metaverse is the next stage in the development of the internet: a common digital world that combines the "physical" with augmented and virtual reality.
People can connect to the metaverse as avatars and do everything as if they were in the real world: search for information, communicate, go shopping and work - but at the same time get away from reality and live in a virtual universe. A human avatar in the metaverse can be whatever it wants and own anything, and death does not have the same meaning as in the real world.
Some examples of fully-fledged digital worlds in popular culture can be found in the Matrix trilogy or Ready Player One, where the multiplayer online game OASIS has become an analog of the metaverse.
In addition to separate universes, virtual images are already gradually becoming part of modern reality. In the USA, the Alter Ego show was launched, where the contestants sing backstage while motion capture technology creates digital avatars that appear in their place.
“Our reality is ripe with data security and privacy challenges that we continue to overcome. As companies push their boundaries into making the Metaverse the next frontier for life and work, similar challenges, perhaps more complex in nature, are bound to overspill into our virtual world”, said Emad Haffar, Head of Technical experts at Kaspersky.
“Cyber criminals too are doubling down on more complex and targeted attacks and are always on the lookout for new ways to achieve their goals. Metaverse will become one of the gateways. Because we will be venturing into the unknown, it is important that users, like you and me, tread with caution. Start with using simple precautions like avoid sharing personal and financial information, and most importantly educate yourself on this new phenomenon” said Haffar.
Having accepted the fact that the metaverse is one of the elements of the future, users should think about the security of digital avatars and possible threats that could be relevant to metaverses:
This can lead to: