On the basic level, the difference between the Internet and the Metaverse will be sheer size. The Metaverse will dwarf the Internet. While the Internet allows you to browse, the Metaverse will permit you to live in it, and here in lies potential dangers.
Most tech experts agree that another decade will pass before the Metaverse reaches its full potential. However, the trends suggest that the Metaverse is growing faster than expected. Still, a major obstacle is access to the right equipment. The VR glasses (or goggles) and the headset are necessary technology and most internet users do not have them. To get a high-quality pair of VR glasses is still somewhat pricey for most internet users, running between $300 and $800. Good headsets also sell for between $300 and $500. To make all this come together, a powerful computer is necessary. Most computer users do not have a computer with the processing speeds necessary to create the dynamic interactive experience immersed in the VR of the Metaverse.
While cheaper equipment is available, I don’t advise you to buy it. You will be disappointed with the diminished quality, and it is not something you will want to live with for very long. If you’re not ready to shell out one to two thousand dollars for a rich, dynamic VR experience, then I recommend you wait for the prices to come down on this type of equipment. Since gamers are coming to the Metaverse in droves, the demand for quality equipment will increase and you can expect this to bring the prices down.
In the metaverse, there are potential dangers. You should be fully cognizant of them. These perils fall into three major categories: 1) Crime, 2) Addiction and 3) Data Breaches. Left unregulated and unpoliced, these insidious forces could destroy the Metaverse. I will take each one of these potential problem areas and examine how it might take form.
1. Crime
It doesn’t require too much imagination to think of ways criminals might use the Metaverse to commit crime. Fortinet is a leading developer of firewall security systems. According to their most recent statistics for 2022, the use of malware increased by 358% and the use of ransomware increased by 435%. Fortinet also reports that in a study conducted by Deep Instinct, the month of July 2020 saw a 653% increase in malicious activity over the same month in the previous year.
These numbers indicate a few of crimes committed by cybercriminals but they only scratch the surface. Cybercrime costs organizations $2.9 million every minute, according to Fortinet. If cybercrime is so apparent now with the Internet, we can expect with the Metaverse on a much larger scale. Also, in addition to the security concerns that are increasing exponentially on the Internet, the Metaverse will bring new security issues. Coupled with phishing, malware and hacking, are cryptocurrency, and NFTs which are widely used in the Metaverse. They could prove to be attractive targets for hackers.
A good example of this is the well-known art dealer Sotheby who very recently launched a Sotheby’s Metaverse where they sell selected collections of NFTs that were validated through a process known as minting. The artworks are validated and digitally documented by being embedded on the Ethereum blockchain’ public ledger. Collectors might be readily misled by copies minted by cybercriminals who pose as genuine authenticators, just as they can be duped by reproductions minted by cybercriminals posing as legitimate authenticators in the real world.
Another potential problem in the Metaverse will come with scammers. Of course, scammers have been with us on the Internet since the beginning and they have increased in number and in sophistication over the years. With the Metaverse, scammers are likely to proliferate, and they may be harder to detect.
For example, scammers disguising themselves on the Ethereum as another organization might interfere with legitimate Ethereum transactions. Cybercriminals could use the familiarity with certain trusted organizations to generate many fake Ethereum domain names and smart contracts, similar domain spoofing. Transactions are only as secure as the organization enforcing them. It is often already difficult on the Internet to identify with whom you are dealing. The chances of concealing your identity will be made much easier with the Metaverse. In fact, there is a danger someone could pass themselves off as you. They then could commit crimes as you.
Simply posting a bad review (as is done on the Internet) won’t be sufficient to adequately go after a Metaverse scammer. Alternatively, smashing a back window to rob a shop in retaliation against the scammer will have little effect. As a victim of theft or harassment on the Metaverse, you are likely to find the pursuit of legal action quite difficult if not impossible because the genuine identity of an assailant will be hidden behind multiple layers of identity with avatars.
Another serious concern when it comes to cybercrime and cybersecurity is headset and VR glasses hacking. The gear required to experience the Metaverse is loaded with information about you. Facebook has already been engaged in data harvesting and selling for every user of their social network. The company is salivating over the data to which they will have unrestricted access with the Metaverse.
The information collected by this equipment or any other wearable gadgets in the future can be extremely sensitive and personal. Data that falls into the wrong hands can quickly be used to blackmail or publicly vilify people. It can also be used to get people to perform social engineering schemes. With respect to intellectual property, the right to claim ownership of it might be more difficult defend if the individual and the corporation live not only in the actual world but the virtual world.
2. Addiction
Many psychologists argue that the most serious problem with the emerging Metaverse is addiction. According to Magan Agarwal, the Internet and social media are extremely addictive. To get a fuller picture of the potential problem of addiction, you should look at video gaming. If you are a -senior citizen, then you probably have no idea just popular video games have become. Presently, between 90 and 99% of all American children play video games.
Yet, video gaming is not confined to children. Between 48 and 56% of adults play vide0 games. While the average age of a gamer is 35, the average age is 24. 8.5% of children are believed to be addicted to video games and the prevalence of addiction to gaming has increased 4 % since 2007. Statistics tell us that video gaming addiction is by far the worst in people under the age of 34. The average age of an addict is 24. This is cause for concern because as noted, 90 % or more children are play video games. Young adult with gaming addictions typically forms those addictions as adolescences.
In South Korea, the problem of gaming addiction is so vast among children that the government has introduced “shutdown laws” which prevent youth aged 16 and under from playing games between 12 and 6 am. With addiction gaming proving that addiction to technology can be widespread, it doesn’t seem like anyone has examined the potential threat to mental health posed by the data rich Metaverse. Instead, giant corporations are rapidly moving in looking to scoop up profits from the disorder.
But to better understand the disorder, it should be analyzed more broadly than an addiction to games. As an addiction, it more broadly resembles an Internet addiction. According to psychologist Cristina Gregory, PhD, “Internet addiction is only a subset of technology addiction in general. As the name states, its concentration is on compulsion with the internet – as other areas of media addiction can be seen in television addiction, radio addiction, and other types of media addiction.” Thus, Metaverse addiction can be added to the list of technology addictions.
Like addiction to the Internet, Metaverse addiction may not be an addiction to a single experience, but to a variety of immersive experiences. These experiences may blur the lines between the real and virtual world, and you may get more comfortable inhabiting virtual reality over the real world indefinitely. To recognize this behavior as a true addiction, it must include some of these common symptoms:
- You abandon activities that once brought you pleasure.
- You spend most of your waking time using VR glasses, headsets and powerful computers to engage in XR metaverse worlds.
- You display anger or agitation if you are asked to withdraw from the Metaverse. You lie about how much time you spend in the Metaverse.
- You hide your Metaverse usage.
These symptoms have their parallels with Internet addiction, but the richer 3D VR realms of the Metaverse are likely to make them far more psychologically addictive. The psychological impacts of prolonged immersion in VR have not been well studied.
3. Data Breaches
Another serious concern about the Metaverse is with data privacy. A data breach is a security violation in which sensitive, protected or private data gets copied, viewed, stolen, or used by persons unauthorized to do so. In some cases, this can happen unintentionally. There can be data leaks, information leakage and data spills. Incidents can range from concerted attacks by individuals who hack for personal gain or out of malice, to poorly configured security systems. In the case of the former, hackers can be organized crime, political activists, or nations. In the case of the latter, it can be carelessly disposed used computer equipment or data storage media. The information leaked can be serious matters compromising a nation’s security or information on actions which a government regards as embarrassing and wants to hide.
Data privacy is a major concern with the Metaverse. The risks of data breaches are already high with the Internet as hackers become ever more sophisticated in accessing large databases of personal information. Safety risks could be more prevalent in the Metaverse. There are numerous ways these risks could be exacerbated in the coming Metaverse.
For example, unwanted contact could become more intrusive. The proliferation of cryptocurrencies also presents a new challenge. Do these digital currencies all hold value? They are not based on a bank or government guarantee. The decentralized blockchains on which they are based are already being tested for their actual value.
At this writing, cryptos are the currency of choice by international organized crime operating on the Darknet to buy and sell drugs, weapons and illegal merchandise.
Data breaching makes it possible for criminals to steal your identity over the Internet. The Metaverse will provide many more opportunities to do this because of the collection of biometric data. Biometric data is the term used to refer to any data collected during a biometric process. Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication is performed in computer science in confirming identification and accessing control.
Biometric identifiers are unique, measurable characteristics used to describe individuals. Examples of biometric data include fingerprints, facial recognition, DNA, and iris recognition. However, it can also include behavioral characteristics such as typing rhythm, hand gestures, gait, eye movements and more. All this data is stored in VR glasses or in headsets and these devices are hackable.
All these data can be harvested and sold to companies, and that is the primary reason giant corporations like Meta and Microsoft are stepping up to invest in the Metaverse. If they can collect all this information and legally sell it, then there must be many hackers in criminal enterprises waiting to illegally breach personal data for nefarious purposes.
