Cybercriminals will flock to the Metaverse next year to prey on
unsuspecting virtual world participants according to a report by
cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.
Malware, ransomware attacks and phishing are not the only scourges of
the crypto industry as the Metaverse could become a big target next
year, according to cybersecurity experts.
In its “Consumer Cyberthreats: Predictions for 2023” report
on Nov. 28, cybersecurity firm Kaspersky forewarned that there will be
greater exploitation of the Metaverse due to lacking data protection and
moderation rules.
Kaspersky acknowledged there are currently only
a handful of metaverse platforms, but the number of metaverses is set
to expand in the coming years and the market could even top $50 billion by 2026. That expansion will entice cyber criminals to the ecosystem seeking to exploit unwitting virtual world participants.
“As
the metaverse experience is universal and does not obey regional data
protection laws, such as GDPR, this might create complex conflicts
between the requirements of the regulations regarding data breach
notification.”
Social media is already a hotbed of data
breach activity so it stands to reason that the Metaverse will be an
extension of this. As reported by Cointelegraph earlier this year,
Social media was responsible for more than $1 billion in crypto scam-related losses in 2021.
Kaspersky
also predicted that virtual abuse and sexual assault will spill over
into Metaverse ecosystems. It mentioned cases of “avatar rape and abuse”
adding that without protection mechanisms or moderation rules “this
scary trend is likely to follow us into 2023.”
Meta, the firm formerly known as Facebook, has already received a lot of pushback over its Metaverse ambitions due to the lack of user protection and privacy concerns on its social media platform.
The report predicted that in-game virtual currencies
and valuable items will be one of the “prime goals” among
cybercriminals who will seek to hijack player accounts or trick them
into fraudulent deals to fork over valuable virtual assets. Most modern
games have introduced some form of monetization or digital currency
support which will become a honeypot for malicious actors.
Related: The Metaverse is a new frontier for earning passive income
Kaspersky
noted that new forms of social media will also bring more risks. It
specifically mentioned a shift to augmented reality-based social media,
adding that cybercriminals can start “distributing fake trojanized
applications” to infect devices for further malicious purposes.
Threats to new AR-based social media and metaverse platforms are primarily data and money theft, phishing, and account hacking, the report concluded.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/metaverse-exploitation-and-abuse-to-rise-in-2023-kaspersky
