The metaverse and web3 may still be evolving, but there’s little question that they will make lasting changes in how we work, play and interact. For business, we see four big opportunity areas: employee experience, customer experience, process improvement and new products and services. There’s considerable innovation already happening in each one. But, as is often the case, cybersecurity and anti-fraud approaches and technology haven’t kept pace with the metaverse’s rapid growth and development.
This emerging space presents new openings for bad actors to exploit inexperienced and unaccustomed newcomers for monetary gain through targeted cyber attacks such as phishing and social engineering scams. In addition to direct financial losses, there are obvious reputational risks to brands and creators (in addition to harm to consumers, though this document focuses on the business and enterprise perspective). And depending on their materiality and frequency, attacks could also bring unwanted scrutiny or lawsuits from consumers, consumer protection groups, investigative agencies and regulators.
A metaverse that can’t be trusted could also stall progress. In our 2022 Metaverse Survey of more than 1,000 executives and 5,000 consumers, both groups said that cybersecurity and privacy were the top concerns holding them back from adoption. The metaverse could allow existing cybercrime to flare up and create new kinds of cybercrime.
But the metaverse, powered by a blockchain-enabled web3 infrastructure, could also be where we can find solutions, including enhanced cyber protection and protocols, the ability for users to control what data is shared and better user verification.
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