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Computer security experts at Trend Micro, an antivirus company, believe that the metaverses will be breeding grounds for crime in the first few years of their existence.
The Trend Micro report notes that the metaverses have growing vulnerabilities that could manifest themselves over the next five years. Among the top threats, the company cited metaverse regulation issues, NFT security issues, the development of a dark web-like “dark metaverse”, financial fraud, privacy issues, physical threats, and traditional attacks on information technology.
According to experts, the ownership of NFTs is verified using the blockchain, so they are vulnerable to data interception attacks. Blockchains are more vulnerable to the so-called “Sibyl attacks”, when the victim connects to a node known to be controlled by the fraudster.
“This is where the attacker gains control of more than 50% of the peers that verify transactions, and in this way he can manipulate the verification of NFT ownership. Also, do not forget that the space of the metaverse may not respect the ownership declared in the NFT, since there are no legal grounds for this, ”the experts emphasize.
In addition, criminal gangs can turn their attention to the metaverses, since a huge amount of e-commerce transactions will take place in the virtual space. According to the experts, “we will see a lot of pump and dump schemes where attackers will increase the value of digital assets with fake recommendations, approvals and investments, and then dump them.”
At the same time, it will take about two years for law enforcement agencies to develop sufficient skill and technology to combat crime in the metaverses. Therefore, in the early stages of their existence, users are unlikely to be able to receive qualified assistance, experts concluded.
Earlier, analysts at the international company Technavio said that the metaverse market will show significant growth, and its capitalization will exceed $50 billion by 2026.
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