Web 3.0 and the metaverse are forging a new virtual digital world. Both promise an immersive virtual experience that will challenge online connectivity as we know it. Whilst this digital future promises countless benefits it raises concerns, particularly in security.
Huge investments are being made to paint this digital future. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has rebranded to Meta Platforms. Like the evolution of webinnovation changes, Zuckerberg is banking on the future.
Internet technology evolves rapidly. Digital innovations spawn from ideas into reality in an instant. The World Wide Web is currently experiencing one of these innovations. As we speak, the WWW is in a transitional phase, shifting from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.
Web 3.0 adopts artificial intelligence and the metaverse. Both innovations encourage a completely immersive experience where exploration is cutting-edge and simplified.
Digital devices such as chatbot use cases will be fully realized in a virtual reality environment. Web 3.0 and the metaverse want us to experience the reality of the outside world from the inside.
With digital advancement comes digital risks. In this post, we will explore our digital future with Web 3.0 and the metaverse, and if we can secure it.
What is Web 3.0 and the metaverse
Technology shapes the internet of the future. Web 3.0 and the metaverse will shape how we’ll consume content in the future. Let’s take a deeper look into both innovations.
Web 3.0
The web has become the most valuable information resource in the world. Users can interact and share across a vast number of online applications. Apps of today are built on the web rather than inside a desktop computer. Immersion is an endless landscape on today’s internet.
Web 3.0 ambition is to power the next wave of internet applications and services. Today’s version of the internet is Web 2.0. Innovations such as social media apps, blogs, and content-sharing websites have powered Web 2.0’s development.
Web 3.0 aims to streamline app building platforms for online developers. This is performance popular apps and others will be able to benefit from moving forwards.
Web 3.0 aims to streamline app building platforms for online developers. This is performance popular apps and others will be able to benefit from moving forwards.
This high performance propels user-created content with communication being its key focus.
Web 2.0, companies provide applications and services in a centralized manner. Meaning companies such as Instagram and Microsoft have complete control over their user’s content.
User preferences are then collected and used in marketing such as a podcast marketing strategy or individual online ads.
User preferences are then collected and used in marketing such as a podcast marketing strategy or individual online ads.
Web 3.0 aims to stop this involvement by introducing a fully decentralized and democratized internet. It will produce a semantic web where all data is connected.
This will be utilized through underlying blockchain technology. It will enable users to interact with online services governed by peer-to-peer networks rather than a single entity server.
Meaning there will be no centralized ownership of content and users have full control of their digital identity.
The metaverse
The metaverse is a fully immersive successor to the internet. It’s a combination of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), gaming, cryptocurrencies, and social media.
It’s a 3D reality where the user’s digital world is immersive. In the metaverse, a company’s remote office phone system will take on the form of VR headsets and meetings between digital avatars. Simply put, the metaverse will transform the internet from 2D to 3D.
Examples of this innovation would be a virtual seat at a sports game or trying on clothes in a digital store.
Transactions in the metaverse will occur through a cryptocurrency blockchain. Blockchain is a technology that permanently records transactions, typically in a decentralized ledger.
It’s the difference between a bank keeping track of your account versus a network of computers.
Cryptocurrency in the metaverse allows complete transparency of transactions. It’s a public ledger of historic transactions. Public blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum also promote transparency.
This transparency is in direct contrast to traditional banking books. It will make the difference between revenue operations and sales operations interchangeable. Both will adopt a transparent holistic approach where they can progress together.
This is why non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are being used in the metaverse. They are viewed as an asset as their uniqueness can be proved via the ledger.
5 cybersecurity risks and concerns
As the ecosystem of Web 3.0 and the metaverse is still in development, cybersecurity risks go beyond today’s scope of view. Let’s take a look at 5 risks and concerns facing the future of the internet.
Privacy
A recent survey revealed that 74% of Americans are more concerned with their online privacy than ever before. With the technological advancement of Web 3.0, the risks are unknown and questions have arisen about future digital security.
Total immersion brings more issues to its users. With its vast digital landscape, how will regulators respond to illegal content being hosted? Who will have jurisdiction to apply corresponding laws? Who will process identifiable information?
In a fully immersive existence, safety in interactions will need to be monitored. The opportunity for someone to masquerade as someone else in a 3D environment will be a concern in many interactions.
One of the main privacy issues with the metaverse is the sheer amount of personal data available. The data collected on individual participants will be far more intimate and in-depth.
Traditional social media or services such as whois domain lookup will be transported in the metaverse. Companies will be able to track biometric data such as facial expressions and vocal inflections in real-time. A user’s entire behavior has the potential to be stolen.
This means user behavior will be monitored and used for personal advertising campaigns. A user’s privacy on Web 3.0 will be non-existent if stolen.
Cybercrime
As we have looked at earlier, Web 3.0 decentralizes the internet. It allows users to control their data and identity by stepping away from the “if it’s free, you’re a product” motto. Web 3.0 gives data back to the entities who own it.
Whilst this model benefits the user, the lack of central data access makes it more difficult to police cybercrime. This will be especially problematic when it comes to online harassment, hate speech, and child abuse images. In a decentralized web, who will enforce worldwide hosted content?
Without central control and access to data, policing cybercrime will be impossible. The advantages of a centralized web ensure governments make large corporations enforce laws.
Cybercrime will rely on users taking more responsibility for their data and online interactions. Services such as a Myraah Web 3.0 locker secure a user’s data in a private locker, allowing them to take control of their online security.
Cryptocurrency wallets
Cryptocurrency wallets store digital assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies. Carrying your wallet in the metaverse will be an essential act. Your digital wallet will include your avatars, avatar clothing, and avatar animations.
Your crypto wallet will also be linkable to real-world identities. You will be able to buy music, movies, and apps and it will be associated with your reputation scores. So your actions in the metaverse will affect your real-world reality.
Most platforms in the metaverse will need a crypto wallet. The problem with this is criminals today can impersonate someone on the metaverse and gain access to their wallet with ease.
Many users aren’t tech-savvy enough to add security features to their wallets such as two-factor authentication.
The problem arises in the metaverse as it’s not monitored with rules and regulations. It could lead to the death of privacy in the digital landscape as we know it. It’s up to the users to secure their cryptocurrency and user security applications can be ignored.
Risks of decentralization
Decentralization is key to ensuring the internet remains a public resource that is available to all users. The open-source nature of Web 3.0 means that contributors can collaborate from day one.
With this transparency comes extreme security vulnerabilities of integrated data. Only one account will contain all a user’s personal data and it will be protected by a single password.
Imagine if a cybercriminal gets hold of this password. They will be able to access and control a user’s entire life. People who spend more time in the metaverse molding their online personalities will have a lot more to lose.
Then there’s also the fact that large tech companies are leading this change. Their involvement raises concerns about users’ anonymity and information.
Technical limitations
The tech powering Web 3.0 and the metaverse are still in its infancy. Centralized platforms are powered by hi-tech technologies. Decentralized networks are new and because of this they face latency issues.
Web 2.0 can operate the best small business phone systems and other remote capabilities with ease. Web 3.0 runs on a decentralized network that is facing a gradual transition rather than a rapid one. So it is behind in terms of connectivity.
These latency issues will cause adoption rates of the new internet to decrease. Not everyone will favor its benefits over the speed of Web 2.0. Technical limitations will leave people behind and more open to security risks than ever before.
Final thoughts
Web 3.0 and the metaverse is still in its infancy. We don’t fully understand its possibilities as well as its negatives. A decentralized digital landscape sounds great on paper, but will the general public want to go along for the journey?
The metaverse capabilities will allow users the chance to experience a reality that they may never have the chance to experience. It’s a revolutionary technology that will change our online experience as we know it.
But does that mean users will be lost to augmented reality. Will users prefer their online lives to their real ones? Will they stay online whilst the outside world passes them by?
It’s these questions that only time will tell. It’s a digital future, so let’s hope it’s a good one.
Jenna Bunnell – Senior Manager, Content Marketing, Dialpad
Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted unified communications system which features a Dialpad conference call that provides valuable call details for business owners and sales representatives. She is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. She has also written for sites such as LandingCube and CrankWheel. Check out her LinkedInprofile.
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