Businesses have to be aware of the emerging technologies to be able to develop new products, grow their business and mitigate risks. Among the many emerging technologies in this era, one such technology that technology innovation leaders around the world must know about is Metaverse. 

It is evident that Metaverse has a noticeable impact on driving the strategic business innovations. With this new technology, people will be able to enhance or replicate their physical activities.

Metaverse and Its Elements

Metaverse can be defined as a collaborative virtual space that is created by converting virtually magnified digital and physical reality. There is no single owner of Metaverse and it is device-independent. It is said that by the year 2026, almost 25 percent of people would spend at least 1 hour a day in the Metaverse, whether it be for shopping, social media, entertainment, education or work.

In other words, Metaverse can be defined as a self-sustaining virtual economy that is enabled by non-fungible tokens and digital currencies. It is a combinatorial innovation and requires various trends and technologies to function.

The Metaverse contributes various technological capabilities which include, an AR cloud, spatial technologies, flexible work styles, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, 5G, the Internet of Things and head-mounted displays.

Metaverse is the next version of the Internet. It began as individual bulletin boards and self-sustainable virtual destinations but then became a virtual shared space. Metaverse is much hyped about in the market by the tech companies. Some of them claim to be Metaverse companies or companies that have created Metaverses to augment or enhance the physical and digital realities of people.

Activities that are currently taking place in an isolated environment will take place in a single Metaverse. These activities include:

• Buying accessories and outfits for virtual avatars.
• Purchasing virtual lands and constructing digital houses.
• Taking part in online social experience.
• Shopping in online malls through immersive commerce.
• Experiencing immersive learning through virtual classrooms.
• Purchasing assets, digital art and collectables.
• Communicating with digital humans for customer service, business interactions, sales and onboarding of employees.

Metaverse and Data Privacy

All the technology giants and companies are anticipating the Metaverse while working on solutions and technologies to further drag everyone into their ecosystem. There are many benefits associated with this transformation which include various opportunities across industries. For example, retail can have an increased reach by having an immersive shopping experience which would let them sell more complex products.

Various types of trades along with military, higher education, and medical can give a more immersive learning experience through a Metaverse. Such industries will not have to create their own infrastructure as it will be provided by the Metaverse. Moreover, Virtual events which have already gained a lot of popularity over the last two years will now be able to present a wide range of integrated offerings.

Metaverse can benefit companies by letting them achieve better connection, engagement and collaboration with their workers via virtually augmented workplaces. Social media will also take a toll as it can move to the Metaverse where social media users can communicate through 3-dimensional avatars.

With all these benefits, there come some challenges, as well which need to be paid attention to. Among the challenges , Data privacy tops the list. Technology leaders already have access to a lot of information about almost everyone. Now with the introduction of Metaverse, they can level up their game and find out more information regarding their customers. A very good example of this is that now these tech giants will be able to track our eye movements and note for how long we stare at certain commercials. This may sound interesting as well as creepy at the same time.

Data Privacy Concerns in Metaverse

In today’s era, we have a continuous relationship with the internet and now with the Metaverse, we will be more connected with the internet and technology. Here is when the concerns for privacy come in. The metaverse will be aware of our private and personal life which for most of us is not okay.

The Metaverse is a large aggregator of user data which not only includes your personal data but also very sensitive data like your body movements, health statistics, biometrics etc. The consequence of the various benefits of the metaverse is your data privacy which you would be sharing knowingly or unknowingly.

Now that the Metaverse is the new digital reign and you cannot do much about it. What you can do is try to secure your data as much as you can. Below are 7 things you need to know about data privacy.

7 Crucial Things You Need To Know About Data Privacy

Technology has developed over the years and now it is the time when our lives are not private anymore. In such circumstances where Metaverse is taking over our personal data, organisations need to take some precautions to prevent security threats.

1. Critical Data Identification.

The very first step towards data security is to identify all the sensitive information that you have. This is essential as once you have identified what sensitive information you have then you can categorise the data and prioritise which data needs the most protection.

2. Monitoring Traffic on all the Networks.

Organisations need to closely monitor all the traffic on their networks so that they can map, discover and track what is going on in their business infrastructure. This would not only assist in detecting the threats that might arise from the outside but also help in identifying any inside threats.

3. Encryption of User Data.

Most industries face data loss issues due to external devices, web applications and removable media which are mostly used by internal employees. Such industries include finance, healthcare and accommodation. For these industries, data is very valuable and loss of data can cause a lot of serious consequences. 

For such organisations encryption is the best way to protect sensitive data. With a reliable VPN, companies can secure customers’ data. There are many best cheap VPNs that you can choose from and encrypt your and your customer’s data.

4. Policies for Handling Sensitive Data.

As a company, you need to segregate sensitive and non-sensitive data so that you can have a special process for handling such important data. There should be policies set for user’s data access so that sensitive data is not handled by everyone.

What organizations can do is segment corporate data into categories like private, restricted and public and construct security measures accordingly. When companies will have control over who can access the data, there will be lesser attacks.

5. Providing Awareness and Training to Employees.

It is very necessary to provide awareness and data privacy training to employees, especially in this era where everything requires technology and a slight mistake can cost a lot of loss. Employees need to understand how their slight mistake can lead to the theft of important information and how they need to prevent phishing attacks.

6. Utilizing the Email Protection System.

Emails contain a lot of sensitive information which hackers can exploit. A reliable email antivirus is essential to protect your sensitive and confidential data from threats. There are various email protection tools that you can use to protect your emails and confidential data.

7. Using Protective Tools on all Network Endpoints.

You must install data security protections on all the network endpoints so that data leaks can be prevented. This includes securing the end user devices like laptops, mobile phones and desktops.

Conclusion

In this digitized era, technology has its own pros and cons. Where there are numerous benefits, there are also challenges that one has to face. One of the biggest challenges that the latest technology and Metaverse have brought about is data privacy. However, one needs to take some precautions and prevent the chances of data leaks.

Author Bio: 

Mathew is a cybersecurity researcher who has keen interest in exploring advanced global tech landscape topics. He loves to educate people about online privacy, internet security and web futuristic trends. Besides that, he is a skateboard artist & an avid follower of sports.