Social interaction and gaming experiences on the metaverse potentially vulnerable to consumers

MIAMI (CBSMIMI) — The metaverse may look and feel more real than online social interactions and gaming experiences — potentially leaving consumers vulnerable.

Researchers estimate that the global metaverse market could be worth around $680 billion by 2030.

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“The Metaverse is a virtual reality world where you can go to concerts, you can see famous and really cool people all over the world,” said 12-year-old Cooper Stone.

Cooper plays video games like Fortnite and uses his virtual reality headset to play the games.

And in the future, those experiences will seem more real, as Jason Rubin of Meta, formerly known as Facebook, told CBS News in February in an interview conducted at a virtual reality event.

Rubin said, “Slowly but surely, I think the number of things you can do in the Metaverse, and the amount of time you spend in virtual reality in the Metaverse, will gradually increase to the point where we can really into an immersive world.”

Therefore, it is no surprise that companies are looking for ways to build experience and make money in the metaverse.

But where there is money to be made, even criminals will not be left behind.

“We fully expect them to lead the way in this,” said Kevin Goschalk, who is with cybersecurity firm Archos Labs. “The moment there’s a legitimate metaverse out there that has a real money mechanism where they can make money, they’ll be in day one.”

He showed CBS News how talks are already going on in chat rooms about how to take advantage of the metaverse for fraud.

“Criminal markets to sell identities, to sell Social Security numbers,” he said. “The way they do it may be a little different, but what they’re trying to achieve is money and the goal of doing it, tricking someone into giving money, they’re going to be aligned.”

Cooper and his parents say they were already scammed last year when hackers broke into his Fortnite account and charged his parents’ credit cards.

“They were like, ‘Cooper, did you spend $25 or $50 on this game without my permission?’ And I’m like, ‘No,'” he said.

Cooper’s mother, Nina Stone, said, “We did a little more investigation and found that he didn’t.”

Caroline Wong said, “Everybody wants to make money off the metaverse.” “And hackers go where the money is.”

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Wong with cybersecurity firm Cobalt.io says attacks from criminals can take more troubling forms. For example, if a hacker gains access to your VR headset, they can’t access that camera, they can see in your office, they can see in your bedroom. They can see inside your house. “

This is called camera attack. Another is called an overlay attack, when they can control what you see and hear.

Not only that: some of the content in the Metaverse may be disturbing to some users, especially children.

In an event called “VR Chat,” CBS found users – some who apparently looked like children – were making crude images.

And in a user-created room in Meta’s Horizon Worlds, CBS was able to pick up guns randomly lying around a “house” as other users fired them.

Another user who looked like a small child played with one of those guns.

Meta declined to comment on the camera, but said the Quest headsets are “designed for children 13 years and older.” “Some experiences are only for people 18 and up.”

The company says it has set up a “safe zone” inside the software so that users can get out of situations they might find uncomfortable.

And later this month, Meta will introduce a way for parents to lock down specific apps that aren’t age-appropriate for teens.

VR Chat said underage users are not allowed and banned if they are detected, and that “user safety is a top priority.”

“You can’t protect against everything,” Wong said. “But there are things you can do.”

Wong continued, “They create the world, they create experiences. Everything is very on purpose. Everything is pre-monitored. How long do your eyes look at a particular digital object? You What you click is exactly what you type. It’s all being monitored. It can be monitored… It’s worth doing. It’s absolutely possible. And the money and resources to do it costs.”

He and the companies say they aim to create safe, enjoyable experiences for all in a new, virtual world.

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The company, which owns Fortnite, Epic Games, said it has purchase controls in place for parents to manage Fortnite purchases and “constantly monitor all accounts for signs of agreement” to help prevent fraud. checks”.