The Metaverse: Between the Boom of the Digital Economy and the Challenges of Cyber Warfare
Amid massive investments reaching trillions of dollars, the "metaverse" emerges as one of the most significant transformations of the digital age, raising existential questions about whether it will become a safe virtual home for users or an open arena for cyber crimes.
Cybersecurity experts believe that this three-dimensional virtual environment, which allows users to interact through digital avatars using virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence technologies, "remains a security-vulnerable environment and could quickly turn into a cyber battlefield".
Economically, international reports expect the size of the metaverse economy to reach 5 trillion dollars by 2030, with the emergence of new jobs and parallel digital markets. However, this growth is accompanied by real risks, as early experiments revealed serious security vulnerabilities.
Early reports have emerged about users being subjected to virtual harassment and digital impersonation in experimental projects like "Horizon Worlds" affiliated with Meta. Games like "Roblox" and "Fortnite" have turned into informal arenas for exchanging illicit money and laundering funds through the sale of digital items and virtual currencies, alongside European security agencies monitoring cases of child exploitation within these games for recruitment or extortion purposes.
Dr. Mohamed Mohsen Ramadan, head of the Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Studies, clarifies that one of the main risks is "targeted cyber attacks", pointing out that "hacker groups have used virtual reality environments in Second Life to train for fraud operations by simulating social situations to master social engineering techniques".
The risks of "parallel economy and financial crimes" have also emerged with the expansion of cryptocurrencies, where major frauds have occurred, "such as the theft of NFTs wallets worth over 600 million dollars in a famous attack on the Axie Infinity platform", which illustrates that the metaverse economy is "vulnerable to transnational crimes".
For his part, Major General Abubakr Abdelkarim, former Assistant Minister of Interior of Egypt, emphasizes that "if we want the metaverse to be a safe virtual home, a set of conditions must be met, the first of which is unified international legislation, through clear laws regulating digital ownership, privacy, and crimes within the metaverse".
The former Egyptian security official called for the establishment of "advanced cybersecurity technologies such as encryption and multi-level verification systems, and artificial intelligence algorithms to monitor suspicious behaviors", in addition to "a culture and digital awareness empowering users to recognize risks and adopt safe behaviors", and "a robust cyber infrastructure relying on secure data centers and flexible communication networks capable of resisting advanced attacks".
Abdelkarim believes that "the metaverse could be a virtual home that opens the door to a new era of economic and social opportunities, but at the same time, it is likely to turn into a digital war zone, where the interests of nations, companies, and cyber criminals intersect", explaining that "the difference between the two scenarios will not be determined by technology alone, but by humanity's ability to build sound digital governance that balances innovation freedom with security requirements".
