safety

Minimizing Augmented Reality Security Risks: A Brief Roadmap

augmented reality, featured, safety, Sponsored / Ryan Harris / January 3, 2023

Steps to Minimize Augmented Reality Security Risk

Here are some measures to help curtail augmented reality security risks.

Read the Fine Print in Privacy Policies

Who has the time to peruse long data privacy rules? Unfortunately, this flaw results in horrifying implications.

Contrary to popular belief, it is worth your while to scrutinize privacy policies or terms of service, so that you are aware of how AR/VR networks and businesses utilize your information.

For example, you will learn whether the network is sharing your information with third parties for marketing purposes or they have strict data protection rules.

Armed with this knowledge, users decide how much information they want the businesses to acquire.

Install Anti-Malware/Antivirus Software

Anti-malware apps are developed to defend users and devices against cyberattacks like ransomware, viruses, and malware.

So make sure to install formidable software that can protect you against common cyberattacks.

Opt for a Reliable VPN Service Provider

VPNs have become indispensable tools for businesses and individuals for the entirety of their online activities.

If you wonder what is VPN, it stands for a virtual private network. They establish a secure network connection by concealing Internet traffic, especially when using public networks.

Furthermore, VPNs disguise IP addresses, making it challenging for third parties to monitor users’ activities online and loot data.

So, using a VPN service is one of the most efficient ways of keeping your data and identity secure on the web. If it is mandatory to share confidential information, a VPN can safeguard you against compromised sensitive data. Since data is encrypted and scrambled, hackers cannot comprehend your data even if they intercept it.

Only Disclose Necessary Information

When using or working on AR systems, avoid revealing information that is too personal.

For example, you can provide your email address to create an account but only reveal your debit or credit card details if you buy something.

Furthermore, AR servers must have robust security protocols to safeguard user information, data, and identity. Double-check these protocols before using an AR network or services from businesses with this technology.

Implementation of Accurate Filters by AR Portals

The use of accurate filters by AR portals, such as facial recognition software and computer vision algorithms, can streamline image recognition. This will prevent attackers from hacking into users’ profiles and stealing their data.

Run-Of-The-Mill AR Weaknesses

Privacy is a primary concern because AR technologies keep tabs on user activity by collecting user information. So if hackers gain access, the possible loss of data and privacy is harrowing.

AR’s security risks are attributed to the following:

Ransomware

Hackers persistently use the most sophisticated technologies to achieve their pernicious goals. For example, ransomware records user behavior or interactions.

After employing the software and gaining access to user data, hackers may issue threats to release the data publicly unless the user pays a hefty ransom.

Web Browser Dependency

WebAR is browser-dependent. Unfortunately, web browsers do not have in-built AR support functionality. Hence, developers create tools to make AR options available to users. Generally, these tools deactivate the browser’s security filters.

Hence, browsers become vulnerable and highly susceptible to security threats.

Malicious Software

Cybercriminals can plant harmful content through advertising on AR channels, websites, or applications. Users unwittingly clicking on the tampered ads or promo codes get redirected to virus-infected servers or websites.

Then, these unsuspecting users become victims of malware attacks that compromise their data and may even damage their devices.

Stolen Network Credentials

Hacking is a serious cyber threat for retailers implementing AR technology into their shopping applications. Most users already have their mobile payment solutions and credit/debit card details stored in their user profiles. It is easy for attackers to gain access to this data and tamper with the accounts stealthily.

The Threat of Social Engineering

Cybercriminals may employ AR systems to dupe users and provide them with unreliable content as part of social engineering attacks.

For instance, the perception of reality might be distorted via fake signs and displays. As a result, users might be tempted to take some actions by looking at these counterfeit signs and end up becoming a hacker’s victim.

Absence of Standardized Security

AR is an up-and-coming technology, and there’s a long way to go. Moreover, this technology is constantly evolving. As a result, uniform security standards are absent.

ARML or Augmented Reality Markup Language lacks comprehensive security controls, and the implemented security standards are not universally followed.

Besides all these, there’s also the risk of losing the human connection and psychological dependence on virtual worlds, as well as theft or physical harm if you’re wearing augmented reality devices.

Final Words

Security risks are consistently showing an upward trajectory, and you can do nothing to stop these attacks other than protect yourself. If you face security and privacy issues, refer to the techniques mentioned earlier to decrease those risks. Also, remember to stay alert and never click unknown links or download apps from unverified sources.

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UC Berkeley Releases Report on Safety in Social VR

featured, Industry Reports, metaverse, safety, Social VR / Ryan Harris / December 22, 2022

We’d all like to be safe in social VR experiences. Barring the human race one day waking up and unanimously deciding to be decent to one another, how might this future come about? One potential solution is robust, clear, accessible community guidelines from platforms. But, what might those look like?

VR researcher Rafi Lazerson recently published a paper with the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cyber Security, titled “A Secure and Equitable Metaverse: Designing Effective Community Guidelines for Social VR.” The paper breaks down what harms can look like in social VR environments as well as what shape community guidelines for those environments should look like to prevent and address those harms.

Learning From the Past?

The paper’s introduction presents a provocative question:

“Will social VR platforms proactively develop clear community guidelines at this early stage of user adoption, or will their process follow the slow, opaque, and reactive trajectories that were typical of 2D social media platforms?”

The paper draws on industry and academic research, academic literature, media reports, and the existing community guidelines of both 2D and VR social platforms. It takes a particularly close look at Meta’s guidelines for both its 2D and its social VR experiences. This is a handy example but it also comes with a message to Meta:

“Well-funded corporations have a disproportionate impact on the formation of the metaverse and on norms within social VR, and therefore have a responsibility to lead the industry in developing responsible policies and practices.”

Harms in Social VR

“Embodiment removes the sense of separation and distinction between the user and the avatar, contributing to interactions between the users that feel real and present,” wrote Lazerson. “To the user, any VR world, even the fantastical, can feel real and present due to avatar embodiment, world-immersion, and synchronous conduct-based interactions.”

This won’t present an entirely new idea to most readers, but it is central to this work in particular and to this whole body of work. It means that misconduct can be more difficult to identify because it might not be recorded in the way that most social media interactions are. It also means that the interactions are worth taking seriously even though they happen in a “game.”

“Experiences of harassment in VR have been described as comparable to in-person harassment,” wrote Lazerson. “As haptic gloves, suits, and other VR immersion hardware become a common part of VR use, experiences of harassment may feel increasingly indistinguishable from in-person harassment.”

What’s more than that, many of the forms of harassment that we know and hate from traditional social media – based on race, religion, gender, and other factors – are already being reported in VR even to such a degree that some users report hiding aspects of their identities in order to avoid it. The problem compounds as immersive tech is increasingly used for work and wellness.

“The inability of some users to present as themselves in or even enter into social VR without fear could have severe health and economic ramifications,” wrote Lazerson.

So, how do we preserve these environments as safe spaces for everyone?

Effective Community Guidelines

According to Lazerson, effective community safety practices consist of three main components:

Policy
- External communication of expectations to users;
- Internal communication of policies to moderators;
Product
- User tools;
- Moderator tools;
- Educational tools;
- Invisible safety tools (age-gating of select experiences, etc.).
Operations
- The means by which policy is enforced through product.

It can be difficult for anyone other than a platform maintainer or moderator to see all of these pieces working together or to gauge how effective they are. However, one item on that list, outward-facing policy, is easy to see. So, how do Meta’s community guidelines work as a model for social VR experiences generally?

Are Meta’s Social VR Guidelines Sufficient?

A theme throughout this paper – and the realm of metaverse safety generally – is that immersive platforms can learn from conventional social media while recognizing that immersive content is different and accommodating those differences. According to Lazerson, one of Meta’s biggest problems may be that its immersive policies don’t come with Facebook’s existing safeguards.

“There is no single list of public-facing community guidelines for users to follow in Meta’s social VR. There are at least two, perhaps three: the Horizon Policy, the Conduct in VR Policy, and possibly the Facebook Community Standards,” Lazerson wrote. “There is a significant amount of ambiguity regarding where each of the aforementioned Meta community guidelines applies in VR.”

Lazerson isn’t only here to criticize. He closes the paper with recommendations to all immersive platforms. These include accessible, transparent, specific, and comprehensive guidelines using existing social media guidelines as a “baseline.” He also recommends platforms work with each other on policy “to ensure that no forms of harm are overlooked.”

For full recommendations, find the full report available for free here.

Be Good

It’s unfortunate that we need things like community guidelines – long documents detailing ways that people aren’t allowed to be mean to each other. Ideally, immersive worlds would play out like the world that we live in – in which most people are just impulsively decent to one another.

But, for whatever reason, social VR can be an uncomfortable space. It also has great beauty and can be a place where we share knowledge, experience, and just have fun. It’s up to each of us to help bring out the best in this medium. So read the guidelines, follow them, encourage others to follow them, and encourage your favorite platform to use them well.

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Metaverse Safety Week 2022

AR/VR events, Events, featured, metaverse, safety / Ryan Harris / December 21, 2022

Last week saw the XR Safety Initiative’s third annual Metaverse Safety Week (formerly known as XR Safety Week). As ever, the week started on International Human Rights Day, December 10, and was followed by five days packed full of panels and talks, with each day having a different theme relating to safety in immersive environments.

We couldn’t attend all of the Metaverse Safety Week sessions live or watch the feeds fast enough to keep up with everything. But, this article presents some highlights of the event.

Kavya Pearlman’s Welcome to Metaverse Safety Week

Of course, the event started with an introduction by XRSI founder Kavya Pearlman. Pearlman addressed the audience through her AltspaceVR avatar in the virtual model of the Taj Mahal custom-made for the event by the design studio Chicken Waffle.

“On the seventy-fourth Human Rights Day, we’ve assembled world leaders, technology professionals, global regulators, policy experts, ethicists, ethics organizations, researchers, and under-represented voices,” said Pearlman. “Metaverse Safety Week is so important as a point of reflection for all of us. We’re bringing the world together to safeguard the metaverse.”

The “Pong” Version of the Metaverse

The first topic of discussion was Dr. Louis Rosenberg’s video on the metaverse for More Perfect Union. Following the video, Rosenberg appeared on stage to further address some of the key topics in metaverse safety.

“When thinking about human rights for the metaverse, I think it’s useful to just set the context a little bit into the future – think about the 2030s. I say that because the work we do today is really preparing us for the future,” said Rosenberg. “Today is really the ‘Pong’ version of the metaverse.”

A little later in the day, HTC’s China President and Global VP of Corporate Development, Alvin Wang Graylin, took the stage. Graylin’s presentation focused on lessons learned of immersive technology. According to Graylin, today’s excitement is the result of related technologies developing together – a condition which creates opportunities for good and bad.

“As an industry, we need to make sure to educate the world as well as watch out for bad actors and keep them from doing the wrong things,” said Graylin. “Instead of trying to create a closed world and take value off the table, we really need to work together to create open worlds that are interoperable.”

This same day saw the announcement of the XR 2030 Policy Fund from the Minderoo Foundation. The program “will award funding to researchers and civil society leaders who are advancing the next generation of digital media ecosystems to prioritize public interest values.”

Building a “Super World”

Day two opened with a discussion led by SuperWorld’s Hrish Lotlikar. Lotlikar told ARPost last summer that he wants the platform to be “the gateway” between the physical and the virtual worlds. At Metaverse Safety Week, he was addressing how emerging technologies can work together to make individuals feel more attached to the world around them.

“The importance of decentralization is that it allows us all to become stakeholders in the environments that we’re playing in, that we’re working in, that we’re building together,” said Lotlikar. “At SuperWorld, our vision is to enhance society and build a better world – and we can do that with these technologies.”

That morning also saw the launch of the “Metaverse for All” certificate program. Launching next year, the program will provide “An informative and enlightening course to shed light on the many ways in which the metaverse will change the world.”

How the Metaverse Will Impact the Young

Day three was all about metaverse safety for children and it kicked off with a talk by Representative Lori Trahan. Despite it being her first time in AltspaceVR, Trahan’s talk was moving.

XRSI- metaverse safety week - lori trahan

“Whenever we access the metaverse, data about ourselves can be stored, accessed, and used by people who will pay for our data to influence and manipulate us in real time. And, as we all know by now, it could even be shared with third parties and governments without our knowledge,” said Trahan. “That’s why we must pass comprehensive privacy legislation.”

Trahan pointed out that, while data is a common metaverse safety concern in the immersive technology community, it is an issue largely outside of the experiences themselves. We also need to be mindful of interactions within the immersive experiences as they occur.

“The high levels of harassment in social media and in video games have already become prevalent in the metaverse,” said Trahan. “In fact, the harms we know all too well from platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat can often be seen in the metaverse where immersion and a sense of physical presence can make these negative experiences even more visceral.”

And the Young Said…

Later that same day, a “Youth Panel” took the stage. The panel consisted of five members of the International Child Art Foundation (ICAF) between the ages of 13 and 23, and was moderated by the Foundation’s founder Ashfaq M. Ishaq. The panel presented a rare opportunity to hear young people speak for themselves on metaverse safety issues like the efficacy of age restrictions.

One speaker pointed out that, in her experience, VR motion sickness went away as she got older – so not exposing children to VR too young might help to give them a positive first impression. Another pointed out that age restrictions might be less helpful than a system of content warnings for VR experiences similar to those for films and television programs.

Perhaps the most engaging takeaway was that the metaverse might be about games or work for most people reading this but, for a growing number of young people, it’s also about socialization. That can introduce potential metaverse safety issues without immediate solutions.

“Not forming relationships through the metaverse is no longer an option. We have to rely on these new connections that we’re making to be able to reach out,” said ICAF member Alaalitya Acharya. “When you’re interacting with somebody through an avatar, what are some of the signs that you need to look out for in the same way as when you meet someone face-to-face?”

So. Much. Content.

We tried to bring you just about as much as possible from Metaverse Safety Week. And there’s so much more that would have been worth presenting. But alas, five days of sessions averaging about eight hours each doesn’t really fit into an article. If you want to explore it yourself, you can find the recordings on XRSI’s YouTube channel.

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ExpressVPN Survey Explores Immersive Tech in the Workplace

business, featured, Immersive Technology, Industry Reports, metaverse, Mixed Reality, remote work, safety / Ryan Harris / November 30, 2022

ExpressVPN has conducted a survey of 1,500 employees and 1,500 employers to learn about attitudes toward immersive work. Remote collaboration has been one of the biggest promises of immersive technology as it relates to work but employers seem to be more excited than employees. One potential reason: surveillance fears.

Who Wants to Work in the Metaverse?

Remote work was already trending upward before the pandemic. However, as more and more offices closed, remote work started to seem like part of the “new normal.” It was also an explosive opportunity for the immersive tech industry with many promoting the metaverse as the new office water cooler.

While immersive tech gained some traction during this period, video conferencing remains the standard alternative to in-person meetings. About a third of employees and almost as many employers who participated in the survey prefer video conferencing to in-person meetings.

As for immersive meetings, 17% of employers and only 9% of employees surveyed preferred them over other communication methods. So, metaverse was less popular than in-person meetings, video conferencing, instant messaging, and email among employees, but more popular than social media, phone calls, and project management platforms.

On the other hand, it’s interesting that metaverse was the second-preferred method of communication among employers, with video conferencing being the top pick.

Which communication method makes you feel most connected and engaged with your co-workers — *Source: ExpressVPN*

Why Not Bring Immersive Tech Into the Workplace?

Why the low numbers among employees? First, they aren’t that low. After all, project management platforms were literally designed for remote collaboration, and immersive tech beat them out. And better than the telephone? That’s pretty good for an emerging technology.

Another potential explanation is that most people still haven’t tried an immersive meeting. The survey report didn’t ask (or didn’t include) how many people have experienced a meeting in the metaverse.

While virtual office meetings are becoming more common, they’re still not part of most people’s work week. Further, these platforms are improving but a lot still have hiccups. Even those that work as intended aren’t what most people are used to, which can lead to a learning curve if not plain old friction.

However, the study also found that over half (57%) of polled employees and over three-quarters (77%) of polled employers are interested in immersive work. So, while not all employees are already convinced, a good number of them are at least curious.

There’s still one more reason that employees in particular aren’t sold on the metaverse for meetings. It’s actually a concern that they already have about more conventional remote work solutions.

Surveillance of employees working remotely is already fairly common practice, particularly in large businesses. Immersive technology platforms, particularly those incorporating VR hardware, offer more opportunities for surveillance. Employees seem largely convinced that more opportunity means more abuse.

Sixty-three percent of employees are concerned about data collection, and 61% about being monitored by their employer in the metaverse.

More than half of surveyed employees responded that they’re concerned specifically about real-time location (51%) and real-time screen monitoring (50%). To be fair, under 40% of employers surveyed said that they intended to use emerging technologies in these ways.

Okay, Boomer

Digging too deep into what these numbers mean can be tricky for one more reason. Zany demographic information. Specifically, Boomers. To understand how confusing their responses are, one other piece of demographic information is required: Gen Z is typically the most supportive and least skeptical about the metaverse.

Boomers are the second most curious about the metaverse – they’re also the least excited and the least optimistic about it. They’re the least convinced that it will positively impact productivity but the second most convinced that it will positively impact work performance.

How do different generations feel about the meatverse and how do they think that the metaverse will positively impact work — *Source: ExpressVPN*

They’re the second least concerned about employee surveillance but the most concerned about overall digital privacy and security. Finally, they’re the most excited about remote collaboration and working remotely, but well under half of them think that immersive tech is the future of work.

Does any of that make sense to you? No? That’s a relief.

The Future? Yes. Tomorrow? No.

Please do read the original survey for yourself. There was a lot in there that we didn’t cover here and there are places where you might be able to make more sense of it.

No matter how one reads the numbers, immersive tech may well be the future of work but it may not be the immediate future of work.

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