A Framework for Cybersecurity in the Metaverse

The Metaverse represents an evolution of the Internet through next-generation immersive technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and extended reality. As these Web 3.0 environments become more ubiquitous, new cybersecurity risks and threat models emerge. This paper proposes a comprehensive framework to address cybersecurity in the Metaverse across five critical domains: identity management, data privacy, device and network security, digital asset protection, and user education. An analysis of metaverse threat vectors, including social engineering, cross-reality attacks, decentralized application vulnerabilities, and synthesized media, is provided. For each cybersecurity domain, technical controls, governance policies, and education strategies are recommended based on the unique aspects of metaverse ecosystems. However, the black-box nature and lack of interpretability of deep learning models can impede real-world deployment. Interpretability helps system administrators understand and trust model outputs when responding to threats. The proposed metaverse cybersecurity framework aims to be proactive and flexible to satisfy key principles of privacy, accessibility, interoperability, and protection of user rights.