Australian businesses are leading the charge in potential Metaverse penetration, despite growing security concerns within the immersive virtual world, according to a new report by cybersecurity company Tenable.
Interestingly, the study revealed that 78% of Australian businesses have planned to do business in the Metaverse in the next two years, compared to 67% and 61% in the UK and US respectively.
At the moment, the US has the highest metaverse penetration with 34% of respondents in the US stating they had launched offerings in the past six months, while Australia had half that at 17% and the UK only slightly more at 18%.
Notably, the report surveyed 1,500 cybersecurity professionals, 500 each from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Despite the lure of greater financial incentives and customer engagement, businesses are treading cautiously around the security risks that Metaverse engagement entails, particularly in light of the recent wave of cybercrime.
While the #metaverse is emerging as one of the most exciting new frontiers since the advent of the internet, organizations are ignoring the security red flags. See the findings from surveying 1,500 #infosec professionals. https://t.co/IgHAJxEePj— Tenable (@TenableSecurity) December 12, 2022
Security concerns
During the survey, all three countries agreed that security was the primary concern for metaverse penetration, with 43% of the Australian participants citing the concern - the highest in the study.
Consequently, the prospect of security breaches and identity theft was also the biggest barrier for businesses looking to enter the metaverse, according to 35% of Australian respondents.
Training and appropriate staffing was also a key concern, with 31% of Australian participants saying that they were worried about the lack of trained security professionals specific to the metaverse.
Despite security concerns, a high percentage of the survey’s respondents were comfortable with using third-party services for personal identifiable information collection.
In this regard, The US had the highest percentage of “very comfortable” respondents at 58% followed by Australia at 42% and the UK at 33%.
Biggest barriers to Metaverse penetration.
What is Metaverse?
Ever since Facebook (NASDAQ:META) Inc’s rebrand as Meta, the term metaverse has become the new buzzword in the tech space.
Trailblazing this new frontier is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is triggering a new wave of interest in the metaverse.
Zuckerberg said: “In the metaverse, you’ll be able to do almost anything you can imagine — get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create — as well as completely new experiences that don’t fit how we think about computers or phones today.
“In this future, you will be able to teleport instantly as a hologram to be at the office without a commute, at a concert with friends, or in your parents' living room to catch up. This will open up more opportunities no matter where you live.
“You’ll be able to spend more time on what matters to you, cut down time in traffic and reduce your carbon footprint,” he said.
Simply put, the end goal is an immersive virtual world where people live, work and socialise connected to VR devices in the comfort of their own homes.
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