第14章サイバー資源の品質とサイバーコンピューティングのガバナンス

In October 2020, a warehouse fire severely damaged the Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) semiconductor plant in Miyazaki, Japan. At the time, this was one of two RAM manufacturers worldwide. The global crisis for computer memory soon commenced shortly after this disaster. Hardware manufacturers had to slow the production of computers because the memory was not available for production, and the cost of the existing memory escalated. Japan’s other chip manufacturing plants could not meet worldwide demand. Today, three manufacturing plants account for more than 90% of the world’s RAM production. It seems that the world has not learned its lesson and diversified the production of this precious resource.

The other side of this story is that software advancements also stopped. New software packages are typically developed to incorporate newer technology features. If the newer computer manufacturing slowed down, the new innovative software packages also slowed down. This was not the same for cloud technologies. Because the resources are distributed and the hardware is not as essential, the cloud environment continues to thrive, and there has only been an increase in cloud usage since 2020.

While the metaverse and Web3 offer organizations new frontiers for customer engagement and business growth, these also create the potential for new cybersecurity risks that could lead to financial losses, brand and reputational damage, and legal challenges. These threats include system outages and disruptions because of data overload and threats that apply to other areas of computing, including ransomware and bots.

As noted earlier, Industry 4.0 smart ecosystems combine various platforms/services (e.g., 3-D Modeling, AR/VR, Edge Computing, Blockchain, AI/ML, and 3-D/4-D printing) and are typically deployed on top of a hybrid cloud/ blockchain environment today. For example, they may use AI/ML platforms/services to support the rendering and management of realistic models of a 3-D world or digital twins. The various platforms/services operate within secure cloud/blockchain platforms that are managed using established cloud/blockchain security/trust architectures as well as cloud governance processes. Because the platforms/services can be assembled as mashups by combining offerings from multiple cloud platforms, it is necessary to consider the cybersecurity mechanisms discussed in Cloud Applications Frameworks Assurance in order to understand how to best secure cloud mashups. In this subsection, we briefly discuss the security vulnerability and defenses required when leveraging specific smart ecosystems platforms/services.

As artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies become more prominent and create supersocieties, we also face additional cybersecurity threats. For example, cybercriminals can use AI to leverage more sophisticated cyberattacks. At the same time, AI can be a tool against cybercrime, providing organizations with sophisticated technology to handle security tasks such as detecting suspicious activity in the system. In addition, AI can be used in testing, such as simulating system attacks to help cybersecurity professionals identify areas of risk and vulnerabilities that should be addressed. According to IBM, AI can help protect data in hybrid cloud environments with tools such as shadow data identification and monitoring for data abnormalities. AI can also create incident summaries and automate responses to these incidents, improving investigations and outcomes. AI’s ability to analyze login attempts and verify users can reduce fraud costs by as much as 90%.³⁹

AI creates new cyber threats but also provides additional tools to improve cybersecurity. Think about how AI is used in everyday life and consider AI as both a threat and a tool in cybersecurity.

Provide a few scenarios illustrating the benefits and drawbacks of AI-driven cybersecurity (e.g., monitoring and analyzing behavior patterns, preventing bad actions and outcomes) and explain your opinion.

To protect against cybersecurity threats in the metaverse, organizations should use many of the same security measures to protect against cyber threats on the Internet. They also need to address new cybersecurity risks that could lead to financial losses, brand and reputational damage, and legal challenges.

Figure 14.53 illustrates the typical four layers of metaverse platforms along with eight major threats in virtual world of the metaverse.

39 IBM. 2024. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Cybersecurity.” https://www.ibm.com/ai-cybersecurity#:.