Web 3.0 and its Cybersecurity Implications

What is WEB 3.0?

The goal of Web 3.0 is to eliminate reliance on a single server or database. Web 3.0 sites and programmes will function on peer-to-peer nodes, blockchains, or decentralized networks. In the coming Web 3.0 era, virtual assets are expected to become a need.

The basic characteristics of Web 3.0 semantic web are:

• Money (virtual assets) as a core feature 
• New capabilities brought to users by decentralized applications
• Users’ control over their identities and data
• Self-governance

 

Through the integration of crypto wallets, which guarantee anonymity and security, international payments and transactions are made possible on Web 3.0 websites and apps. Users will have the option to participate in online communities and use tokens to influence their governance. Web 3.0 is not a fundamentally different form of the Internet to which the entire world will transition. Internet 3.0's shift has already begun.

Companies working on Web 3.0 are concentrated on resolving issues with the Web 2.0 infrastructure. Specifically, the monopoly of IT behemoths over consumer data ownership. Users are unable to profit from the information they give tech companies by way of their actions. Content producers won't have to split earnings with middlemen in Internet Web 3.0. The notion of Web 3.0 includes discussion of ownership structure development. Web 3.0 on the internet gives ownership to a lot more parties. It seems certain that Web 3.0 will continue to expand.

Web 3.0 Cybersecurity Features:

Particularly with regard to decentralisation, more individualised control and data privacy are promised. Here are some Web 3.0 cybersecurity problems and features to consider.

Identity Native:

The Web 2.0 era was distinguished by several data breach scandals. People have little influence over what businesses did with the data they collected. Data harvesting became a serious problem, and the data centres run by well-known platforms turned into virtual gold mines of private data gathered from all over the internet. The degree to which individuals have lost control over the information on them online was demonstrated by scandals like the Cambridge Analytica one.

A new strategy is required since it is clear that centralised solutions cannot ensure privacy or keep data secure. Users own their data and content in the identity-native distributed application environment known as Web 3.0. With the use of smart contracts, users may enable anonymous access to their data and protect their privacy.

Web applications can also utilise reputation metrics connected to users' digital identities to decide what permissions to provide users or whether they qualify for participation. In a Web 3.0 era, there should be fewer high-profile data privacy breaches since there would be less dependence on central information gatekeepers like huge tech corporations.

Trust less:

The security paradigm of zero trust is getting a lot of attention in the field of information security. All U.S. government institutions, including those at the Federal level, must now comply with particular zero trust network criteria by 2024. The concept of zero trust is the assumption that nothing on a network can be trusted.

From a Web 3.0 perspective, decentralization shifts the internet in alignment with something resembling a zero-trust security model. In the era of Web 2.0, users trusted the companies that owned the websites and platforms they interacted with online. Instead of data passing through intermediaries that users trust, Web 3.0 is trustless because data flows peer-to-peer in decentralized applications (dApps).

 

Cyber risks of web 3.0:

While the vision for web 3.0 offers multiple opportunities for growth and development, it presents security concerns. A poorly defined web 3.0 can pose cybersecurity risks for a number of reasons.

Information quality:

Web 1.0 depended on the accuracy of publishers' reputations. Web 2.0 degraded data quality, which increased the effectiveness of misinformation and deception online. Will there be agreement in web 3.0 to accept machine-managed data with accuracy checks? Who gets to make the call, what are their credentials, and what drives them to base their choice on the truth rather than pushing an agenda?

Data manipulation:

A major cybersecurity threat is deliberate manipulation of data that will be used to train AI. In order to get the desired results, people can fabricate incorrect data, making AI the largest deception system in existence. People wrote abusive tweets on purpose to educate Microsoft's chatbot "Tay" to be racist when the company chose to let it learn from Twitter. Imagine the disruption a nation-state may cause by providing AI with false information or by redefining language. How will cybersecurity experts identify, stop, and delete material intended to deceive?

Web 3.0 availability:

What transpires when the data that our systems rely on isn't available? Links on the internet today frequently break. Either all of the content on the Internet will need to be made locally by machines, or information will need to be retrieved instantly, as in web 2.0. As a result, there may be a greater reliance on the availability of systems over which IT staff have little control.

Data confidentiality: 

Constant data breaches put private information at risk. In addition to that risk, content may unintentionally leak or be stored in an unsafe area. Machines that scan data and store it in their knowledge bases dramatically enhance the possibility that private information will not only be detected but also exploited. To prepare for a system that might distribute sensitive information more quickly than ever before, cybersecurity officials must fortify their defences.

More cybersecurity concerns will likely arise as web 3.0 takes shape. Still, it makes sense to consider solutions for privacy and security from the start. The future of the web without gatekeepers, holding content meaningful to people and AI, sounds like a dream come true. Security should be built in from the ground up to keep that dream from becoming a nightmare.

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