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Looming AR/MR boom opens door to security exploitation

According to global tech market advisory firm, ABI The AR/MR market can leverage security techniques
Research, revenue in security-related areas, such as and data protection policies which are applied in other
platforms and licensing systems integration, IT spend, connected devices, such as encryption and data
and connectivity will exceed US$40 billion in 2024, with anonymization techniques to address some existing
notable efforts in privacy and security across these and well-understood privacy and security scenarios.
segments. “However, existing regulations and security standards
need to be adjusted to meet the unique needs of virtual
The anticipated growth and the establishment of environments and address risks associated with
Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) aspects like continuous space mapping, uncertain
devices and applications in enterprise and consumer content ownership, confusing UI and UX and define
markets raise numerous questions about the potential under which circumstances and which users can
threats associated with the user and business privacy access virtual content in public and private locations,”
and security. Kouri explains.

With over 52 million smart glasses active in 2024, and Both AR/MR headsets and mobile devices will see
hundreds of millions more mobile devices used for AR rapid growth in usage over the next 5 years. “Upcoming
content consumption, the exploitable market is AR/MR headsets will be richer in terms of sensors and
sizeable. The significance of this exploitable market data capture capabilities, while smartphones and
and related operating environments is more notable tablets will be equipped with dedicated sensors for
given the rich use cases leveraging AR/MR in industrial more precise tracking.
and manufacturing, logistics, utilities, and healthcare.
The high value and quantity of data flowing through Greater adoption means more active and potentially
these markets make a new AR/MR implementation a vulnerable devices, which do not necessarily slot neatly
target. into existing security infrastructure and
implementations. Consequently, the need for dedicated
“Ensuring trustworthiness and reliability of AR/MR AR/MR security standards, practices, and regulation
applications and devices are essential to drive adoption will become more than essential in the coming years,”
and encourage scale deployment of AR/MR solutions in concludes Kouri.
enterprise verticals. Network, application, or device
weaknesses are not only risky due to the data leak or These findings are from ABI Research's Privacy and
unauthorized access potential, but also due to the Security in AR/MR Ecosystems application analysis
interruption that can happen in workflow and business report that is part of the company’s Augmented and
efficiency. At the same time, attacks that target overlay Virtual Reality research service. (Source: ABI
content can mislead users, risk user safety, and data Research) ◊
security through phishing and misdirection attempts,”
says Eleftheria Kouri, Research Analyst at ABI By MediaBUZZ
Research.

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