Cybersecurity and Privacy Challenges in Extended Reality: Threats, Solutions, and Risk Mitigation...

Extended Reality (XR), including Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR), offers immersive experiences in entertainment, healthcare, and education.

Overview

Authors: Mohammed El-Hajj

Publication Date: 30 December 2024

Link: https://www.mdpi.com/3112256

Keywords: Extended reality (XR); cybersecurity; privacy; elliptic curve cryptography; authentication; data anonymization; adversary model; AI-based security; behavioral data privacy; XR security solutions

Type: Peer-Reviewed Journals/White Papers

Summary

Extended Reality (XR), including Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR), offers immersive experiences in entertainment, healthcare, and education. However, its interactive and data-intensive nature poses cybersecurity and privacy challenges. This paper outlines an adversary model to identify threat actors and attack vectors in XR, highlighting risks such as identity theft and behavioral data leakage, which enable profiling, manipulation, and invasive advertising. We explore mitigation strategies, including AES, RSA, and ECC encryption, multi-factor and biometric authentication, data anonymization, and AI-driven anomaly detection for real-time monitoring. A comparative benchmark evaluates these solutions' strengths, limitations, and practicality in XR. The findings advocate a holistic approach combining technical safeguards and privacy-focused policies to secure XR ecosystems and build user trust.