Cybersecurity in Web 3.0: A new way of Protecting Systems

Massive changes are occurring in the internet structure. A new paradigm for the internet's architecture called Web 3.0 replaces the older read/write approach. With Web 3.0, the users and the community, rather than vast and centralized businesses, are in charge of the internet. Concerns regarding big tech's capacity to create democratic platforms that act in the best interests of their communities, as well as a general rise in people's sentiment towards the industry, have helped pave the way for its birth.

The main focus of Web 3.0 is improving and fixing issues related to decentralized, platform-mediated interactions of the present. For most researchers, Web 3.0 is a "decentralized web" in which users control their personal information and online identities. Some major changes like the metaverse are being held in place thanks to this technology.

The core technologies that underpin Web 3.0 include methods for verifying user trust, safeguarding user privacy, providing a distributed platform for applications, and creating anonymous user profiles. There are benefits and drawbacks to using a decentralized design regarding safety.

What is Web 3.0?

To create a data-driven, semantic web, the next generation of web-based solutions and infrastructure, known as Web 3.0, employs machine-based intelligence. With Web 3.0, we want to build more innovative, better-connected, and open sites.

Technologies like machine learning (ML), Big Data, decentralized ledger technology (DLT), and so on will give future websites and applications human-like information-handling capabilities. Web3.0 creator Tim Berners-Lee desired a more decentralized Internet; therefore, he named it the Semantic Web.

Web 3.0 acts in contrast to the current iteration of the internet (Web2.0), where data is typically housed in centralized repositories, data in the future would be interlinked decentrally. Also, data will be available to both people and computers. However, this can only occur if computers can understand data on both a conceptual and a contextual level. To this end, Web 3.0 is supported by two main features: the semantic web and AI.

Cybersecurity Features Web 3.0

The decentralized Web 3.0 offers multiple benefits like more personal data privacy and control. However, in order to create a more safe environment, these new features are being developed.

Identity Native

Web 2.0 is commonly known for its data breach scandals. Usually, people lacked control over what organizations did with obtained data. Data harvesting became a problem, and prominent platforms' data centers became treasure troves of sensitive information.

Since centralized solutions don't keep data secure or preserve privacy, a different strategy is required. Users control their data and content in Web 3.0's identity-native ecosystem of distributed apps. Intelligent contracts protect users' privacy by allowing anonymous data access. Web apps may decide user rights or eligibility based on their digital reputations. As a consequence, Web 3.0 should have fewer high-profile data privacy breaches due to decreased dependence on centralized gatekeepers like tech enterprises.

Trustless

In the field of information security, the concept of "zero trust" has gained much attention. From a Web 3.0 viewpoint, decentralization places the internet in conformity with a zero-trust security architecture. In the Web 2.0 era, consumers put their faith in the businesses that often operated the sites and services they used. Instead of data traveling via intermediaries that consumers trust, Web 3.0 is trustless since data flows peer-to-peer through decentralized apps.

Cybersecurity Risks of Web 3.0

The potential growth and development opportunities presented by the vision for web 3.0 are numerous, but there are also security concerns. Aspects like the lack of clarity regarding Web 3.0 functionality could compromise data cybersecurity. Which are the main risks surrounding this new technology?

Manipulation of Data

One significant cybersecurity risk is the intentional manipulation of data used to train AI. Artificial intelligence is the most extensive disinformation system worldwide because anyone can make up false data to manufacture the desired outcomes. For example, Microsoft's chatbot "Tay" became racist after being programmed with harmful tweets. Tay had been designed to learn from the Twitter feed.

Enhanced Spam

In the Web 3.0 age, when a massive library of integrated and interrelated information exists, spam assaults may proliferate more easily via already many pathways. To distribute spam, adversaries can zero in on specific resources and then exploit, pollute, and saturate them to target specific websites, search engines, and applications.

Malicious JavaScript malware or ransomware might be hidden inside an application and sent to every user through these spam campaigns. Also, threats related to spam include the possibility of national governments changing data on websites to feed AI algorithms with disinformation that subsequently spreads to the inhabitants of a country.

Identity Risk

Web 3.0 proposes using self-sovereign identity to provide a globally portable set of credentials, claims, and permissions when interacting with websites, other users, and web apps. This blockchain-based identity allows users to decide which parts of their identity to share with specific third parties.

Some identity risks have been linked to establishing a genuinely sovereign identity infrastructure, according to a European report from the year 2022. Suppose a hacker observes the same user identifier used across all of a user's sessions in a given app or website. In that case, they may be able to piece together sensitive information about that user. The risk of identity theft is a genuine concern when using authentication methods that aren't sufficiently secure.

Data Security

Records added to blocks are encrypted, making blockchain one of the most secure technologies. However, this does have flaws. Hackers have discovered deficiencies in this supposedly impregnable technology, including 51% of assaults, Sybil attacks, phishing, and the theft of a user's key.

Since blockchain is the foundation of Web 3.0, it is incumbent upon ethical hackers to devise a means to prevent data breaches and hacking. It is challenging to recover if an attacker steals a digital asset. In a decentralized network, it is indeed challenging to trace transaction flows.

Cloning wallets is a prevalent security risk in the Web 3.0 era. A hacker may duplicate a user's wallet and use it to buy things online if they have the user's private key.

Social Engineering

Web 3.0's foundational blockchain technology ensures the immutability of blockchain-stored data. However, even data that seems indestructible may be hacked. Web 3.0 phishing assaults will include malevolent threat actors pretending to be trustworthy organizations to get access to sensitive data. Authentication data will be targeted in other social engineering attempts.

In conclusion

Web 3.0 might lead the internet industry to unprecedented success and growth. It will make previously inaccessible opportunities available to everyone in the business world. In contrast, the most recent iteration of the web must safeguard the cybersecurity of its operational mechanisms and functional operations. The growth of web 3.0 could be jeopardized by the data associated with data hacking and leakage; therefore, the industry needs to provide dependable responses to reassure potential customers.

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