With more entities entering digitality, the need for Web3.0, also known as the decentralised Internet, seems to be more than ever. It seems to be undeniable that Web3.0-based possibilities are ‘endless,’ but what is the cost of it all? In an era where cybersecurity challenges have become more prominent, the need to integrate cybersecurity structures with Web3.0 is considered to have become the talk of the hour. “I believe Web3.0 will facilitate the creation of a cybersecurity ecosystem wherein individuals can have complete control and ownership of their assets and experience a zero-trust environment in the true sense. This shift in security empowerment, from businesses and corporations to individuals (with Self Sovereign Identity – SSI), should make security a responsibility of the society,” Sundareshwar Krishnamurthy, partner and leader, cybersecurity, PwC India, a professional services firm, told FE TransformX.
Based on market research, the three reasons behind Web3.0 and cybersecurity methods correlation are anonymity, immutability, and decentralisation. From what it’s understood, anonymity enables the implementation of threat detection mechanisms, immutability ensures interference with transactions, and decentralisation distributes control over transactions amongst different entities. An important reason why Web3.0 can benefit the overall cybersecurity landscape is its dependence on cryptography, mainly hashing, which makes sure that the data’s context remains unchanged. It’s believed that Web3.0 is more reliable security-wise than Web2.0, on account of users being able to get the exact kind of information they asked for. The different methods through which businesses are seemingly making use of Web3.0 are decentralised finance (DeFi), decentralised file and data storage, and decentralised applications (dApps).
“I think businesses stand to gain by adopting decentralised technologies such as blockchain for securing sensitive data and transactions. Investing in cybersecurity training can equip employees with the skills to utilise Web3.0 technologies, fortifying the company’s defence against cyber threats. Collaborating with Web3.0 and cybersecurity experts can ensure staying abreast of threats and technologies, facilitating decisions for robust cybersecurity strategies, enhancing data protection, and fostering a secure digital environment,” Sumit Ghosh, CEO, Chingari, a Web3.0 live streaming application, highlighted.
According to 101 Blockchains, a research-based network, the biggest problems for Web3.0 security are smart contract susceptibilities, rug pull hacks, falsified airdrops, and phishing scams. Numbers supplied by Beosin EagleEye, a blockchain security solutions platform, showed that the total losses from phishing attacks, rug pulls and hacks in the Web3.0 landscape clocked $655.61 million in the first half of 2023. The platform also mentioned that 108 attacks caused around $471.43 million worth of losses, with phishing attacks causing roughly $108 million worth of losses and 110 rug pulls causing nearly $75.87 million worth of losses. With regards to the last year, there has been a decreasing trend in losses from Web3.0 attacks, with roughly $1.91 billion worth of losses in H1 2022 and around $1.69 billion worth of losses in H2 2022. Media reports have shown Web3.0 security applications making a mark in the Web3.0 sector including Fire, which’s a Chrome browser extension to protect crypto transactions, Stelo, which is an anti-scam Web3.0 plugin to shield crypto transactions, Pocket Universe, which is a security mechanism to survey Web3.0 activities, Blockem, which is another Chrome browser extension to ensure real-time verification for avoiding frauds, and Web3 Antivirus, which is a security extension to enable sustainable Web3.0 usage for users of different browsers.
As per Cloudflare, a cloud cybersecurity company, the most appropriate ways of protecting the Web3.0 infrastructure are required code auditing measures before deployment, API query encryption and signing, and web application firewalls (WAFs). Moreover, future predictions indicate that businesses will have to deploy a multi-faceted security structure to ensure amalgamation between Web3.0 and cybersecurity, with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) backed to be crucial for the way forward. “While technical integration challenges persist, we can see potential unlocked when cybersecurity sceptics become Web3.0 builders seeding systemic security. Cloud adoption can connect rather than hamper this paradigm shift. Appropriate decentralisation may prove critical for community alignment,” Ravi Chamria, co-founder and CEO, Zeeve, a blockchain deployment and management platform, concluded.
