Big tech’s latest obsession is the metaverse. Once a niche concept originating in science fiction, it’s gained a lot of mainstream attention lately. Most notably, Mark Zuckerberg recently told The Verge that Facebook is set to become a metaverse company, although the term was also bandied about in a recent Microsoft earnings call. If devotees are to be believed, the metaverse will change the way we do – well - everything. Sceptics, on the other hand, think it’s more likely to be just another tech bust, along the lines of Google Glass.
While the reality is likely somewhere in between, there can be no doubt that big tech could accomplish a lot more in the here and now by doubling down on security, particularly in the email space.
Before digging into why focusing on security is so important, it’s worth explaining what exactly this metaverse that everyone’s suddenly so hyped up about is. First imagined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 science-fiction novel...