A user-centric taxonomy of cyber harm in the metaverse

Abstract

This paper proposes a user-centric taxonomy of cyber harm for use in development of a metaverse-oriented harm prevention approach for children. This contrasts with extant models of cyber harm which consider harm from an organisational perspective, with an eye to business impact. The taxonomy is a synthesis resulting from analyses of Australian legislation, the IEEE 3527.1 international standard, term definitions given in law and psychology dictionaries, specific government provisions, and peer-reviewed literature. It comprises a list of harmful or potentially harmful behaviours, each of which serves as a parent category for different types of harmful scenarios. An iterative approach to analysis was employed to develop the taxonomy, which was then tested through a review of scholarly literature.