Security Risks
Another risk that the U.S. Army is extremely cognizant of is information security. Not all virtual environments are created equal when it comes to protecting information and communications. “The reality is that there are significant risks in the way virtual environments are deployed,” Maxwell said. Because the technology is open source, he agreed to talk about OpenSimulator, software that is currently being used to power thousands of virtual worlds, including one owned by the U.S. Army.
“Civilians think about security differently than we do,” he said. “The normal deployment of OpenSimulator is actually pretty insecure.” Some of the security issues have to do with features that enable virtual world owners to allow users to travel between different worlds or to upload their own content and have complex interactions.
Some issues are very basic. There is no encrypted communication whenever a client sends a password to servers, for example. But proprietary, enterprise-focused virtual environments, such as ProtoSphere, AvayaLive Engage and 3DICC’s Terf, typically put a much higher priority on information security.
ProtoSphere, from Pennsylvania-based ProtonMedia, Inc., is tightly integrated into Microsoft’s unified communications offerings, Active Directory and Sharepoint, and claims about 10% of the Fortune 500 as customers. All communications, including voice, presence and instant messages, go through Microsoft’s Lync server, which offers encryption for all of these channels. The platform uses the Microsoft Sharepoint document repository and allows for very nuanced role management to restrict access to particular areas of the virtual environment or specific documents. Even when ProtoSphere is run as a cloud-based service, content and communications can be kept secure. In fact, most customers opt to run ProtoSphere in the cloud, said CEO Ron Burns, but 20% use it as traditional software that runs behind the corporate firewall. The latter are primarily used in the defense industry, he said, including the U.S. Defense Department itself, and companies such as Airbus, Lockheed Martin and Boeing.