The new security standard for working with VR and MR

By Tenagne Habte-Michael, Product Manager, Meta

In today's evolving technological landscape, strong data security is essential for innovation. As organizations adopt immersive technologies—like virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR)—it’s critical to have security standards that span your virtual, physical and traditional ecosystems.

A report from the Cyber Safety Review Board, published in March 2024, highlights this urgency and underscores the need for proactive data security governance. Here, we'll explore how you can build these forward-thinking security practices into the core of your business.

Why strong data security governance is essential for VR

The transition into immersive environments using VR and MR, brings new threats and challenges to data security. Virtual worlds don’t have the same physical boundaries we’re used to in the real world, so they need a fresh approach to governance.

Effective data security governance doesn’t just mitigate the risks associated with digital expansion—it gives organizations the confidence to embrace and benefit from new technology. It is holistic and covers the full lifecycle of an ecosystem's elements.

A strong data security governance program will include clear ownership and accountability, with clear objectives, actionable and measurable controls, centralized and consistent policy management, continuous monitoring and improvement, automation, and integration with identity and access management—all within a risk-based and compliance driven framework.

Ensuring safety in virtual reality and real environments

Providing a seamless, secure experience across platforms – from augmented reality (AR) to VR – demands unified data security standards. For example, Meta Horizon managed services and managed Meta accounts have achieved SOC 2 Type I compliance in 2025 – a type of audit provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) that assesses our systems to ensure they meet a set criteria across data security, availability and confidentiality.

With diverse systems communicating more frequently than ever, it’s essential to align your threat detection and response. Acting fast reduces time to contain and mitigate issues, thus reducing harm.

At the same time, in real-world settings, your traditional cybersecurity measures must evolve to protect against vulnerabilities from these new, dynamic immersive VR platforms.

Enabling robust VR data security with Meta Horizon Managed Services

Meta Horizon Managed Services offers a suite of products designed to help you implement dependable data security governance across your organization’s operations, across sectors ranging from education to the workplace. Here’s how:

• Integrated security frameworks: Our solutions offer a layered security approach that integrates traditional measures with cutting-edge VR security safeguards. This ensures comprehensive protection spanning the digital-physical divide.
• Real-time monitoring and alerts: Leveraging MHMS' advanced analytics, organizations receive real-time monitoring and alerts. This enables a rapid, informed response to potential threats across all your environments – both virtual and physical.
• Data encryption enhancements: State-of-the-art encryption—including TLS 1.2 and TLS 1.3 protocol standards, strong symmetric encryption algorithms like ChaCha20-Poly1305 (XChaPoly) and AES-GCM—is embedded in our systems. This helps to protect sensitive information across all channels. We ensure end-to-end data integrity and confidentiality, keeping your data safe.

Building a culture of security while working with VR

Strong data security isn't just about technology – it's about people and culture. Creating a culture of security starts with continuous education and awareness of new threats.

For example, at Meta, this begins by hiring the right people and raising their awareness on the importance of data security. We perform regular security and vulnerability testing to assess whether key controls are properly implemented and effective. And our security team is responsible for the detection, triage and remediation of vulnerabilities in Meta Quest hardware and software. These practices help your team take a proactive approach to data protection.

Embracing the future with steadfast VR data security standards

As virtual and real worlds continue to connect, strong data security governance is more important than ever. It's no longer just a defensive measure – it’s a strategic foundation for building trust with customers and partners. Organizations that prioritize strong data security governance will be ready to explore these new frontiers with confidence.

Get in touch with Meta for Work

Discover how Meta Horizon managed solutions can scale your organization with virtual and mixed reality. Learn how you can use VR and MR to build the future of work and education with our success stories.

Keep reading about working in virtual reality (VR):

What is the best VR headset for work?
4 companies using VR/MR in healthcare
6 innovations shaping the future of work