Tracking Attacks on Virtual Reality Systems

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is a rapidly advancing technology with diverse applications. VR systems offer an immersive, life-like virtual experience by rendering interactive views on a head-mounted display. VR systems are vulnerable to various types of attacks, which could have dire consequences as they are designed to replace our perception of the physical world. However, there have been few studies on the security and integrity issues of the VR systems. We focus on the popular HTC Vive VR system and propose novel attack methods on blocking and manipulating its tracking subsystem. It is shown that simple attacks can jam or even manipulate the entire position and pose tracking process. Possible countermeasures are suggested to make VR systems safer and more secure.