Secure Semantic Communication Model for Black-Box Attack Challenge Under Metaverse

The Metaverse is the post-reality universe, a perpetual and persistent multiuser environment merging physical reality with digital virtuality. It is a new type of Internet application and social form that integrates a variety of new technologies. The realization of the Metaverse has extremely high demands on the communication traffic density, which needs a new communication technology. Semantic communication, regarded as the breakthrough beyond the Shannon paradigm, will be one of the key research fields of the Metaverse. It aims at the successful transmission of semantic information conveyed by the source rather than the accurate reception of every single symbol or bit regardless of its meaning. However, semantic communication faces the challenge of black-box attacks and poses security risks of information leakage and tampering. For black-box attacks, this article points out three approaches to secure semantic communication: secure communication model based on semantic block, semantic variable coding, and hybrid channel with hidden task. The security of semantic communication can be improved through these methods.