No Anonymity in Metaverse: VR User Identification Based on DTW Distance of Head-and-Arms Motions

11 pages•Published: August 21, 2025

Abstract

In recent years, the adoption rate of virtual reality (VR) technology has been on the rise, and the metaverse is attracting attention as a next-generation form of internet usage. VR offers a variety of applications and content, such as education, gaming, and tourism, where users can remain anonymous and behave as fictional characters. However, there is a possibility that individuals in the real world can be identified from motion data that records VR users’ head-and-hands movements in detail, represented in time-series data. Nair and Lieber demonstrated that publicly available replay data from the VR rhythm game "Beat Saber" can identify individuals with over 90% accuracy. Nevertheless, the features that had the greatest impact on identification accuracy were static attributes such as height and arm length. Therefore, in this study, we attempt to identify individuals in VR domain based on dynamic features such as users’ distinctive ways of moving their arms by employing the DTW (Dynamic Time Warping) distance derived from motion data recorded during VR experiences.

Keyphrases: biometrics, dynamic time warping, gait authentication, privacy, virtual reality

In: Akira Yamada, Huy Kang Kim, Yujue Wang and Tung-Tso Tsai (editors). Proceedings of the 20th Asia Joint Conference on Information Security, vol 106, pages 199-209.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/24lC
	https://doi.org/10.29007/l3dj

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{AsiaJCIS2025:No_Anonymity_Metaverse_VR,
  author    = {Koki Miura and Hiroaki Kikuchi},
  title     = {No Anonymity in Metaverse: VR User Identification Based on DTW Distance of Head-and-Arms Motions},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 20th Asia Joint Conference on Information Security},
  editor    = {Akira Yamada and Huy Kang Kim and Yujue Wang and Tung-Tso Tsai},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Computing},
  volume    = {106},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2398-7340},
  url       = {/publications/paper/24lC},
  doi       = {10.29007/l3dj},
  pages     = {199-209},
  year      = {2025}}

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