Warring from the virtual to the real

Assessing the public’s threshold for war over cyber security

Bibliographic Data

ID13016830
AuthorsSarah E Krep (0000-0002-0924-4234, Cornell University, corresponding author), Debak Das (0000-0002-4501-8592, Cornell University)
Year2017
Volume4
Issue2
Publication date2017-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueResearch & Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2053-1680 • E-ISSN: 2053-1680
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/2053168017715930
OpenAlexW2581332009
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited15

Accusations of Russian hacking in the 2016 US presidential election has raised the salience of cyber security among the American public. However, there are still a number of unanswered questions about the circumstances under which particular policy responses are warranted in response to a cyber-attack and the public’s attitudes about the conditions that justify this range of responses. This research investigates the attributes of a cyber-attack that affect public support for retaliation. It finds that cyber-attacks that produce American casualties dramatically increase support for retaliatory airstrikes compared to attacks with economic consequences. Assessments of attribution that have bipartisan support increase support to a lesser extent but for a broader range of retaliatory measures. The findings have important implications for ongoing debates about cyber security policy

Affect (linguistics · Attribution · Computer security · Cyber threats · Cyber-attack · Cyberwarfare · Hacker · Internet privacy · Mortality salience · National security · Political science · Politics · Presidential system · Public opinion · Public relations · Salience (neuroscience · Computer Science · Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies · Law · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access