Evaluating Cyberattack Severity and Assessing Retaliation

• In Event: Public Opinion and Conflict Propensity

Abstract

How does the public evaluate the severity of cyberattacks and how does it choose among responses to such attacks? Using a two-wave online survey experiment, we confirm that Americans judge a cyberattack depending on the number of deaths and the level of economic losses it causes. Attacks causing severe economic losses are ranked as severely as those causing low levels of deaths. Strikes against hospitals, the power grid, and the U.S. military are rated as more severe than attacks against corporations or the financial sector. Support for more punitive retribution choices increases with severity, but also depends upon the type of attacker and the country of origin of an attack. Americans are more willing to respond to attacks from terrorist groups or state agencies rather than from individuals or civilian hackers, and to retaliate against small rather than great powers. Finally, the public reacts to international and domestic cyberattacks similarly.

Authors

• Marcelo Leal, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Paul Musgrave, University of Massachusetts