Effects of Financial Crimes on Internet Security Behaviors Open Access

Abstract

The role of individuals in security has become increasingly important as the magnitude of non-security threats like pandemics have been exacerbated by individual-level non-compliance. Although public safety may depend on the contributions of individuals, personal costs and the expected efficacy of individual effort may cause shirking and delegation to other actors such as firms. I argue that a threat’s perceived complexity can deter contributions to public safety. If a threat is considered complex, effort is seen as less effective given the personal costs. Information about simple threats raises the expected success rate of individual effort making individual solutions more attractive if delegation is costly. I examine perceived complexity in the context of cybersecurity, an area considered highly technical, yet reliant on personal security practices to prevent public harm. I outline a survey experiment on American adults to evaluate how information about attacks affects an individual’s view of their role in cybersecurity. In the experiment, individuals will record their support for increasing individual effort in cybersecurity and more intrusive firm-level solutions based on a vignette of a hypothetical cyberattack, randomized on complexity. The study aims to contribute to pre-existing studies on public opinion of cybersecurity and research on individual compliance with policy objectives.

Table of Contents

Contents

Appendix A Additional Tables 26

Appendix B Survey Instrument 28

Appendix C Pilot Survey Results and Figures 36

Appendix D Pilot Survey Instrument 40

List of Figures

1 CONSORT Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

C.1 Average Support for Actor Investment by Treatment Assignment . . 37

C.2 Average Support for Actor Punishment by Treatment Assignment . . 38

C.3 Effect of Attack Characteristics on Support for Actor Investment . . 39

List of Tables

1 Summary Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2 Preferences for Individual and Firm Preference Based on Complexity 19

3 Preferences for Individual and Firm Preference Based on Demographics 21

A.1 Regression Model without Covariates - Individual . . . . . . . . . . . 26

A.2 Regression Model without Covariates - Individual . . . . . . . . . . . 27

C.1 Balance Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Political Science
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Political Science, General Political Science, International Relations
Keyword	Political Behavior Cybersecurity Internet Security
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Danielle Jung, Emory University David Davis, Emory University

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