The Social and Psychological Impact of Cyber-Attacks
Maria Bada, Jason R. C. Nurse

TL;DR
This paper explores the social and psychological effects of cyber-attacks, focusing on public perception, reactions, and vulnerabilities, using recent major cyber-attacks as case studies.
Contribution
It provides a critical reflection on how cyber-attacks influence public psychology and perceptions, highlighting key cognitive factors and attacker characteristics.
Findings
Public perception varies based on attack characteristics
Risk perception influences protective behaviors
Major cyber-attacks significantly impact societal trust
Abstract
Cyber-attacks have become as commonplace as the Internet itself. Each year, industry reports, media outlets and academic articles highlight this increased prevalence, spanning both the amount and variety of attacks and cybercrimes. In this article, we seek to further advance discussions on cyber threats, cognitive vulnerabilities and cyberpsychology through a critical reflection on the social and psychological aspects related to cyber-attacks. In particular, we are interested in understanding how members of the public perceive and engage with risk and how they are impacted during and after a cyber-attack has occurred. This research focuses on key cognitive issues relevant to comprehending public reactions to malicious cyber events including risk perception, protection motivation, culture, and attacker characteristics (e.g., attacker identity, target identity and scale of attack). To…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMisinformation and Its Impacts · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence · Social and Intergroup Psychology
