Grappling With Uncertainty Amid Cyberattacks

“What I’ve repeatedly found is that people are terrified of cyberattacks, because, frankly, cyberattacks are scary,” said Ryan Shandler, assistant professor of political science in Georgia Tech’s School of Cybersecurity and Privacy, where his research focuses on how people react to cyberattacks. “People don’t fully understand them. They don’t know who’s behind them.”

Shandler’s latest study looks at the effect this uncertainty has on public opinion after a cyber incident.

“When faced with the unknown, people conjure visions of doom, where one bad guy in his mom’s basement clicks a button and takes over the world.”