Mieux vaut prévenir et guérir : la réaction du public envers la posture de cyber-résilience des entreprises après un vol de données
Research shows that customers take few measures to protect themselves from crimes that may follow data theft at a business. They rather consider that the firm—the host of their personal information—holds exclusive responsibility over the continued confidentiality of their data. Companies that fail to properly secure customer information may, in return, risk experiencing ruinous reputational harm. That said, little explanatory research is done on the resilience of businesses to negative public reaction after data theft. Consequently, a vignette-based experimental study was conducted using the “ideal” victim model. The scenarios feature: (1) a breached business described as having a strong cyber-resilience posture; (2) a breached business described as having a weak cyber-resilience posture. A final sample of 664 participants was randomly assigned to one of the two main experimental conditions. Results reveal that compared to a weak cyber-resilience posture, a good cyber-resilience posture minimizes negative customer attitudes and promotes positive customer behavioural intentions towards the company. Considering these results, cyber-resilience, which has mainly received conceptual attention, gains empirical support. Furthermore, this research project contributes more broadly to the evolution of the victimology of businesses.
Cybersecurity Cyber-resilience Data breach Social reaction Risk management Crisis communication Victim blaming Ideal victim