Reputation as Public Policy for Internet Security: A Field Study

Cybersecurity is a national priority in this big data era. Because of the lack of incentives and the existence of negative externality, companies often underinvest in addressing security risks and accidents, despite government and industry recommendations. In the present article, we propose a method...

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Main Authors: TANG, Qian, Linden, Leigh L., Quarterman, John S., Whinston, Andrew
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/1844
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/2843/viewcontent/Reputation_as_Public_Policy_for_Internet_Security__A_Field_Study_1_.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.sis_research-28432013-09-17T09:20:20Z Reputation as Public Policy for Internet Security: A Field Study TANG, Qian Linden, Leigh L. Quarterman, John S. Whinston, Andrew Cybersecurity is a national priority in this big data era. Because of the lack of incentives and the existence of negative externality, companies often underinvest in addressing security risks and accidents, despite government and industry recommendations. In the present article, we propose a method that utilizes reputation through information disclosure to motivate companies to behave pro-socially, improving their Internet security. Using outbound spam as a proxy for Internet security, we conducted a quasiexperimental field study for eight countries through SpamRankings.net. This outgoingspam-based study shows that information disclosure on outgoing spam can help reduce outgoing spam, approximately by 16 percent. This finding suggests that information disclosure can be leveraged to encourage companies to reduce security threats. It also provides support for public policies that require mandatory reporting from organizations and offers implications for evaluating and executing such policies. 2012-12-01T08:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/1844 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/2843/viewcontent/Reputation_as_Public_Policy_for_Internet_Security__A_Field_Study_1_.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Security public policy filed study quasi-experiment reputation incentive Computer Sciences E-Commerce
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Security
public policy
filed study
quasi-experiment
reputation
incentive
Computer Sciences
E-Commerce
spellingShingle Security
public policy
filed study
quasi-experiment
reputation
incentive
Computer Sciences
E-Commerce
TANG, Qian
Linden, Leigh L.
Quarterman, John S.
Whinston, Andrew
Reputation as Public Policy for Internet Security: A Field Study
description Cybersecurity is a national priority in this big data era. Because of the lack of incentives and the existence of negative externality, companies often underinvest in addressing security risks and accidents, despite government and industry recommendations. In the present article, we propose a method that utilizes reputation through information disclosure to motivate companies to behave pro-socially, improving their Internet security. Using outbound spam as a proxy for Internet security, we conducted a quasiexperimental field study for eight countries through SpamRankings.net. This outgoingspam-based study shows that information disclosure on outgoing spam can help reduce outgoing spam, approximately by 16 percent. This finding suggests that information disclosure can be leveraged to encourage companies to reduce security threats. It also provides support for public policies that require mandatory reporting from organizations and offers implications for evaluating and executing such policies.
format text
author TANG, Qian
Linden, Leigh L.
Quarterman, John S.
Whinston, Andrew
author_facet TANG, Qian
Linden, Leigh L.
Quarterman, John S.
Whinston, Andrew
author_sort TANG, Qian
title Reputation as Public Policy for Internet Security: A Field Study
title_short Reputation as Public Policy for Internet Security: A Field Study
title_full Reputation as Public Policy for Internet Security: A Field Study
title_fullStr Reputation as Public Policy for Internet Security: A Field Study
title_full_unstemmed Reputation as Public Policy for Internet Security: A Field Study
title_sort reputation as public policy for internet security: a field study
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2012
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/1844
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sis_research/article/2843/viewcontent/Reputation_as_Public_Policy_for_Internet_Security__A_Field_Study_1_.pdf
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