SBES: Medium: Investigating the Role of Distrust in Unauthorized Online Activities Using an Integrated Sociotechnical Approach

由社会、政治、经济和文化（SPEC）冲突引发的未经授权的网络行为正在增加。然而，处理网络攻击的研究往往是被动的，专注于防御，而不是主动的，专注于此类攻击的根本心理和社会原因。尽管有大量证据表明信任和不信任会影响遵守规则的行为和对法律的服从，但很少有研究调查不信任在促进未经授权的在线行为方面的作用。至关重要的是，其他领域的信任/不信任研究表明，通过针对不信任形式的干预，可能会减少网络攻击。因此，在这一特定领域推进关于不信任的知识对社会科学和网络安全都很重要。本项目将回答有关不同类型的不信任是否对参与或支持网络攻击的意愿有不同影响的问题，并将调查旨在减少未经授权的在线行为的社会技术干预的有效性。核心假设是，不信任与未经授权的在线行为（或支持此类行为）之间的关系取决于不信任的具体基础，并需要不同的补救措施。该项目将通过开发小插曲来实现其目标，这些小插曲系统地改变可能促进信任或不信任的条件，以及对未经授权的在线行为的动机。通过在线实验和模拟（角色扮演）活动，在其他组的学生中测试小插曲中操纵的变量的影响。该项目还将开发和测试一个在线审议空间，既可以利用研究成果，又可以为理论测试提供环境。具体来说，在线原型将能够在测量和跟踪参与者在线行为的同时操纵协商空间的关键信任/不信任相关特征，提供数据，然后可以进行数据挖掘程序，以找到与信任和不信任相关的重要行为模式。当前研究的智力价值在于，它将不信任作为一种组织结构来理解个人在网络空间中的行为和对安全的态度，并创新地将科学传播作为具体的应用领域来研究网络安全。通过研究不信任的前因后果，并整合各种研究方法，本研究将(a)全面推进信任和不信任的理论模型，(b)通过提供有助于在文化分裂问题的背景下设计被认为是合法和值得服从的制度和干预措施的见解，具体加强对网络攻击的预防。拟议活动的更广泛影响是，研究结果将有助于创建公众参与的在线空间，鼓励最佳行为，减少破坏性和道德上有问题的行为（例如，网络攻击，黑客行动主义）。为我们的研究开发的平台将广泛适用于研究其他领域的问题，并可用于进一步的研究，以及应用于教育和政策背景。通过这个项目，数百名本科生和研究生将接触到他们学科之外的话题，包括网络安全、气候变化和公共审议参与。最后，通过教育学生在线讨论、辩论性话语的利弊、公众参与和政策制定，我们正在培养未来的科学家成为领导者和世界公民。

Unauthorized online behavior motivated by social, political, economic and cultural (SPEC) conflicts is increasing. However, research dealing with cyber-attacks has tended to be reactive and to focus on defense, instead of proactive and focused on the root psychological and social causes of such attacks. Despite considerable evidence that trust and distrust impact rule-following behaviors and obedience to the law, little research investigates the role of distrust in promoting unauthorized online behaviors. Critically, trust/distrust research in other areas suggests the cyber-attacks might be reduced through interventions aimed at forms of distrust. Thus, advancing knowledge about distrust in general and in this specific domain is important both for social science and cybersecurity. The present project will answer questions about whether different types of distrust have different effects on willingness to engage in or provide support for cyber-attacks, and will investigate the effectiveness of sociotechnical interventions designed to reduce unauthorized online behaviors. The central hypothesis is that relationships between distrust and unauthorized online behaviors (or support of such behaviors) depend on the specific bases of distrust, and require different remedies. The project will achieve its aims by the development of vignettes that systematically vary conditions likely to foster trust or distrust and motivation for unauthorized online behaviors. The effects of the variables manipulated in the vignettes will be tested in other groups of students using online experiments and simulation (role-playing) activities. The project will also develop and test an online deliberative space that can both take advantage of the research findings and provide an environment for theory-testing. Specifically, the online prototype will be able to manipulate key trust/distrust-relevant features of the deliberative space while measuring and tracking participant online behaviors, providing data that can then be subject to data mining procedures in order to find important patterns of behavior related to trust and distrust.The intellectual merit of the current research is that it uses distrust as an organizing construct to understand individual behaviors and attitudes toward security in cyberspace and innovatively uses science communication as the specific application domain to investigate cybersecurity. By examining the antecedents and consequences of distrust, and by integrating a variety of research approaches, this research will both (a) advance theoretical models of trust and distrust generally, and (b) enhance the prevention of cyber-attacks specifically by providing insights that contribute to the design of institutions and interventions perceived as legitimate and obedience-worthy even in the context of culturally divisive issues. The broader impacts of the proposed activities are that the research findings will contribute to the creation of online spaces for public engagement that encourage optimal behavior and reduce destructive and ethically questionable behaviors (e.g., cyber-attacks, hacktivism). The platform developed for our research will be widely applicable to studying problems in other domains, and can be used to further research, as well as in applied educational and policy contexts. Through this project, hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students will be exposed to topics beyond their discipline including cybersecurity, climate change and public deliberative engagement. Finally, by educating students about online deliberation, pros and cons of argumentative discourse, public engagement and policy making, we are training future scientists to be leaders and world citizens.