Chapter 5. An empirical approach to assess the value assigned by individuals to cybersecurity and data protection

Anchoring the literature review carried in the prior chapters of the Quaderno IRCrES Cybersecurity and data protection in the electricity sector: state-of-the-art of the literature and evaluation methods to a practical application is a necessary exercise to grasp entirely the challenges previous studies encountered in estimating the value attributed by individuals to cybersecurity within the electric power sector. This chapter presents our experimental activity, which consists of a representative survey based on a discrete choice experiment designed to evaluate the monetary value the Italian population attributes to electricity blackouts and data theft incidents. Specifically, we examine individuals' willingness to accept compensation in exchange for experiencing an electricity outage or a data breach, with scenarios varying by duration of the blackout and severity of the data theft. Some questions addressing cybersecurity risks in the electricity sector were included intentionally to raise awareness of the public on the topic. The chapter details the development of the survey instrument, beginning with a synthesis on the methodological choices made to ensure its validity, followed by a description of the data collection process.