According to a survey conducted by Censuswide, over half of the people (53%) from a survey among 1,000 nationally representative respondents would support the UK government or its allies breaking international cybersecurity law under certain circumstances. 45%, said they themselves would engage in online cyber-criminal activity if they were in specific circumstances as well. 

These numbers varied by gender, where over a quarter (26%) of females claim they would never support breaking international cybersecurity law, only 17% of men said the same thing. Moreover, 60% of women said they would possibly engage in cyber-criminal activity, whereas 74% of men said they would. 

Age also presented significant differences, just about one in ten UK individuals aged 16-24 said they were against the UK and allies breaking international cybersecurity law, which jumps to over a third in the 55+ range. In terms of committing the crime themselves, one in ten 16-24 said they would never, however over half (54%) of 55+ year olds said they would never. 

“It is concerning that such a high percentage support breaking international law or would engage in criminal activities themselves – particularly among younger people,” said Simon Newman, CEO of the Cyber Resilience Centre for London. 

Motivations to be supportive of the UK breaking international cybersecurity law ranged widely, with the most commonly cited reason (25%) being to prevent war crimes, followed by 24% being okay with breaking the law to stop a terrorist organisation. 

The other common reasons were stopping human rights abuses, organised crime, dictatorships, to uncover breaches in international law, preventing immigrants entering the country, and to uncover severe environmental impacts. 

“It is encouraging that respondents want to see the UK Government and its Allies take a firm stand against war crimes, terrorism and human rights abuses,” said Newman. 

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The reasons individuals might think it’s okay to break international cybersecurity law, or to engage in vigilantism, vary even more. The top reason, with only 12% of respondents agreeing, was to defend the UK if it were threatened by another country. 

After that, one in ten respondents said they would break the law if it punished or stopped a company with a negative impact on the environment, or to resolve a vulnerability in an organisation, right a personal wrong, protest human rights abuses, or disrupt war between countries. 

Other common reasons respondents agreeing with were 9% wanting to getting revenge on cyber-criminals, preventing animal cruelty, to pirate movies or TV shows, or stopping “problematic” internet personalities, 6% redistributing wealth, or 5% defending religious beliefs. 

“Vigilantism is never the answer to deal with these threats, however serious they are and any individual who takes the law into their own hands is likely to face significant consequences,” Newman concluded.