Answering the Call: Why Aid Allies in Cyber Conflict?

International alliances have incorporated cybersecurity within their collective security mandates, but would these commitments be honored if invoked? Key characteristics of cyber conflict, including the non-physicality of cyber harms and the ambiguity of alliance obligations, may encourage shirking. Nevertheless, studies of alliance responsiveness suggest that while perfidy may be profitable, underlying concerns over interests, morality, national reputation, and shared identity can compel an ally to fulfill its obligations. To test whether these motivations extend into cyberspace, we conducted a survey experiment of 1,424 United States nationals exploring their response to a severe cyberattack against an allied state. We probe not only the willingness of our participants to retaliate on behalf of an ally but also the motives informing these reactions. We find that when reminded of alliance commitments, participants favor aiding allies and that this reaction is driven by concern over interests, morality, and reputation – but not identity.