Under Pressure: Exploring the effect of legal and criminal threats on security researchers and journalists

A DataBreaches[.]net survey of security researchers and journalists in the cybersecurity space found that three-quarters of respondents reported receiving one or more threats linked to their work, with one-quarter saying they never faced threats. Overall, about half of participants reported receiving at least one legal threat, and journalists were more likely than researchers to face criminal threats.

Despite the threats, the majority did not retract or alter their research or reporting, though fear of threats did influence some work and 44% said it affected their research or reporting. The pilot involved 112 people: 90 identified as researchers and 22 as journalists, with 56% describing themselves as employed researchers. Of the legal-threat responses, 69% consulted a lawyer, and 63% did not retract or change their work after a threat.

Among criminal threats, 39 respondents reported being threatened by criminals, and 64% of those had received 1–2 such threats. The article notes that, according to Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, nearly 50% of journalists in its alumni network faced legal threats, according to data cited in the report.