Something happens and a response is demanded within days. Every measure proposed buys real security and spends something — and the spent side is what an HL answer has to account for.
What a security measure buys, what it spends, and why it rarely comes back.
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Why security powers do not return
- Removing one requires arguing that the threat has gone, which nobody wants to be wrong about in public.
- The power finds new uses. A tool introduced for terrorism is used for ordinary crime within a few years.
- The cost is spread and the benefit is concentrated, so nobody in particular campaigns to remove it.
- The next emergency starts from the current position, so each round adds rather than replaces.
What follows for the exam: Judge a measure by what it will be used for in ten years rather than by this emergency. That reframing is worth a band on its own.
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Real-world examples you can name
Apple v the FBI over the San Bernardino iPhone — February–March 2016
The FBI asked a court to compel Apple to write software that would disable the passcode limits on a locked iPhone. Apple refused, arguing that such a tool could not be confined to one device. The case ended when the FBI paid a third party to unlock the phone, leaving the legal question unresolved.
Who it affected: Every user of encrypted devices, and investigators who cannot read them.
The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack — May 2021
A ransomware group reached the company's network through a single reused password on an old VPN account. The company shut the pipeline down for several days as a precaution, causing fuel shortages along the US east coast, and paid a ransom of which US authorities later recovered part.
Who it affected: Drivers and airports across the eastern United States.
Government internet shutdowns — tracked annually by Access Now since 2016
States order operators to suspend mobile data or the whole internet, usually during protests, elections or exams. India has recorded the most shutdowns of any country for several consecutive years.
Who it affected: Everyone in the affected region — including businesses, hospitals and students.
| Measure | Buys | Spends |
|---|---|---|
| A way past encryption | Access to specific suspects | A way in that others can also find |
| Message scanning | Some harm found earlier | Privacy for everybody, permanently |
| Shutting down a network | Coordination made harder | Emergency calls, business, and the record |
How this is tested — the HL security question is always about the trade, and the marks are in accounting for the spent side. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 Section B — extended response
- Extended response on security and rights
- Concepts — power, values — named explicitly
Paper 3 — the intervention paper
- Recommend a security measure for a described threat
- Justify it, including its cost and an ending
The trap: the permanent emergency measure: A measure with no review date will still exist in ten years, doing something nobody proposed. Attach an ending.
Explain one reason why a security measure introduced temporarily tends to become permanent.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Recommend one measure a government could take against attacks on critical infrastructure, and justify it.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.