County Pays $600,000 to Pentesters It Arrested for Assessing Courthouse Security
hubie writes:
Settlement comes more than 6 years after Gary DeMercurio and Justin Wynn's ordeal began:
Two security professionals who were arrested in 2019 after performing an authorized security assessment of a county courthouse in Iowa will receive $600,000 to settle a lawsuit they brought alleging wrongful arrest and defamation.
The case was brought by Gary DeMercurio and Justin Wynn, two penetration testers who at the time were employed by Colorado-based security firm Coalfire Labs. The men had written authorization from the Iowa Judicial Branch to conduct "red-team" exercises, meaning attempted security breaches that mimic techniques used by criminal hackers or burglars.
[...] Within minutes, deputies arrived and confronted the two intruders. DeMercurio and Wynn produced an authorization letter-known as a "get out of jail free card" in pen-testing circles. After a deputy called one or more of the state court officials listed in the letter and got confirmation it was legit, the deputies said they were satisfied the men were authorized to be in the building. DeMercurio and Wynn spent the next 10 or 20 minutes telling what their attorney in a court document called "war stories" to deputies who had asked about the type of work they do.
When Sheriff Leonard arrived, the tone suddenly changed. He said the Dallas County Courthouse was under his jurisdiction and he hadn't authorized any such intrusion. Leonard had the men arrested, and in the days and weeks to come, he made numerous remarks alleging the men violated the law. A couple months after the incident, he told me that surveillance video from that night showed "they were crouched down like turkeys peeking over the balcony" when deputies were responding. I published a much more detailed account of the event here. Eventually, all charges were dismissed.
Previously:
Iowa Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Men Hired to Test Their Security
Coalfire Pen-Testers Charged With Trespass Instead of Burglary
Iowa Officials Claim Confusion Over Scope Led to Arrest of Pen-Testers
Authorised Pen-Testers Nabbed, Jailed in Iowa Courthouse Break-in Attempt
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