On Wednesday, burglars tripped an alarm at the Dallas County Courthouse in Iowa. Police found two men in the courthouse, who offered a completely reasonable excuse for their presence. They said they had been hired by the state court administration to test courthouse security, and they were just doing their job. A likely story., They were hauled off to jail. However, Justin Wynn and Gary Demercurio had told the truth.
“The company was asked to attempt unauthorized access to court records through various means to learn of any potential vulnerabilities,” the statement read. “SCA did not intend, or anticipate, those efforts to include the forced entry into a building. SCA apologizes to the Dallas County Board of Supervisors and law enforcement and will fully cooperate with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and Dallas County Attorney as they pursue this investigation.”
The state court administration had contracted cybersecurity firm Coalfire, for which Wynn and Demercurio worked. They apparently thought any tests would be in the realm of digital security, and never considered alerting the police. Oops. The two men were released under a $50,000 bond. Read more on the story at Gizmodo.
(Image credit: Jimmy Emerson, DVM)