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Authorised Pen-Testers Nabbed, Jailed in Iowa Courthouse Break-in Attempt

posted by janrinok on Tuesday September 17 2019, @08:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the check-the-scope dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow3997

Two security contractors were arrested in Adel, Iowa on September 11 as they attempted to gain access to the Dallas County Courthouse. The two are employees of Coalfire—a "cybersecurity advisor" firm based in Westminster, Colorado that frequently does security assessments for federal agencies, state and local governments, and corporate clients. They claimed to be conducting a penetration test to determine how vulnerable county court records were and to measure law enforcement's response to a break-in.

Unfortunately, the Iowa state court officials who ordered the test never told county officials about it—and evidently no one anticipated that a physical break-in would be part of the test. For now, the penetration testers remain in jail. In a statement issued yesterday, state officials apologized to Dallas County, citing confusion over just what Coalfire was going to test:

"The scope is everything," Roseblatt explained.  If the scope is only vaguely defined, "you could find yourself exposed to legal liability."

Coalfire's Justin Wynn and Gary Demercurio, who are still in jail [Update: They appear to have made bail on Thursday], have been charged with third-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools. Their bond has been set at $50,000, and they are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on September 23—in the same courthouse they were caught breaking into.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/09/check-the-scope-pen-testers-nabbed-jailed-in-iowa-courthouse-break-in-attempt/

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Wednesday September 18 2019, @12:35AM (3 children)

    by mhajicek (51) on Wednesday September 18 2019, @12:35AM (#895438)

    So what they're really banning is intent to burglarize.

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  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday September 18 2019, @12:49AM

    by sjames (2882) on Wednesday September 18 2019, @12:49AM (#895446) Journal

    Exactly..

  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 18 2019, @05:42PM (1 child)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday September 18 2019, @05:42PM (#895749) Journal

    Means (tools), motive (intent) and opportunity. [ipfs.io]

    In U.S. criminal law, means, motive, and opportunity is a common summation of the three aspects of a crime that must be established before guilt can be determined in a criminal proceeding. Respectively, they refer to: the ability of the defendant to commit the crime (means), the reason the defendant committed the crime (motive), and whether the defendant had the chance to commit the crime (opportunity).

    • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday September 18 2019, @09:24PM

      by mhajicek (51) on Wednesday September 18 2019, @09:24PM (#895848)

      And yet having the means, motive, and opportunity does not ensure that one will commit the crime.

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      The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek