Justin Wynn, 29 of Naples, Florida, and Gary De Mercurio, 43 of Seattle, slowly proceeded down the stairs with hands raised. They then presented the deputies with a letter that explained the intruders weren't criminals but rather penetration testers who had been hired by Iowa's State Court Administration to test the security of its court information system. After calling one or more of the state court officials listed in the letter, the deputies were satisfied the men were authorized to be in the building.
But Sheriff Chad Leonard had the men arrested on felony third-degree burglary charges (later reduced to misdemeanor trespassing charges). He told them that while the state government may have wanted to test security, "The State of Iowa has no authority to allow you to break into a county building. You're going to jail."
More than six years later, the Des Moines Register reports:
Dallas County is paying $600,000 to two men who sued after they were arrested in 2019 while testing courthouse security for Iowa's Judicial Branch, their lawyer says.
Gary DeMercurio and Justin Wynn were arrested Sept. 11, 2019, after breaking into the Dallas County Courthouse. They spent about 20 hours in jail and were charged with burglary and possession of burglary tools, though the charges were later dropped. The men were employees of Colorado-based cybersecurity firm Coalfire Labs, with whom state judicial officials had contracted to perform an analysis of the state court system's security. Judicial officials apologized and faced legislative scrutiny for how they had conducted the security test.
But even though the burglary charges against DeMercurio and Wynn were dropped, their attorney previously said having a felony arrest on their records made seeking employment difficult. Now the two men are to receive a total of $600,000 as a settlement for their lawsuit, which has been transferred between state and federal courts since they first filed it in July 2021 in Dallas County. The case had been scheduled to go to trial Monday, Jan. 26 until the parties notified the court Jan. 23 of the impending deal...
"The settlement confirms what we have said from the beginning: our work was authorized, professional, and done in the public interest," DeMercurio said in a statement. "What happened to us never should have happened. Being arrested for doing the job we were hired to do turned our lives upside down and damaged reputations we spent years building...."
"This incident didn't make anyone safer," Wynn said. "It sent a chilling message to security professionals nationwide that helping government identify real vulnerabilities can lead to arrest, prosecution, and public disgrace. That undermines public safety, not enhances it."
County Attorney Matt Schultz said dismissing the charges was the decision of his predecessor, according to the newspaper, and that he believed the sheriff did nothing wrong.
"I am putting the public on notice that if this situation arises again in the future, I will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
LISSABON (ANP/AFP) - De centrumlinkse kandidaat António José Seguro heeft een overtuigende overwinning geboekt op zijn uiterst rechtse rivaal André Ventura bij de Portugese presidentsverkiezingen van zondag. Dat komt naar voren in twee gezaghebbende exitpolls.
Volgens prognoses van twee nationale televisiestations kreeg de 63-jarige Seguro tussen de 67 en 73 procent van de stemmen, tegenover 27 tot 33 procent voor de 43-jarige Ventura.
De Portugezen trokken zondag naar de stembus voor de tweede ronde van de presidentsverkiezingen. Ongeveer 11 miljoen Portugezen konden stemmen.
Seguro had in de eerste ronde 31,3 procent van de stemmen gehaald. Hij kreeg zondag de steun van conservatieve kiezers om zo de uiterst rechtse kandidaat André Ventura van de overwinning te houden. Ventura kreeg in de eerste ronde 23,5 procent van de stemmen.
JERUZALEM (ANP/AFP/RTR) - Het Israëlische veiligheidskabinet heeft maatregelen goedgekeurd die de Israëlische controle over de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever versterken en de weg vrijmaken voor verdere uitbreiding van Joodse nederzettingen in het Palestijnse gebied. Dat melden minister van Financiën Bezalel Smotrich en minister van Defensie Israel Katz.
Israël bezet de Westoever sinds 1967. Het gebied is voorbestemd om het grootste deel te vormen van een toekomstige Palestijnse staat, maar wordt door veel voornamelijk rechtse Israëli's als Israëlisch grondgebied beschouwd.
De stap omvat onder meer de afschaffing van al decennia bestaande regelgeving die Joodse burgers verbood land te kopen op de Westoever. Volgens Smotrich is de maatregel erop gericht "onze wortels in alle regio's van het land Israël te verdiepen en het idee van een Palestijnse staat te begraven".
Het Palestijnse bestuur in Ramallah veroordeelt het besluit dat gericht is op "annexatie van de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever".
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Continue reading...Allies hope aide’s departure can quell anger over Mandelson scandal but others say it leaves PM dangerously exposed
Keir Starmer is fighting to reassert control over his party after accepting the resignation of his closest adviser, Morgan McSweeney, amid anger over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.
After days of pressure over the scandal, his departing chief of staff said on Sunday he took “full responsibility” for his advice to send Mandelson to Washington despite his ongoing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, which McSweeney conceded had undermined trust in Labour and in politics itself.
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