AI Summary
5 min readThe Courthouse - Revisited
In 2019, two penetration testers named Justin Wynne and Gary (now Gabby) DeMercieo were hired by the Iowa Judicial Branch to test the security of several courthouses across the state. They had a 28-page contract, a "get out of jail free card" with the names and phone numbers of three state officials who had signed off on the work, and years of experience doing exactly this kind of physical security assessment. They broke into the Dallas County Courthouse in Adel, Iowa, at midnight, tripped the alarm, waited for police to arrive, showed their paperwork, and expected to be sent on their way. Instead, the sheriff ordered them arrested for burglary—a felony carrying up to seven years in prison. What followed was a six-year legal battle that would test whether the profession of physical penetration testing could survive contact with the criminal justice system.
The Night Everything Went Wrong
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What you'll learn
- 1 (07:45) **Setup: The Iowa Courthouse Penetration Test** - Jack reintroduces the 2020 episode about two Coalfire penetration testers, Justin and Gary, who were hired by the Iowa Judicial Branch to test security at five courthouses.
- 2 (13:00) **First Night: Polk County Courthouse Success** - Justin and Gary successfully break into the first courthouse, navigate around a security guard, and trigger an alarm but escape undetected.
- 3 (27:00) **Second Night: The Dallas County Courthouse** - The pair arrive at the historic courthouse in Adel, Iowa, where they discover the front door is unlocked and the alarm fails to sound.
- 4 (34:00) **Confrontation with Police** - Justin and Gary are confronted by the deputy, show their "get out of jail free card," and the deputy verifies their story with the state contacts, who confirm they are authorized.
- 5 (40:00) **Arrest and Booking** - The sheriff orders the deputies to arrest Justin and Gary for burglary, despite their protests and paperwork.
- 6 (49:00) **The Courtroom Nightmare** - The next morning, they appear before a judge in the very courthouse they broke into, expecting their state contacts to resolve the issue.
- 7 (57:00) **Public Fallout and Investigation** - News of the arrest spreads, and the Iowa Judicial Branch initially denies authorizing a physical break-in, but Coalfire produces the contract proving otherwise.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
In this episode we follow up with Gabby and Justin from Episode 59 - two seasoned penetration testers who tell us a story about the time when they tried to break into a courthouse but it went all wrong, and what happened in the aftermath.
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Sources
Full list of sources on the show page: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/179/
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