The latest wrinkle in the ongoing saga of last month’s break-ins at the Dallas and Polk county courthouses came Thursday, as the State Court Administration adopted a new policy for security testing.
In the wake of two “Penetration Testers” from the cybersecurity company Coalfire being arrested for burglary while on contract with the state, the SCA adopted a policy that all information security contracts must undergo legal review. The court administrator must also personally approve any contracts involving sensitive security information and penetration testing, and the SCA must include input from building security and sheriffs in any infiltration tests. Additionally, entry into the courthouses is prohibited outside of business hours and contractors cannot physically break-in. Finally, all contracts must have precise terminology, describing what is permitted and prohibited for testing.
Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady issued an apology to the sheriffs and supervisors of Dallas and Polk counties, taking responsibility for diminishing public trust and admitting that mistakes were made. The issue began on September 11th, when alarms were tripped at the Dallas County Courthouse in Adel at around 12:30 a.m. Sheriff’s Deputies and Adel Police Officers found 29-year-old Justin Wynn of Naples, Florida and 43-year-old Gary DeMercurio of Bothell, Washington on the third floor of the building. The pair were arrested and charged with third-degree burglary, a class D felony, and possession of burglars tools, a serious misdemeanor.
Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard said the SCA initially asked that the men not be arrested. However, Leonard emphasized that it’s not in the State’s power to conduct such an operation and defended his decision to take Wynn and DeMercurio into custody. “It comes down to whether the State of Iowa can authorize somebody to enter into a county building. But I can tell you, the answer is ‘No.’ I mean, that courthouse belongs to the taxpayers of Dallas County. Nobody has the authority to allow somebody to break into it. The sheriff is tasked with court security and making sure that everything is secure for those folks that come and go every day of the week. So we did it by the book, and we’ll see how things end up. But I know we did the right thing, and my job is to protect the courthouse and we did that.”
To hear more from Leonard regarding the incident, click the link below to listen to the Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with him. Raccoon Valley Radio will bring you more information as it becomes official.
