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This article [1] seems to imply the reason for the arrest is a disagreement between the county sheriff's department and the state as to who has the authority to

• danShumway 7y ago
  Importantly, in this story it's confirmed that the pen testers were carrying documentation and phone numbers of people in the State department who could (and did) confirm their stories. When this story first broke, there was speculation that, "this is why you carry a get out of jail free card." But if this story is true, the testers did everything right, and the deputy just decided to jail them anyway.
  • malka 7y ago
    Unsurprisingly, cops are assholes
    • mxuribe 7y ago
      It isn't only that - there are both good and a$$hole cops...But, it seems in the U.S. there isn't a consistent governance of law enforcement across all levels of government, nor across the whole geography of the nation...leading to some (many?) cops abusing their power.
  • metalliqaz 7y ago
    There is going to be a lawsuit and Iowa is going to settle.
  • kerng 7y ago
    It's not good enough to have an authorization- you need to have authorization from the proper stakeholder! That is the dispute here.
  • mike_d 7y ago
    I know physical testers who will carry a fake "get out of jail free card" that lists their own people as the point-of-contact so they can highlight the lack of verification as a weakness. If it does get verified they have a "backup" real one. It is possible they attempted this and the police were none too happy being lied to.
    • danShumway 7y ago
      It's not possible in this case, unless the news source above is misreporting the story. > "I advised them that this building belonged to the taxpayers of Dallas County and the State had no authority to authorize a break-in of this building," Leonard wrote in the email. > Leonard wrote that he then called the state employee to tell him his contractors had been arrested and that he didn't have the authority to authorize this. If Leonard had called their point-of-contact and it had been fake, it would be weird for him not to lead with that detail.
  • walshemj 7y ago
    The downside of having such balkanised (in that some many individual entities have their own police force) police service I suspect.
• jumelles 7y ago
  > One man told a deputy that they were conducting a vulnerability study and handed the deputy a piece of paper, which he described as his "get out of jail free card," containing the names and contact information for three state employees, [Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard] wrote. > A police sergeant called one of the state employees, who confirmed what the men said: that this was a legitimate contract and that the men should be let go, according to the email. > "I advised them that this building belonged to the taxpayers of Dallas County and the State had no authority to authorize a break-in of this building," Leonard wrote in the email. > Leonard wrote that he then called the state employee to tell him his contractors had been arrested and that he didn't have the authority to authorize this. > The state employee disagreed and asked Leonard not to tell other sheriffs, wrote Leonard, who said he responded by saying he was going to tell every sheriff. It's not just an implication, the police just decided to arrest them anyway.
• jtbayly 7y ago
  People keep saying it's the sheriff's fault for not listening, or being on a power trip or something and referencing this article. But this quote from the article is pretty important and implies that Coalfire exceeded what was allowed in the contract. "According to the agreement, all Coalfire tests were to be conducted between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. But tests could be carried out outside that range if requested through a change order. The break-ins in Adel and Des Moines were investigated around midnight on separate days. No change order was released that would have indicated the judicial branch wished the tests be carried out at night."
  • 0xDEFC0DE 7y ago
    The scoping doc link in this thread pretty clearly indicates the address where this happened. The fault seems to be with the person who authorized the physical portion in the contract not actually having the authority. And unfortunately that means Coalfire employees are caught in the crossfire.
  • rootusrootus 7y ago
    Except the sheriff didn't make the argument that it was outside the time window, he said the state did not have the right to authorize a break-in attempt on a county courthouse. My guess is the state will shortly remind the county about government hierarchy.
    • nradov 7y ago
      State government agencies can only override county governments when there is specific state law allowing them to do so. State bureaucrats can't legally just order a sheriff to do whatever they want.
      • rootusrootus 7y ago
        Perhaps not, though I am unfamiliar with Ohio's state constitution.
      • pjlegato 7y ago