Seven years after they were arrested for doing their jobs as penetration testers, two white hat hackers have earned a $600,000 settlement in Dallas County, Iowa. As part of a contracted security assessment, Gary De Mercurio and Justin Wynn, who were then Coalfire employees and are currently CEO and president of Kaiju Security, respectively, tested the alarm system at a Dallas County, Iowa, courthouse just after midnight on September 11, 2019. They were arrested for burglary despite receiving legal clearance from the state and the police who first arrived on the scene.

They then faced drawn-out legal proceedings. They didn't receive a $600,000 settlement payment until last week, six and a half years after the absurd evening.

Simulations are most realistic, on the one hand, when as few people as possible are aware of what is happening in advance, allowing them to respond organically. However, someone who is unaware of the situation may react in unexpected ways to what they perceive to be an attack. This is particularly dangerous when engaging in physical activities in the middle of the night without hiring company representatives present.

Related: Europe Fears Over-Reliance on US Technology: From a Whisper to a Scream As one police officer on the scene in 2019 put it: "It seems kind of dangerous that they didn't let us know, because in about another 10 seconds, you were going to have about five cops with guns blazing." Wynn contends that the risk is essential despite everything he has been through. "The facility is simply the safest place it has ever been because the security forces know we're responding in those engagements where everyone is notified," he says.