Two security professionals who were arrested in 2019 after performing an authorized security assessment of a county courthouse in Iowa will receive $600,000 to settle a lawsuit they brought alleging wrongful arrest and defamation. Reputational hits from these sorts of events can be fatal to a security professional’s career. And of course, the prospect of being jailed for performing authorized security assessment is enough to get the attention of any penetration tester, not to mention the customers that hire them. “It sent a chilling message to security professionals nationwide that helping [a] government identify real vulnerabilities can lead to arrest, prosecution, and public disgrace. That undermines public safety, not enhances it.”DeMercurio and Wynn’s engagement at the Dallas County Courthouse on September 11, 2019, had been routine.