I'm glad the charges were dismissed, but to be honest the original reporting shows the story was actually more nuanced than this article led me to believe. 2019 article: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/11/how-a...

I'll probably get downvoted for even questioning the narrative, but here are some of the nuances that stood out to me:

- When the police contacted someone listed on the authorization letter, that person denied that they had been authorized to conduct physical intrusions. Another contact didn't answer their phone. What are the police supposed to do if the people supposedly authorizing the intrusion are actively denying the authorization?

- The contract had vague language that say they couldn't "force-open doors". The two men told police they had used a tool to open a locked door. The language should have been more specific about what was and was not allowed. (EDIT: This is causing a lot of controversy. The legal definition of "forced entry" in my state does not require literal damage to the property, only a bypassing of barriers. I don't know about the circumstances in this state, but to be clear the term "force-open doors" doesn't necessarily mean using destructive force everywhere)

- The contract said "alarm subversion" was not allowed, but supposedly the police had evidence that they were trying to manipulate the alarm. They deny this.

- The men had been drinking alcohol before the break-in. By the time they were breathalyzed it was at 0.05, meaning the number was even higher when they started the break-in. Drinking alcohol before you do a professional job guaranteed to get the police responding is a terrible idea.

- After they tripped the alarm and the police showed up, they didn't immediately identify themselves and end the exercise. They hid from the police, claiming that they were "testing the authorities' response" which seems obviously out of scope for their agreement.

So I agree that the charges were excessive and the Sheriff was in the wrong on a lot of things, but after reading the details this wasn't really a clear cut case. The pentesters weren't really doing everything "by the book" if they thought that testing the police response by hiding was in scope of their contract and doing this job after a few alcoholic beverages is a bizarre choice.

County pays $600k to pentesters it arrested for assessing courthouse security