The Job That Changed Everything — and Led Us to Build Kaiju Security

Dallas County has agreed to pay us in a settlement and resolve the lawsuit we filed after we were wrongfully arrested during an authorized security assessment at the Dallas County Courthouse in Iowa in 2019. The settlement closes a chapter that reshaped our lives and our work.

We were contracted for a job to conduct a red team assessment of digital and physical assets of five government buildings, including courthouses. Our former employer signed agreements that outlined the scope and contract with the Iowa Judicial Branch. We were hired to test defenses from an adversarial perspective, to expose real vulnerabilities before criminals could exploit them. The engagement specifically authorized after-hours physical testing at the facilities.

During our week onsite for the engagement, we made entry into every facility without issue. At the Judicial Branch, a State Trooper found us working on a door with an under-the-door tool. We offered ID’s and contracts but he just requested a business card, laughed and said good luck as he badged through the door and closed it behind him. We eventually made our way in, left our business card on our point of contacts desk, and received a congratulations email the next morning.

At the Dallas County Courthouse our testing tripped the alarm, responding officers reviewed our credentials, confirmed our contract, and told us we were free to go. When the sheriff arrived, politics and a territorial disagreement changed everything. He ordered our arrest, evidently upset the State was performing work to better secure facilities without notifying him. In the morning when we were arraigned, it was clear he withheld information from the magistrate (like the fact that we were hired by the state, that he had verified on previous calls). The county prosecutor, who was working closely with the Sheriff, told the Magistrate we were a flight risk and successfully encouraged raising our bonds from $5,000 to $50,000 each. They dragged things out until the last minute before our trial, and only dropped charges after the Sheriff had words with our CEO (we’re not sure what that had to do with dropping the criminal charges against us personally, but then again, nothing about the arrest made sense).

That night changed our careers and our reputations.

Headlines labeled us criminals for doing the work the state hired us to do. The Sheriff and the State changed their stories multiple times, putting out plenty of statements to try to justify our arrest, despite us being completely in-scope and doing exactly what we were asked to do. Like we’d done on hundreds of engagements previously. Trust matters in security. Once damaged, it rarely returns on its own.

We didn’t pursue this case for money. We pursued it to restore the truth. The resolution allows us to move forward, but the lesson remains. Public safety suffers when politics replaces process.

Kaiju Security was built to do this work the right way.

We focus on adversarial simulation and real-world testing because criminals already think that way. Defenders and your organization must learn to do the same. Kaiju’s Red Team and Penetration Testing stresses realistic scenarios, clear authorization, and actionable results. Our Physical Security Assessments test access controls and procedures that technology alone cannot fix. Social Engineering services expose human risk with care and accountability. Ransomware Readiness work prepares organizations for threats that move fast and punish hesitation.

At Kaiju Security we believe in partnership. Effective testing requires coordination with stakeholders and law enforcement, documented scope, and professional conduct on every side. When those elements align, organizations fix problems before harm occurs.

We appreciate the support from clients, peers, and advocates who understood what was at stake. We remain committed to helping organizations uncover risk, close gaps, and protect people. Security improves when testing reflects reality and when institutions welcome the findings.

We’re ready to help. Contact us if you want to understand how adversarial testing strengthens defenses, explore our Red Team Services, review our Physical Security work, or learn how Kaiju prepares teams for modern threats. We will keep doing the work that makes systems safer, with clarity, discipline, and respect for the truth.

See our complete statement here. (link)

Statement by our attorney at Martin Diaz Law (link)