This can only happen in America. A security researcher who found and reported flaws was surprisingly arrested instead of rewarded by authorities in Florida.
David Levin, 31, a security from Estero, Florida, was arrested by Florida police last week. The warrant was issued by Florida police after they found Levin guilty of three counts related to hacking.
Despite trying to make police understand that he found the flaws in protecting the election website from hackers, Levin had to spend six hours in jail last Wednesday before being released on $15,000 bail.
Police said Levin was arrested for illegally accessing state websites on three occasions. The first occurred on Dec. 19, 2015, when Levin illegally accessed the Lee County Elections website. The incident was followed by two more, on Jan. 4 and Jan. 31, 2016, when Levin also hacked the Department of the State Elections website
Authorities said they blamed Levin because he never asked for permission before beginning his efforts. Perhaps they were unaware that security researchers often try to find loopholes in websites, including critical government websites, to protect them from cybercriminals.
Levin, who in addition to being a researcher is also the owner of his own company called Vanguard Cybersecurity, has also filmed a video with Dan Sinclair, detailing how he hacked the vulnerable websites using a simple SQL error.
