Optus posts ironic job ad for ‘risk’ manager after cyberattack

The major telco took just three days to post a job ad as it looks to make a significant hire in “risk management”.

Optus has started the hiring process for a senior manager in IT and cyber risk just days after it was hit by a huge hacking scandal.

The telecommunications giant is searching for a full-time senior manager of business risk (IT/Cyber) with a “primary responsibility to provide advice and support in all matters related to risk management”.

The successful candidate will have to “ensure that all business-related risks are identified, assessed, reported, remediated, and monitored effectively”.

Australians are being told not to click on any suspicious links. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

There had been 74 applicants just 18 hours after the job was posted on LinkedIn.

Optus has offered “a range of perks” to the successful applicant, including “a competitive salary”, ”discounts on products and services” and ”blended ways of working”.

“At Optus, we don’t sit back and let the future happen to us – we’re out there making it,” the ad reads.

“By expanding into new technology and relentlessly improving every day, we’re creating a better tomorrow for all Australians.”

Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin apologised to customers over the hack.

Applicants are expected to have a university degree in IT as well as a minimum 10 years’ experience working in a risk management, control and compliance environment.

On top of that, the telco said extra professional qualifications or postgraduate degrees would be “advantageous”.

Nearly 10 million Australians have had their data accessed by the hackers. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

The news comes as the hackers claiming to be responsible released 10,000 customer records online in a move to pressure the company to give in to a $US1m ($A1.5m) random demand, before backflipping and deleting the data.

“Too many eyes. We will not sale (sic] data to anyone. We can’t if we even want to: personally deleted data from drive (only copy),” they wrote.

“Sorry too (sic) 10.2000 Australian whos (sic) data was leaked … Very sorry.

“Deepest apology to Optus for this. Hope all goes well from this.

“Ransom not payed (sic) but we don't care any more. Was mistake to scrape publish data in first place.”

Current and previous Optus customers have been warned of a heightened risk of scams and the federal government has urged Australians not to click on any suspicious links.

The government is working with the Australian Federal Police among other government agencies on the breach and is now consulting with the FBI.