CrowdStrike, the company responsible for the global IT outage that caused chaos for businesses around the world, has a vacancy for a public relations director in Australia.
The job posting, which was posted about three weeks ago, sought a PR Director for the North Sydney office.
An Australian immediately saw the ad and shared it on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday after the crisis broke out.
“CrowdStrike is looking for a new PR Director based in North Sydney. Anyone interested?” the post read.
CrowdStrike, the company responsible for the global IT outage that caused chaos for businesses around the world, has placed an advertisement for an Australian public relations director. Photo: X
Banks, media and airlines around the world were among those hit by the global outage. Photo: X
The advertisement stated that the company was looking for a public relations director with experience in strategic communications.
The advertisement stated that seven people had clicked the ‘apply’ button.
The advertisement has since been removed.
It is not known whether any of the seven candidates have proven successful, but one thing is certain: the company is facing a PR nightmare after what IT experts describe as the worst IT outage they have ever experienced.
“The positive thing is that their salary just went up,” said one.
“I specialize in issues and crisis management…reasonable rates, cheaper than the lawyers who are looking at certain options,” said another.
“I hear you’re looking for work, Dom Perrotet,” said someone else.
At around 3pm AEST on Friday, computer systems around the world crashed after a cybersecurity update from Microsoft failed.
Office workers and customers around the world were faced with the ‘blue screen of death’ effect.
Airlines, supermarkets, banks, media, gas stations and other major businesses and retailers all came to an abrupt halt, causing widespread chaos.
CrowdStrike provides data protection software and it is believed that one of its products, Falcon Senator, led to the global outage
Coles supermarket’s service machines were among IT departments that were not operational due to the global outage. Photo: X
Melbourne-based Australian millionaire Mike Sentonas is the global president of CrowdStrike, one of the world’s most recognized cybersecurity companies.
CrowdStrike provides data protection software and it is suspected that one of CrowdStrike’s products, Falcon Senator, was the cause of the global outage.
News Corp reported that Mr Sentonas gave a “now uncomfortable interview” that resembled a PR lecture on how other companies should deal with IT breaches and crisis communications.
CrowdStrike president Michael Sentonas is facing a PR disaster after a company cybersecurity update caused a global IT outage. Photo: Supplied
“If an organisation has been hacked, I often work with the team to coach them on how to deal with it,” he told Nine Newspapers.
“That may have to do with the way you deal with the press, or with avoiding the comment that you have ‘a sophisticated opponent.'”
‘I try to coach people to be open and transparent about what happened and how you deal with it. That is incredibly important for the client.
“You have to be honest with your customers, and if you’re going to downplay it, it’s not going to end well.”