A specialist Ventia team was quickly assembled to respond to a reported data security breach which seriously impacted the operations of our recruitment provider, PageUp.
Congratulations to our Ventia Corporate Project Team: Andy Lin, Catherine Bartlett, David D’Silva, Ellie Hogben, Fiona Martin, Hannah Nyande, Hayden Mills, Jon Rolfe, Jonty Bekkers, Kotomi Davies, Lissa Brown, Merry Puayap, Nicole Boland, Peter Meacham, Samantha Newbold, Sarah McCarthy, Shield Miranda, Sonia Buidan, Stephanie Oliver and Zerina Tokic
With a potential impact on 65,000 individuals who had applied for roles with Ventia, it was important to ensure that Ventia’s data was secure and security had not been compromised. The Ventia team also needed to communicate with affected stakeholders and put in place manual processes to manage ongoing recruitment and to ensure candidate experience wouldn’t be impacted.
All connections between Ventia’s system and PageUp’s cloud-based system were immediately suspended and all available points of upload were stopped.
With more than 500 open roles across Australia and New Zealand, the Ventia team prioritised the development and implementation of manual recruitment processes and an offline system that safeguarded user information security. This ensured continuity of hiring during a busy recruitment period.
Mindful of the sensitivity of the situation and the need for a high level of transparency, the Ventia team quickly identified all potentially impacted parties and determined the different effects the PageUp breach may have had on these users. The outcome was a detailed communication by Ventia to 65,000 individuals informing them about what had happened, what the potential impact could be and what they could do to actively manage their security.
Importantly, Ventia met all legislative requirements across affected jurisdictions. We also ensured PageUp was treated with respect and fairness during the crisis.
The Ventia team was led by Group ICT Security and Risk Manager Jon Rolfe, Talent Acquisition Team Leader Kotomi Davies, Group Compliance Officer Peter Meacham, Group Corporate Communications Manager Sarah McCarthy and Business Systems Manager – Group ICT David D’Silva, and also included our Talent Acquisition team.
This award reflects the efforts and capabilities of the entire team who worked together to manage a successful outcome to this potentially damaging situation.
“From the level of collaboration between our specialists; to the open thinking and problem solving required due to the ongoing uncertainty about the status and impact of the breach, this team set a benchmark in managing a large cybersecurity issue for Ventia in a way that protected and enhanced our reputation,” said EGM People & Capability Rebelle Moriarty.
Pictured: Mark Norton (middle) with team members (left to right): Nicole Boland, Shield Miranda, Zerina Tokic and Andy Lin
Pictured (left to right): Catherine Bartlett, Hayden Mills, Merry Puayap
Pictured: Jonty Bekkers stands to receive his Award at a team event.
Pictured (left to right): David D’Silva, Jon Rolfe, Ellie Hogben, Peter Meacham, Kotomi Davies, Fiona Martin and Sarah McCarthy
