
Use pay phone to contact Australian Secret Intelligence Service recruitment - friism
https://www.asis.gov.au/About-Us/Contact-us.html
======
vacri
It's clearly a technical screening challenge - first the applicant must _find_
a public payphone in Australia... and it must also be in working order.

~~~
Untit1ed
Candidates must be able to withstand the smell of urine for a number of
minutes...

~~~
t_fatus
And avoid the cops who will definitely see them as weirdo crack-adicts calling
their dealer from a phone booth

~~~
joezydeco
"But officer, I'm a _spy_!"

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eck
An alternative theory to "don't want other 4/5 eyes knowing" is they want to
filter out people who don't take OpSec rules seriously.

~~~
jarofgreen
> they want to filter out people who don't take OpSec rules seriously

I personally think it's a little bit this.

I know someone who applied to be an intelligence analyst agent in the UK.
First stage was a multiple choice exam in a London hotel, where they had to
turn up and say they were there for "KRNP Recruiting" or something. Now the
hotel staff must have known something was going on, and it wouldn't be to hard
to find this out ... but I reckon it filtered out both ppl who didn't take it
seriously and also people who enjoyed that kind of subterfuge a little to much
:-)

(honestly can't remember exact letters now)

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th3iedkid
>>Unfortunately, for security reasons, if you make a mistake with your login
details 3 times in a row, your account will be permanently deleted and you
will need to create a new account via a new job application.

That's a first for me!

~~~
20kleagues
I hope most people are shrewd enough to keep uncommon login details, or this
could be used to delete a lot of accounts.

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yitchelle
In their page outlining their selection process, there is a statement of

"If you wish to include data in your application which is classified higher
than 'IN-CONFIDENCE', please indicate in the 'Additional Comments' section of
the application form that you have further classified information which you
feel is relevant to the success of your application. Should ASIS determine it
necessary to discuss this classified information with you, this will be done
via secure means at a later stage."

This is what public payphone is for, in both directions.

It all feels very James Bond..

------
aussieguy123
Their recruiting for foreign agents. Which means what the agent could be doing
might be illegal in their home county. That's why they don't want applicants
to use their home or mobile phone.

~~~
aussieguy123
It would be quite simple for a foreign govt to order their local teclo to hand
over a list of all phone numbers that have called the secret agent recruitment
hotline

------
anacrolix
"Just pick up the phone, we know it's you and why you're calling."

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alfiedotwtf
The problem is that you're also probably viewing that page using your home or
mobile internet connection.

~~~
presidentender
HN just provided a bunch of noise to cloud those page views. It's not much,
but it's something.

~~~
click170
What a genius ploy by friism hehe.

Phase 1 - Post ASIS Foriegn Intel page to HN, creating noise

Phase 2 - Apply for ASIS Foreign Intel

Phase 3 - Profit

Too bad it only work about once a year.

~~~
hackuser
Phase 2 - Enable ASIS to infect thousands of Silicon Valley company computers
with zero-day exploit.

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fffrad
I don't understand why they ask to use a payphone on a government website.

What is the benefit of using a payphone in this case?

~~~
ubernostrum
The benefit is they immediately hang up, then call you back on your mobile.
The first interview question is "how did we do that?"

~~~
homunculus
I'd be really impressed if, while not carrying a mobile, they call the guy
next to me, on his, and ask to speak with me.

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smegel
LOL, ASIO/ASD must be snooping to see which grads are being pinched by ASIS. I
didn't know the job market was that hot!

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jfoster
Would payphones be more secure than private phones? Payphones are few & far
between in Sydney, so third parties who want to listen don't need to bug too
many of them.

~~~
stordoff
Using a personal phone to contact the security services provides a direct link
between that person and the security services to anyone who can access phone
records. Using a payphone (probably) at the very least increasing the cost of
establishing such a link (to identify the individual, you need listen to the
call, which is more work and may be obscured by any OPSEC requirements that
can be established over the phone, or have access to some other records [phone
location records if the person is carrying a mobile phone at the same time, or
CCTV footage from the area]).

~~~
tomjen3
Actually you just need to stay nearby - the phones are used to rarely that
anybody who uses one is probably a spy.

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klausjensen
Also note their physical address:

"If you wish to contact ASIS on another matter, please write to: __Locked Bag
41 __, Kingston ACT 2604. Canberra, Australia "

~~~
fphhotchips
Actually that's pretty benign. Locked bags over here are widely used by
businesses and Government departments.

~~~
alexsb92
Is that like a PO Box in the States?

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Aoyagi
Someone should call them using a pay phone to tell them how to form a plural
of "FAQ".

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ytdht
luckily, there is almost no more pay-phones in USA....

~~~
anacrolix
There's like one per suburb/town in Australia. In rural areas, often there's
just a payphone in the middle of nowhere. The only artificial light in miles.

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igib
Duh....of course you use a payphone to call ISIS......oh my apologies it says
ASIS, sorry i do have a mild dyslexia

