The hackers who have been trying to negotiate a $1 million payment from Optus have thrown it in, after spending more than three hours listening to an excruciating synth-inspired on-hold track on loop.
In a message posted on a chat forum, the alleged hacker wrote, “Can’t cope with this on-hold track anymore. Going fucking bananas. Will not sale data to anyone. Ransom not paid but we dont care anymore. Want life back”.
The hacker later describes being pinballed between various unrelated departments before being put on hold again. “Asked to speak to someone about ransom payment. Was transferred through to NBN technical support instead. Fucking nightmare”.
The hacker said they were later accidentally disconnected, before being placed in a new queue. “Eventually spoke to someone. Didnt have authority to pay ransom but did upsell me to unlimited data plan”.
Sources at Optus say the last-minute decision to remove the ‘To negotiate a ransom, press 4’ option on its call system was a masterstroke.
