Aussie feds consider job offer to 'LulzSec leader' who wasn't

Shackled hacker and supposed "leader of Lulzsec" Matthew Flannery is welcome to apply for a job with the Australian Federal Police (AFP_, the force says.

Flannery was arrested last April as one of two crackers behind the defacement of the then-unpatched Narrabri shire council.

He's since been sentenced to, and is serving, 15 months home detention.

The hack was one of the scores of Australian Government website defacements this year which included, according to established skiddie leaderboard Zone-H, the Navy, the Hazelwood Inquiry, and IP Australia along with a laundry list of smaller government and local council websites.

730, The flagship current affairs program of Australia's national broadcaster, the ABC, today investigated the Flanner case in part because it looks a little odd that an apparently notorious hacker turns out not to be a menace to society.

The AFP's Cybercrime manager Glen McEwen told 730 he was "happy to discuss" Flannery's future at the agency.

"They [hackers like Flanery] have a particular skill set that could actually benefit society as opposed to acting against society," McEwen told the program.

"Would there be a job for Matthew Flannery at the AFP? Always happy to discuss the future of others and hoping to have some influence in their future."

Australia Govt site defacements

He said he "cannot confirm" whether Flannery was the leader of the LulzSec hacker outfit which was scuttled when its actual leader Hector Xavier Monsiugur was arrested along with the remaining members.

"I cannot categorically say that the individual was part of LulzSec but I definitely can't discount that," McEwen said.

During his trial earlier this year Flannery told this reporter he made it clear to police prior to the press conference that declared him the leader of Lulzsec that the title was made as a joke sent to a victim whose photo formed the defacement.

He also said his accomplice on the Narrabri hack was a juvenile at the time of the incident and was therefore not charged by police despite his alleged primary role in the hack.

The "leader of Lulzsec" claim made international headlines and bemused security circles. ®