Personal information of McDonald's job applicants exposed online due to a security vulnerability in an AI chatbot
The chatbot, 'Olivia', handles job applications for McDonald's franchisees globally, including in Australia, screening candidates and asking for information including their resumes and contact information, then conducting a personality test.
McDonald's Australia hires more than 11,000 workers every year and is one of the nation's largest employers, with more than 100,000 employees across its restaurants and management offices. Credit: Eamon Gallagher
Olivia, built by US-based software firm Paradox, suffered from poor security, however, with researchers last week able to access the chatbot's 64 million chat records using the username and password, '123456'.
The security researchers, Ian Carroll and Sam Curry, verified that the chat records were legitimate and included applicants' names, email addresses and phone numbers.
Their research was first reported by US tech news publication Wired . When The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald applied for a job at McDonald's, Olivia sought a 60-second video, asking why we wanted to work at McDonald's, as well as our email address and phone information.
Olivia also asks candidates whether several personal traits are 'me' or 'not me', including 'open to feedback', 'traditional', 'calm in the storm', and 'do it yourself'.
A screenshot of the McDonald's Australia chatbot Olivia. Credit: Nine
'I just thought it was pretty uniquely dystopian compared to a normal hiring process, right? And that's what made me want to look into it more,' security researcher Ian Carroll told Wired . 'So I started applying for a job, and then after 30 minutes, we had full access to virtually every application that's ever been made to McDonald's going back years.'
McDonald's Australia hires more than 11,000 workers every year and is one of the nation's largest employers, with more than 100,000 employees across its restaurants and management offices. According to McDonald's, more than 5 per cent of the Australian population has at some point worked for the golden arches.
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