A British man has been granted Australia’s rarest visa – typically given to Nobel Prize laureates and Olympians – after hacking into the government system.
Jacob Riggs, from Bexley, London, is a self-described ‘ethical hacker’ who had set his sights on the 858 National Innovation Permanent Visa, which boasts an overall applicant success rate of less than 1%.
To get ahead, the 36-year-old infiltrated the visa system and in doing so he uncovered a critical flaw.
It only took him a few hours and the comfort of his own home to identify the flaw, for which he was praised by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
The find offered proof of Riggs’ technical skill and dedication to protecting Australia’s digital infrastructure.
He said: ‘If the 858 visa asks for anything, it’s evidence that your efforts to master yourself have meant something.
‘For me, that meant demonstrating the value of my work in a way the system could actually recognise: by helping protect the nation assessing my application.’
After hacking the system, Riggs, global director of information security for a large Software as a Service (SaaS) provider was granted full Australian residency.
He is now preparing to relocate to Sydney to work in cyber defence.
‘While I was aware of the significance for my visa application, I approached it as a routine security assessment and simply applied the same methodology I use professionally,’ the expert said.
He later added: ‘I can’t say how much this tiny additional evidence influenced the outcome of my 858 application (if at all), but I’d like to think it helped demonstrate, in a small and perhaps practical way, that I’m capable and committed to supporting Australia’s cybersecurity interests.
‘Whatever part it played, the journey led here.’
The case unfolded as Australia remains an attractive target for criminal and state-sponsored cyber actors.
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Government agencies face constant attacks, while private organisations are under growing pressure to protect sensitive data.
Ransomware, state-sponsored hacking, and large-scale breaches have made cybersecurity a central national priority.
According to the annual Cyber Threat Report, authorities have responded to more than 1,200 cyber security incidents this year, an 11% increase from 2023-24.
Deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said at the time: ‘The report sharply illustrates that the nation faces an increasingly challenging threat landscape where cyber-enabled espionage and crime are not a hypothetical risk, but a real and increasing danger to the essential services we all rely on.
‘The report makes clear that malicious actors have been working unseen to steal data and demand ransom payments from Australian victims, or to target our most critical networks for disruptive attacks.’
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