HM Treasury is being mocked on social media over their latest recruitment drive

The Treasury is looking for a new head of cyber security – but they are only willing to pay them one-third of the prime minister’s salary.

The chosen candidate will defend the Government’s entire economic and finance ministry from cyber threats for £57,000 a year.

It might sound like a lot, but this is no run-of-the-mill job, and has an average base pay between £128,696-£140,074, according to Glassdoor.

One head of cyber security job at trading company Hunter Bond is even offering up to £450,000.

The Treasury’s ad reads: ‘The role will supervise specialist security processes and the provision of device security throughout the organisation.

‘It will be the responsibility for the role holder to assess and facilitate compliance with security procedures in order to safeguard organisational information and technology assets.’

People on social media have been quick to ridicule, with @baroudeurSteve saying ‘he wouldn’t get out of bed’ for the job.

Bryan Kavanagh wrote: ‘They’ve missed a 1 at the beginning.’

The successful candidate can expect to be paid up to £57,000 only

The measly government salary follows Rishi Sunak’s campaign to convince ballerinas to become cyber professionals

Cyber security roles have become increasingly important as governments across the Western world fall victim to cyber attacks from Russia and North Korea.

In 2017, the NHS IT system was hacked by WannaCry ‘ransomware’ virus, with the US blaming North Korea for the global attack.

The measly government salary follows Rishi Sunak’s campaign to convince ballerinas to become cyber professionals.