Origin Energy confirms unauthorised access to customers’ data

One of Australia’s largest energy companies, origin energy, has confirmed customers' private information has been accessed by hackers.

Transcript

00:01Well, I can tell you this is extremely significant and extremely concerning for thousands of

00:06Origin Energy customers right across Australia.

00:09Origin has confirmed it is dealing with what it's described as a data security incident

00:15and crucially, financial information may have been accessed in this.

00:19So earlier in the week, Origin had said that it was investigating reports of something

00:24of this nature, but wanted to reassure customers that their bank details and credit card information

00:29was safe.

00:30But we now know that may no longer be the case.

00:33Origin has confirmed that the data accessed in this breach may include names, addresses,

00:39phone numbers, account information and indeed the final digits of bank and credit card numbers.

00:48Now, this is believed to be one of the largest data breaches ever experienced by an Australian

00:54energy retailer.

00:56And while we don't know yet just how widespread this is, we do know that there are nearly

01:01five million Origin Energy customers Australia wide.

01:04So a huge number of concerned parties here.

01:07So, Rosie, has the company made a formal statement?

01:11Yeah, it has.

01:12Origin has told us that it has apologised to customers and is looking into just how many

01:18people are impacted by this.

01:20It also says it has been contacting customers directly if they know that they have been affected.

01:26In a statement, Origin's CEO, Frank Calabria, has said that,

01:31I am so sorry this has happened.

01:32Customers trust Origin with their information and I apologise for the impact this may cause.

01:38One of our key priorities is taking action to secure our systems and ensure no further unauthorised

01:44access.

01:44Now, in doing that, Origin is working with the government, with the federal police and

01:50with the Australian Cybersecurity Centre to just get to the bottom of exactly what has

01:55happened here, explain, you know, just how concerned we all need to be about this and

02:00to ensure this doesn't happen again.

02:03In the meantime, those cybersecurity experts are urging Origin customers to be hyper-vigilant

02:09and hyper-aware to any texts or phone calls or emails that may be suspicious and that may

02:14be from these potential scammers with access to their information.