Energy giant took weeks to respond to major data breach

Origin Energy admits it was aware of a purported hack three weeks before a mass data breach, but decided the threat was not credible.

The personal data of almost a million current and former customers was leaked in a major security breach, the energy giant confirmed on Tuesday, prompting a warning of potential targeted scam activity.

Despite being made aware of a possible breach on July 2, the company did not deem the information credible enough to take serious action or inform those affected until July 22.

The information of about 900,000 current and former customers was accessed, Origin chief executive Frank Calabria said.

Details including names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and account information were all potentially viewed.

The company, which has nearly five million customers, deemed the initial threat not credible mainly because it did not see any personal information.

Media outlets including News Corp and the ABC reported being contacted by parties who claimed to have hacked into Origin’s systems three weeks earlier to access customer data.

Origin said it was not until after reports by News Corp on July 22 regarding a potential breach that the company received information proving the threats were credible.

Mr Calabria would not share information about how or if the threat had been resolved, including whether Origin paid a ransom fee.

“The fact is, the information became available last Wednesday. That was what we acted upon,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“It made it credible.”

He said Origin constantly received threats and all were taken seriously and assessed according to company protocols.

“There’s a rising number of threats. We have a process in place,” Mr Calabria said.

“We’ve undertaken a review of the incident and have taken steps to secure our systems.”

Along with personal identification information, the last four digits of credit cards or the last three digits of bank accounts could also be at risk.

Mr Calabria said monitoring of the dark web had not shown customer data appearing, where it could theoretically be bought by criminals.

Origin reiterated its apology for the data breach and said it was working with a number of agencies to investigate, including the federal government, the Australian Cyber Security Centre and police.

“Given this, we are constrained by the level of information we can provide about the incident at this time,” Mr Calabria said.

The company urged customers to be wary of suspicious activity.

That includes being cautious of unexpected calls and texts related to Origin accounts and not providing online passwords or financial information to anyone unless being certain of who they are dealing with.

“We are acutely aware others may exploit this incident, including by impersonating Origin or through other scam activity,” Mr Calabria said.

Origin has 4.8 million customer accounts in Australia and provides electricity, natural gas, LPG and internet services.

The breach represents the nation’s most high-profile cyber incident since Partnered Health, owned by private equity firm Quadrant, said earlier in July that its medical records were breached in clinics in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.