{"id":"camfeed-2","numeric_id":2,"short_title":"Origin Energy data breach","seo_title":"Origin Energy investigating 'potential' customer data breach - ABC News","social_title":"Origin Energy investigating 'potential' customer data breach","headline":"Origin Energy investigating 'potential' customer data breach","teaser_title":"Origin Energy investigating 'potential' customer data breach","titles_source_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-22/origin-energy-investigating-potential-data-breach/106944660","titles_fetched_at":"2026-09-05T04:19:54+00:00","title":"Origin Energy investigating 'potential' customer data breach","canonical_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-22/origin-energy-investigating-potential-data-breach/106944660","published_at":"2026-07-22T08:31:38+00:00","source":"ABC News","source_type":"abc","type":"news article","content_role":"primary","author":"Cameron Wilson","summary":"Origin Energy says it does not believe customer credit card or bank details have been affected by a suspected data breach at the company.","text":"Origin Energy says it does not believe customer credit card or bank details have been affected by a suspected data breach at the company.","has_full_text":true,"mcp_visible":true,"mcp_full_text_allowed":true,"full_text_word_count":636,"full_text_status":"ok","full_text_source_url":"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-22/origin-energy-investigating-potential-data-breach/106944660","full_text_fetched_at":"2026-09-04T10:49:22+00:00","has_transcript":false,"transcript_status":"","transcript_kind":"","transcript_char_count":0,"topics":["platforms"],"quoted_author":"","quoted_url":"","quoted_text":"","citation":"Cameron Wilson, \"Origin Energy investigating 'potential' customer data breach\", ABC News, 2026-07-22, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-22/origin-energy-investigating-potential-data-breach/106944660","citation_markdown":"Cameron Wilson, [Origin Energy investigating 'potential' customer data breach](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-22/origin-energy-investigating-potential-data-breach/106944660) — ABC News — 2026-07-22","attribution":"Originally published at ABC News. Link to the canonical ABC URL: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-22/origin-energy-investigating-potential-data-breach/106944660","full_text":"One of Australia's largest energy companies, Origin Energy, says it is investigating a security breach that \"may have\" affected customer data.\n\n\"Origin Energy Limited (Origin) is currently investigating a potential security incident which may involve unauthorised access to some customers' data,\" it said in a statement.\n\n\"We do not believe the impacted data includes customer credit card or bank details.\n\n\"We understand an incident like this may raise concerns and acknowledge the impact of this uncertainty on Origin customers.\n\n\"Our investigations into this incident are occurring as a matter of urgency, and Origin will provide further updates as appropriate.\"\n\nThe company said it had notified the Australian Cyber Security Centre and Australian Federal Police.\n\nThe Australian news outlet reported a hacker had sent it a sample of 50 customer records containing names, addresses, emails, dates of birth, phone numbers and bill history.\n\nIt is understood that following this, Origin Energy alerted authorities to a potential security breach.\n\nAlleged hacker provides sample of data\n\nThe ABC has spoken to someone claiming to be behind the hack.\n\nThey provided what they claim is a sample of data taken from a bigger customer list and internal screenshots of Origin computer systems.\n\nThe ABC has not been able to confirm with Origin that this data is legitimate.\n\nAnalysis of the sample shows it includes the real contact information of individuals that had not been publicly released in other major security breaches.\n\nOne person whose phone number was in the sample confirmed to the ABC that they had been a customer of Origin until they had recently sold their house.\n\nThe individual, granted anonymity to avoid further potential risk to their privacy, said they were worried having their personal data potentially released as part of the alleged hack could leave them exposed to further damage.\n\n\"It's quite shocking really,\" they said.\n\n\"I run and operate my own business […] My email is attached my business accounts, it's my identification when I sign into certain things.\n\n\"If they have access to those things, it could be really scary.\"\n\nCyber experts say event could be 'canary in the coal mine'\n\nOrigin Energy is one of Australia's leading energy retailers with more than 4.7 million customers.\n\nUpon the announcement, shares in the company quickly dropped by 1.88 per cent.\n\nThe security breach is the latest for major companies in Australia, with Qantas suffering a major hack in 2025, and both Optus and Medibank experiencing mass breaches in 2022.\n\nLast week Partnered Health, which operates a network of GP clinics, was targeted in a cyber attack, with sensitive medical records and personal information stolen.\n\nProfessor of Cyber Security at UNSW, Richard Buckland, said a power company breach would be especially worrying because they manage critical infrastructure.\n\nIn fact, there is a specific law about how 11 \"critical\" industries, including energy, respond to cybersecurity incidents.\n\n\"How important is Origin taking security?\" Professor Buckland asked, adding that a successful cybersecurity attack on an energy company could be a \"canary in the coal mine\".\n\n\"If an energy company is hacked, they could cut off people's power in winter or black things out,\" he warned.\n\nUNSW's resident cybersecurity expert, Professor Sanjay Jha, noted there was very little information currently on what might have happened with Origin.\n\n\"There is no way to verify if the data put to the media is authentic,\" he said.\n\n\"Organised groups who do this kind of thing do resort to this tactic, like extortion first and then release [data] on the dark web.\n\n\"They're putting more pressure on by either going to media or public release. These days you have social media as well.\"\n\nIf you have been impacted, or know more about this story, we'd like to hear from you. Fill out the form below and upload supporting documents or evidence, if any.","full_text_attribution":"Full text extracted from the ABC News article at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-22/origin-energy-investigating-potential-data-breach/106944660. Attribute to ABC News and link to the canonical URL."}