Aussie energy supplier Origin has said it has completed its initial investigations into a cyber security incident first disclosed on July 22.
“We have now completed the initial phase of our review into Origin’s customer data security incident,” Origin CEO Frank Calabria said in a July 28 statement.
“At this point in time, we believe the information of approximately 900,000 current and former customers was accessed.”
Calabria apologised to Origin’s customers, adding “we don’t take for granted the trust customers place in Origin and our safeguarding of their information”.
Calabria said his company was extending customer support hours and was working with cyber security specialists to contain the incident.
“We continue to work very closely with the Australian Government and other agencies, including the Australian Cyber Security Centre, the National Office of Cyber Security and the Australian Federal Police,” Calabria said.
“We have also notified the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.”
Origin’s latest update comes amid what the company has referred as “considerable media speculation” regarding the incident. The Australian recently reported that they had been in contact with the alleged hacker behind the incident, who told the media outlet that they had “settled everything with Origin Energy privately and no data will be leaked”.
Robert Potter, founding partner of the Cyber Activities Group and CEO of Internet 2.0, recently questioned the motivations of media outlets willing to engage with cyber-criminals.
“Media engagement is a regular and deliberate part of modern cyber extortion. These are multilayered pressure campaigns by seasoned criminals,” Potter said in a social media post in the wake of The Australian’s reporting
“Attackers contact journalists to increase pressure on the victims, establish credibility, accelerate disclosure and turn a private negotiation into a public crisis. This is a deliberate part of the campaign to force companies to make a payment. Journalists are therefore not passive recipients of information; they can become part of the pressure mechanism, even where they are acting entirely in good faith.”
What happened?
Origin Energy initially revealed it was investigating a potential data breach in a filing to the Australian Stock Exchange.
“Origin Energy Limited (Origin) is currently investigating a potential security incident which may involve unauthorised access to some customers’ data. We do not believe the impacted data includes customer credit card or bank details,” the company said in a statement published at 12.42 pm on 22 July.
Origin had also made initial contact with customers earlier on that same day warning them of the incident.
The next day, Origin confirmed that customer data had been impacted.
“Origin can confirm there has been unauthorised access and disclosure of some customers’ data,” the company said in a second ASX statement.
“We are working to understand the total number of impacted customers, and we will contact any customers where we can confirm they have been affected.”
Origin said the data involved “may include” names and addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, account details, and either the last four digits of a credit card or the last three digits of a bank account.
You can read several industry reactions to the incident here.
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David Hollingworth
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.