Investigators have linked the Origin Energy data breach, which exposed the personal information of approximately 900,000 current and former Australian customers, to a former employee of Accenture working at a call centre in Manila, Philippines. Accenture operates offshore call centre facilities on behalf of Origin Energy, giving staff access to customer data as part of routine service delivery. According to reporting by Nine, the individual sought to extort Origin Energy, demanding payment in exchange for the return of the stolen information. Both Origin Energy and Accenture declined to provide substantive comment, with each citing the active criminal investigation as constraining what they could publicly disclose. An Accenture spokesperson said it was not appropriate to comment on Origin’s data security incident, while Origin similarly declined to elaborate beyond what had already been stated.
The Australian Federal Police confirmed it was working closely with Origin Energy and relevant partners following the reported incident, stating that investigators were focused on gathering evidence, identifying those responsible, and disrupting associated criminal activity. The AFP described Origin as cooperative and transparent in its engagement with investigators. The breach first came to public attention when The Australian reported that an alleged hacker had sent the outlet a sample of 50 customer records containing names, addresses, emails, dates of birth, phone numbers, and billing histories. Origin subsequently alerted authorities and later confirmed to the ABC that approximately 900,000 customers were believed to have had their data accessed. The company has urged customers to remain vigilant against scams and has made specialist identity and cyber support services available to those affected.