Origin Energy has seen no evidence that customer data taken in its July cyber incident has been published online, but chairman Scott Perkins has told shareholders the risk remains and affected customers must stay alert to scams.
Perkins addressed the incident at Origin's annual general meeting on 14 October. He described it as a "recent data security incident involving unauthorised access to some of their information".
"Customers place enormous trust in Origin to protect their information, and we do not take that for granted," he said.
Perkins said Origin had apologised to affected customers and was providing support. He said it had also "taken a number of steps to enhance the security of our systems to prevent future incidents of this kind". He did not detail those steps.
"We have seen no evidence of the information being published on the internet or the dark web to date; however we note this risk remains and affected customers will need to remain vigilant to any suspicious activity or scams," he said. "We continue to monitor the situation."
Perkins placed the breach in a wider context. "Unfortunately, individuals and businesses, no matter where they are around the world, face a growing threat from this sort of criminally motivated cyber activity," he said.
"The threat environment is constantly evolving, and we will have to work hard to continue to protect the security of our systems and our customers' information. We are committed to that."
He also acknowledged "the diligence and care for our customers evident in management's response to this incident". CEO Frank Calabria's address to the meeting did not refer to the incident.
Origin confirmed in July that there had been unauthorised access to and disclosure of customer data. Calabria later said about 900,000 current and former customers were affected. Names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and account information were involved.
In August, Origin confirmed that full bank account numbers for about 60 customers had been accessed. Around 100 customers had an ID document number compromised, and roughly 15,000 had concession or government program numbers exposed.
A person claiming responsibility told The Australian in July they had used an employee logon to reach Origin's Kraken-supplied customer management system. They also claimed to have "settled everything with Origin energy privately", IDM reported at the time. Origin did not respond to the settlement claim.
It was later reported that investigators had linked the hack to a former Manila-based employee of Accenture, which helps run Origin's call centres. The chair's address did not refer to either claim.