type: incident · created: 2026-08-21 · updated: 2026-08-22 · tags: [incident, breach] · confidence: high · affected_sectors: [sector-energy] · au_impact: true
Origin Energy moved to reduce the risk of future data breaches by limiting internal staff access to customer files, after completing a review into the theft of data for about 900,000 customers. The Australian Financial Review reported that a former Accenture employee who had been working on the Origin account in Manila is the focus of a police investigation. As an electricity and gas infrastructure operator, Origin sits inside Australia's SOCI Act critical-infrastructure framework, and the incident highlights both third-party/managed-service risk and the case for least-privilege access to customer records.