00:01Well, we've just had Origin update the stock market at around four o'clock Eastern time.
00:08They have confirmed that there has been a cybersecurity incident or hack on its customer
00:13data. We have no real details so far on the amount of customer data. This is one day after
00:21this first surfaced in the media yesterday. We had Origin tell the stock market around
00:2812 o'clock yesterday that it suspected there had been an incident. Now the company's confirmed
00:33there has been. Now the company's CEO, Frank Calabria, has said, I'm sorry this has happened.
00:39They say that customers trust Origin with their information and he says he apologises for the
00:46impact this may have caused. He also says we're contacting affected customers, offering support
00:52and they've set up a dedicated contact number and additional resources to help manage their
00:57response to this incident. Now it is worth noting that the ABC has spoken to somebody
01:03who claims to be the hacker behind this and we've seen data sheets, but we have not verified
01:09with Origin that this person is correct.
01:11Amelia, do we know yet what information has been accessed?
01:15So Origin has said that they believe its impacted data may include names, addresses, dates of birth,
01:23contact, phone numbers, account information, as well as they say the last four digits of a credit card
01:30or the last couple of digits of a bank account. Now this is different to what they said yesterday,
01:35where they said we do not believe the impacted data includes customer, credit card or bank details.
01:41Have you spoken to any cyber security experts about it yet?
01:45So I was just on the phone to Professor Richard Buckland. He says, especially in regards to the
01:51information that's been accessed, he says it's not really acceptable that they're storing financial
01:56data. So those last few digits that I talked about in a not highly secure area, he says that this
02:03makes
02:03it easier for attackers to brute force credit card numbers. Now it is worth noting that energy is one
02:09of the critical industries governed by laws on cyber security. And this hack follows breaches of customer
02:15data in recent years at companies like Medibank, Latitude, Optus and Qantas. Now Professor Buckland
02:23says that every company has been on notice and he says that what's concerning here is that we have had
02:31this attack happen on this company's systems several years after we had those first ones on Medibank.
02:37He says this is still happening and that is concerning. How seriously does Origins board take
02:44cyber security? And he says that he hopes that as a power provider, they do take it seriously.
02:49Amelia, there'll be a lot of worried customers. What happens next?
02:54Well, unfortunately, we know from covering cyber security incidents on major companies before that
03:00things can escalate further. I personally covered the Medibank attack. We had drip fed sensitive
03:06information released on the dark web. We've had companies be asked to pay ransom, which they might not
03:13have done. Now Professor Buckland says that Origin will now have to figure out how much data was stolen
03:18and they have to decide if they want to respond to any ransom demand if they get one. Now the
03:24reason
03:24that cyber security experts talk about ransom demands is that cyber security criminals typically steal
03:30data from company with the threat of releasing it on the dark web. And that is where that could be
03:36used
03:37for onsold purposes like identity theft or financial crime. Now Professor Buckland is urging anyone who's
03:44a customer of Origin to be vigilant now about calls, texts, emails from anyone claiming to be Origin
03:51and representatives.
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