Origin Energy Breach Traced to Former Accenture Employee at Manila Call Centre
Quest Apartment Hotels Discloses Customer Data Breach Linked to Third-Party Vulnerability
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.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-19/quest-apartment-hotels-data-security-breach/107053574
Quest Apartment Hotels has informed customers of a data security breach involving unauthorised access to a database system, with the incident traced to a vulnerability introduced through a third-party service provider. The breach was identified on 17 August 2026, and Quest states it immediately took steps to contain the incident and secure the affected systems. The compromised data relates to customer records from before June 2025 and includes full names, email addresses, and other contact details, with a small number of entries also containing customers’ dates of birth. Quest notified customers of the breach via email, and social media users across Facebook and Reddit confirmed receiving the communications overnight. The company has also notified the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and the Australian Cyber Security Centre in accordance with its regulatory obligations.
The company advised customers not to click on unexpected links or open attachments, even if they appeared to originate from Quest, as a precaution against follow-on phishing or scam activity exploiting the exposed contact details. The full scale of the breach had not been disclosed at the time of reporting.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.