Texas Utility CenterPoint Energy Confirms Breach After Hacker Leaks Data
CenterPoint Energy confirmed hackers stole customer personal data from an external-facing system after a forum leak of 7.5 million records.
CenterPoint Energy, a Houston-based utility serving roughly 7 million customers across Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Texas, told the SEC that an unauthorized third party obtained customer personal information through an external-facing system. On September 12 a hacker claimed to have stolen nearly 7.5 million records and posted a 2.5 GB archive on a cybercrime forum, threatening to attack main infrastructure next. The company says electric and gas delivery is unaffected and it expects no material impact. Earlier 2024 leak claims were attributed to Cl0p's 2023 MOVEit campaign via a third party.
- Hacker leaked 2.5 GB archive with alleged 7.5M customer records
- SEC filing confirms unauthorized access via external-facing system
- Utility serves ~7 million customers across four US states
- Threat actor threatens to attack main infrastructure next time
- 2024 claims traced to Cl0p MOVEit campaign via third party
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Texas utility CenterPoint Energy confirmed on Monday that a threat actor has obtained customers’ personal information. The disclosure comes just days after a hacker claimed to have stolen millions of records.
CenterPoint Energy is a Houston-based public utility that delivers electricity and natural gas to roughly 7 million customers across Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas.
The company told the SEC that it has launched an investigation after becoming aware of someone claiming to have obtained customer information.
“While the investigation remains ongoing, the Company has determined that an unauthorized third party obtained personal information relating to a portion of the Company’s customers through one of the Company’s external facing systems,” it said in the SEC filing.
The utility noted that the cybersecurity incident has not impacted the delivery of electric and gas services and it does not believe that the data breach will have a material impact.
The company’s disclosure comes after a hacker leaked data allegedly stolen from its systems. The claims were made on a popular cybercrime forum on September 12.
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The hacker allegedly obtained nearly 7.5 million user records, threatening that “next time we won’t simply pull data, we’ll start attacking the main infrastructure.”
The threat actor has made available for download a 2.5 GB archive file allegedly containing data stolen from CenterPoint Energy. SecurityWeek cannot confirm the validity of the data and it’s not uncommon for hackers to make false or exaggerated claims.
This is not the first time a hacker has claimed to have stolen CenterPoint Energy data. In 2024, it was one of several energy companies targeted by an access broker named AntiBrok3rs.
A few months later, a different hacker claimed to have obtained the company’s data. In both cases, the stolen data was believed to have come from the Cl0p ransomware group’s 2023 MOVEit campaign. Analysts believed at the time that the CenterPoint Energy data originated from a third party rather than directly from the company’s systems.
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