Origin Energy's (ASX:ORG) probe into a customer data breach now centers on a former employee of consulting firm Accenture who planned to extract money from Origin in exchange for returning the personal data of nearly a million clients, the Australian Financial Review reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources briefed on the matter.

Origin had outsourced certain billing and customer support roles to New York-listed Accenture, and one of the latter's former employees in Manila is believed to have accessed and saved the sensitive data before leaving the company, according to the report.

Origin provided support to law enforcement and will continue to cooperate with the investigation, a company spokesperson told MT Newswires. Accenture did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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