Kleenheat customer names and addresses exposed in system breach

Australian gas producer Kleenheat has warned a number of its customers about a data breach that may have resulted in information such as name and address being exposed.

The Perth-based retailer and distributor believes the breach occurred in 2014 on a third-party system. ZDNet understands that system is no longer in use.

"The potential disclosure was recently identified by Kleenheat during a routine data security check, and did not occur within Kleenheat's internal systems," the company wrote in an email to customers.

Kleenheat referred to data at potential risk as being "general contact information", confirming that it included name, residential address, and email address. It "reassured" phone number, date of birth, or bank, credit card, and account details were not breached.

"As soon as we identified the issue, we moved quickly to secure the information and we are not aware of any associated malicious activity," Kleenheat added.

"Please be assured that we will continue to monitor for any potential suspicious activity in our systems."

Need to disclose a breach? Read this: Notifiable Data Breaches scheme: Getting ready to disclose a data breach in Australia

ZDNet understands only affected customers received the notification.

The company said it has been in contact with relevant authorities, such as reporting the incident to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

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