CenterPoint Energy, a major utility provider based in Houston, has acknowledged a significant data breach that has exposed personal information of its customers. The breach involves an unauthorized party gaining access to customer data through one of the company's external systems. This incident was confirmed shortly after a hacker claimed to have stolen millions of records and leaked some of the data on a cybercrime forum.

The utility company serves approximately 7 million customers across Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, and Texas with electricity and natural gas services. According to a filing with the SEC, CenterPoint Energy has launched an investigation into the breach. The company emphasized that the incident has not disrupted the delivery of its energy services and is not expected to have a material impact on its operations.

The hacker responsible for this breach has reportedly obtained nearly 7.5 million user records and has issued a threat to escalate attacks on the company's main infrastructure if further demands are not met. A 2.5 GB archive file containing the stolen data has been made available for download, but the authenticity of this data has not been independently verified.

This is not the first time CenterPoint Energy has been targeted. In the past, the company was among several energy firms affected by data breaches involving the Cl0p ransomware group’s MOVEit campaign. In those earlier incidents, the stolen data was believed to have originated from a third party rather than directly from CenterPoint Energy’s systems.