There has been a breach of private customer data at New York State Electric and Gas and Rochester Gas and Electric.
The company began sending precautionary notifications to customers Monday advising them of unauthorized access to customer data.
This situation involves an employee at an independent software development consulting firm who allowed unauthorized access to one of the companies’ customer information systems.
"The customer records in this system include Social Security numbers, dates of birth and in some cases financial institution account numbers," said Clayton Ellis, NYSEG spokesman.
The New York State Public Service Commission says it will conduct a full and complete investigation.
NYSEG said there is "no evidence that any customer data has actually been misused, or that there was any malicious intent."
“We take our responsibility to protect customer information very seriously and we have robust information technology security measures in place,” said Mark S. Lynch, president of NYSEG and RG&E. “The matter was reported to law enforcement authorities, and as a precautionary measure, we are offering NYSEG and RG&E customers the option of a credit monitoring service at no charge.”
A help line has been established to assist NYSEG and RG&E customers. The help line numbers are 1.877.736.4495 (toll-free) and 1.479.573.7373 (for international callers). The help line will be staffed from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Eastern Time), Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday
Additional information about this matter is available on the companies’ websites at www.nyseg.com and www.rge.com.