The Shadow
Chester, VA – Cybersecurity Awareness Month kicks off on Oct. 1, and Columbia Gas of Virginia is encouraging customers to take steps now to protect their personal information from cyber dangers and to be on the lookout for phony calls, emails, and text messages – methods cyber criminals may use to try to gain access to sensitive, personal data.
“With approximately 290,000 customers across the Commonwealth, we want them to be ‘cyber smart’ and aware of the threats that exist,” said Columbia Gas of Virginia President and Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Montague. “We also want them to know that maintaining the confidentiality of their information is critically important to us. Some security measures we have implemented include extensive and continuous training of our employees on how to safeguard customer data, amplifying our data encryption, and bolstering our incident response capabilities.”
Here are ways customers can build their cyber defenses as they access their accounts and communicate with us via our website, mobile app, phone call, or chat:
- Password security (for our website and mobile app): Change your password often and don’t re-use old ones. Consider using a password manager instead of re-using passwords on multiple sites.
- Check the lock (for our website): Make sure you’re logging into the correct website and look for a lock icon in the URL in the address bar – it should appear to the left of the URL. This indicates that data exchanged between your computer and our server is encrypted.
- Don’t be fooled (when calling our Customer Care phone line and using chat feature):
- Our customer representatives:
- Will not ask for your password over the phone or through live chat; and
- Will not ask for your credit card number through live chat.
- If you’re being asked questions that seem suspicious, we encourage you to disconnect the call completely and call our number as it appears on our website or your bill to ensure you’re speaking to an authorized representative.
- Our Customer Care phone number is 1-800-543-8911, which operates Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST.
- Our customer representatives:
- Think before you click (for our website and alert emails/texts): Don’t click on links from unsolicited emails. If you’re able to see where a link is taking you before clicking on it, do so. If you’re suspicious of a link, don’t click on it.
- Keep software updated (for mobile app and website): Ensure your browser and operating systems are updated with the most recent software versions.
Additional tips:
- Never share private, sensitive data: Don’t provide your Columbia Gas account number, social security number and/or banking information to unconfirmed sources. We only ask for a social security number when establishing new service or verifying a customer’s identity.
- Verify your account status: Cyber criminals may insist that your account is past due, even when your payments are up to date. You can verify your account status by logging into your Columbia Gas account.
- Know your payment options: To more easily spot a potential scam, learn more about our Columbia Gas payment options.
For more information, visit us at www.ColumbiaGasVA.com.
About Columbia Gas of Virginia
Columbia Gas of Virginia delivers clean, dependable and efficient natural gas to approximately 290,000 customers in more than 100 communities across the Commonwealth. With headquarters in Chesterfield County, it is one of six regulated utility companies of NiSource (NYSE: NI), one of the largest fully-regulated utility companies in the United States. NiSource employees are focused on our mission to deliver safe, reliable energy that drives value to our customers. More information about Columbia Gas of Virginia and NiSource, including our record of leadership in sustainability, investments in the communities we serve, and how we live our vision to be an innovative and trusted energy partner, is available at www.ColumbiaGasVA.com and www.NiSource.com.
