Columbia Gas Marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and Columbia Gas of Maryland is encouraging customers to take steps to keep personal information safe from cyber criminals. The potential dangers can present themselves in many forms, including phony calls, emails and text messages.

“Ensuring the safety of our customers, their information and the security of our organization is important to all of us at Columbia Gas,” said Mark Kempic, President & COO of Columbia Gas of Maryland. “We have implemented extensive and continuous training for our employees to identify potential threats and thwart any possible cyberattack to protect the personal information of our customers, contractors and co-workers.”

“We also want to empower you with ways to protect yourself as you utilize our self-serve digital channels – our mobile app, website, live chat feature and calls to our Customer Care Center,” added Kempic.

Here are some actions to help customers build their cyber defenses as they access their accounts and communicate with us:

• 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; or
    • 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 your website or bill to ensure you’re speaking to an authorized representative.
    • Our Customer Care phone number is 1-888-460-4332, which operates Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST.
• 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 of Maryland account.
• Know your payment options: To more easily spot a potential scam, learn more about our Columbia Gas of Maryland payment options.