Security Breach Affects 1.8 million RG&E and NYSEG Customers

 The personal information of nearly two million RG&E and NYSEG customers, may have gotten into the wrong hands.

An employee of a software company that does contract work for the utilities accessed customer records, and now the companies are scrambling to fix the problem, and protect customers.

 If you get your power or natural gas from utility giants RG&E or NYSEG, they'll likely send you a second letter in the mail this month.
 This one will come in the next few days, and it's not a bill. It's a warning that your personal information could be compromised following a security breach.
 Clayton Ellis is a spokesman for RG&E. He explained how the breach happened.
 "The situation involves an employee at an independent consultant company contracted by NYSEG and RG&E. This individual allowed unauthorized access to one of our customer information systems."

 The information accessed in the breach includes social security numbers, birth dates and in some cases bank account numbers. 
 The employee has been identified, but their name and the company they work for has not been released. 
 Ellis added "I can't speculate on why he did this, or why this individual did this, but again based on our investigation so far we have no evidence that there was any malicious intent involved, or that any customer data has been misused."

 That doesn't ease the minds of many customers News 8 spoke with outside RG&E's downtown Rochester office.
 Many are worried their information will eventually fall into the wrong hands.

 Pam Ames said "I was going to pay a bill and now I'm rethinking this. Should I be paying my bill and be giving them more access to my personal information? I don't like it all."

  Lisa from Fairport added "As a customer I would hope that they would have better protection in place...I would assume that they're on top of it and they'll be following up and communicate that with all of their customers."

 The utilities are now offering all customers one year of free credit monitoring by Experian, so they can keep an eye on their accounts.
 Ellis said "Our investigation is going to continue and at this point we're really focused on our customers; making sure that we get the word out to them and making sure that they know about the services available to them."
 The utilities are not the only ones looking into the breach, the Public Service Commission and the FBI are also investigating.

The company has set up a hotline to deal with questions about the breach.
The number is 1-877-736-4495.
Operators are available from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. EST Monday-Friday, and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. EST on Saturday and Sunday.
More information is also available on the NYSEG and RG&E websites.