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PayPal says TIO Networks breach affected up to 1.6M users

PayPal shut down operations at the digital-payments company it owns in November after discovering the breach.

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Steven Musil
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PayPal says a data breach at a company it recently acquired may have exposed the personal information for up to 1.6 million customers.

The digital-payments company suspended operations of its TIO Networks last month after discovering evidence of a security breach. TIO Networks makes digital bill-payment tools for utilities and other firms and offers kiosks that let people go to a convenience store to pay off their bills using cash.

PayPal said in a statement Friday that a review of TIO's network had discovered customers' personally identifiable information may have been compromised. A PayPal spokesman said that information possibly included customer names, addresses, Social Security numbers and login credentials.

PayPal said its customers are unaffected by the breach as the TIO systems are separate from the PayPal network.

PayPal bought TIO Networks for $238 million in February. The hope was it could eventually introduce TIO's cash-based users to more of PayPal's digital services, helping the company bring in more active users to its base of nearly 200 million customers.

TIO Networks currently has about 14 million customer bill pay accounts for utilities, telecommunications, cable or wireless bills, and processed over $7 billion in bill payments last year. The Vancouver, Canada-based company's customer base is mostly in the US.

PayPal announced the suspension of TIO Networks' operations in November due to its "discovery of security vulnerabilities on the TIO platform and issues with TIO's data security program that do not adhere to PayPal's information security standards."

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