In July this year, the online payment giant PayPal announced buying Canadian bill payment management company TIO Networks for $233 million (€196m) in cash. But now the company has revealed that TIO Networks have suffered a massive data breach in which personal information of 1.6 million customers has been stolen.
In an official statement, PayPal said that a review of TIO’s network revealed around 1.6 million of its customers were impacted by the breach in which data including locations that stored personal information of TIO’s customers and customers of TIO billers was stolen.
Although PayPal didn’t provide more details on the stolen data, it maintains that PayPal network and customers’ data remains secure since TIO systems are completely separate from the PayPal network.
On 10th November the company had announced the suspension of TIO’s operation after discovering security vulnerabilities on the TIO platform.
“While we apologize for any inconvenience this suspension of services may cause, the security of TIO’s systems and the protection of TIO’s customers are our highest priorities. We are working with the appropriate authorities to safeguard TIO customers,” said the statement in November.
The company is also working with a consumer credit reporting agency to provide free credit monitoring memberships to affected customers.
“PayPal is working with a consumer credit reporting agency to provide free credit monitoring memberships. Individuals who are affected will be contacted directly and receive instructions to sign up for monitoring.”
As of 2008, there are 16 companies in PayPal’s acquisition, but this is the first time its subsidiary has suffered a data breach that has affected millions of customers. In fact, PayPal holds one of the safest online payment systems in the world.