Officials: Possible data breach affects 374K Duke Energy customers

A possible data breach may have exposed the personal information of hundreds of thousands of Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas, officials said Monday.

According to a report from WSOC, Duke Energy officials said a vendor who owns one of the networks they use to process customer payments in walk-in locations, announced last Friday that they had identified a potential breach affecting roughly 1.6 million of their customers, including 374,000 from Duke Energy.

Paypal-- which recently acquired TIO Networks-- made the announcement. TIO owns Global Express, an authorized payment processing network that Duke Energy uses at walk-in locations.

Duke Energy officials said that the breach is a TIO issue but they will do all they can to help.

The possible data compromise affects the customers of any company that uses the Global Express network for payment processing, officials said.

According to Duke Energy officials, TIO will notify customers affected by the breach and send instructions on how to register for one year of complimentary credit monitoring.

Officials said Duke Energy's Carolinas customers who need to make a payment can do so at any Western Union location, or can pay by check, debit or credit card by calling 800-777-9898, selecting option 2 for "billing and payments," then option 1 to make a payment.

This payment process will remain in place until a permanent solution is found for Duke Energy walk-in locations, officials said.