A malicious hacker <A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/10/08/Hacker-breaks-into-eBay-server-locks-out-users_1.html">broke into an eBay server</A> on Friday and temporarily suspended the accounts of a "very small" number of members, the company said.

"We were able to block the fraudster quickly before any permanent damage had been done. At no point did the fraudster get any access to financial information or other sensitive information," eBay spokeswoman Nichola Sharpe said via email.

eBay has "secured and restored" the affected accounts and is calling the affected users, she said, without specifying how many accounts the hacker accessed and tinkered with. "The fraudster did this by accessing externally visible servers, not by hacking into the eBay site," Sharpe said.