The reason that notifications have only just started going out is because UNC technology officials and an external forensic team have required time to piece together the extent of the compromise and to figure out exactly who may have been affected by it, Mauro said.

So far, investigations have revealed nothing to suggest that the persons responsible for the break-in have downloaded or modified the data in any way. "But you just don't know for sure. You have to be suspicious and ," he said.