Duke University officials say the Social Security numbers of about 1,400 prospective law school applicants may have been compromised when a school Web site was accessed illegally.
School officials say they don't know if the hackers gained access to the numbers but said they are contacting those affected as a precaution.
The site stored data from prospective applicants who requested information from the school's admissions office.
School officials say hackers also may have gained access to personal information such as e-mail addresses and passwords that 1,900 current applicants created to view their application status. Duke has advised those applicants to change passwords elsewhere if they're the same as used on the Duke law site.
William J. Hoyle, the law school's associate dean of admissions, says school officials discovered the problem last Thursday.