University of Connecticut officials said a data breach discovered in March at the School of Engineering was criminal in nature.
UConn officials said Friday there's no evidence that data were removed from servers. UConn spokesman Tom Breen said it appears the attack originated in China, based on the malicious software used and type of attack.
UConn is notifying about 200 research sponsors in government and the private sector and is determining how many others need to be notified about a potential compromise of personal information.
The School of Engineering has notified faculty, staff, students, visitors, and about 1,800 users of an instant communications tool used at the time. They've been asked to change their passwords because log-in credentials may have been compromised.
UConn said it has implemented further anti-cyberattack measures.