GREENVILLE - East Carolina University on Friday began notifying about 65,000 current and former students and employees that personal data may have been accidentally exposed on a university Web site.

Kevin Seitz, vice chancellor for administration and finance, said a programming error allowed access to personal information in university files for a week last month. Seitz said the system was shut down within 15 minutes of being reported and has been corrected.

He said the incident was not a case of someone hacking the system, and there was no indication that data was stolen or used inappropriately.

"We have no evidence of mass downloads of information," he said at a news conference.

University officials said unauthorized users could access data including names, addresses and Social Security numbers from Jan. 22 to Jan. 29. Officials said they are contacting 21 people whose credit card numbers were thought to have been viewed.

Seitz said the risk of identity theft is low but the university wanted to alert anyone who could have been affected. The university created a Web site, www.ecu.edu/incident, to provide information and sent notification letters with tips on how to check for identify theft.

"You are strongly encouraged to remain vigilant by reviewing your account statements and monitoring credit reports," the letter said.

The information was on a Web site on which a user ordinarily has to provide a user name and password to gain access. Because of the temporary programming error, Seitz said, someone could gain access without proper authorization.

Seitz said the university had been modifying its data system to move away from the use of Social Security numbers as identification to do such things as buy parking permits, check course availability and examine job openings.

University officials said an ECU student using the site unintentionally viewed a screen that contained names and other information. He reported the incident to university police, and the Web site was secured, officials said.