Canvas Platform Disrupted by Cyber Incident at Multiple North American Universities

A cyber attack on Thursday disrupted the academic software Canvas at universities and schools across the US and Canada, leaving students unable to submit assignments or access materials during the high-stakes end-of-year period. The hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the attack, which caused Canvas to go offline.

By late Thursday, Instructure, the company that owns Canvas, posted an update saying that Canvas was available for most users.

The cyber attacks targeted universities and schools from New York to Vancouver. Penn State University stated that no one has access to Canvas and that a resolution was unlikely to arrive within the next 24 hours. The university cancelled some exams scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

In an update on Thursday evening, the University of British Columbia informed students that Canvas was unavailable due to a cyber breach of its parent company Instructure. The university advised students to log out immediately. The University of Toronto reported it was impacted by the breach and that multiple universities were affected.

Students at the University of California Los Angeles struggled to submit assignments online through Canvas. The University of Chicago temporarily disabled its Canvas page after reports that it was targeted. The Chicago Maroon, the university-led newspaper, posted a screenshot of a message from ShinyHunters that appeared to be seeking a ransom.

“to negotiate a settlement" and avoiding "the release of their data".”

“— Message from ShinyHunters ShinyHunters sent a message seeking a ransom and encouraging the university to contact them privately to negotiate a settlement and avoid the release of their data. Targeted threats from ShinyHunters began on Sunday with deadlines given on Thursday and 12 May, according to Luke Connolly, a threat analyst at the cyber security firm Emisoft. Discussions regarding extortion payments could be ongoing, Connolly told the Associated Press. BBC News reported that the cyber attack came the same day that the top US Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, sent a letter to the Trump administration urging more defence against cyber risks in the age of rapidly developing AI. In the letter, Schumer wrote that the Department of Homeland Security — the agency that helps ward off against cyber attacks — "must immediately help states and localities". "Before Americans are hit with outages, disruptions, and attacks that could put lives and livelihoods at risk," he continued.”