"Canvas went offline after a data breach on Thursday, temporarily leaving students and faculty at thousands of U.S. colleges and K-12 schools without access to course materials and communications during finals period. "I'm sure somewhere in the country when the outage happened, there probably were people actually taking final exams on the platform when it crashed," says Damon Linker, a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Pennsylvania."
"Thirty million users including at half of the higher education institutions in North America rely on Canvas to manage courses, submit assignments, view grades and facilitate communication, according to its parent company, Instructure. But when Linker and many other users tried to do so on Thursday afternoon, they met a black screen and a warning message. "ShinyHunters has breached Instructure (again)," it read."
"ShinyHunters is the same entity that took credit for a massive Ticketmaster data breach in 2024. Like many such groups, it's a cluster of young people working remotely together, "kind of like a ransomware gang," says Rachel Tobac, the CEO of SocialProof Security, which trains people and companies to defend themselves against hackers. ShinyHunters wrote on a threat intelligence website earlier this week that the initial breach on Saturday involved data including private messages from 275 million students, teachers and staff at nearly 9,000 schools worldwide."
"The group said Thursday that affected schools can prevent the release of their data by consulting with cyber advisory firms and negotiating settlements through the encrypted chat platform Tox. "You have till the end of the day by 12 May 2026 before everything is leaked," the hackers wrote. Instructure has confirmed a series of cybersecurity breaches this week and provided status upd"
Canvas went offline after a data breach, leaving students and faculty at thousands of U.S. colleges and K-12 schools without access to course materials and communications during the finals period. Thirty million users rely on Canvas to manage courses, submit assignments, view grades, and communicate. Users attempting to access the platform saw a black screen and a warning message referencing ShinyHunters. ShinyHunters previously took credit for a major Ticketmaster breach and described itself as having breached Instructure again. The group claimed an initial breach involved data, including private messages, from 275 million students, teachers, and staff across nearly 9,000 schools worldwide. It advised affected schools to consult cyber advisory firms and negotiate settlements through Tox, warning of a leak deadline.
Read at www.npr.org
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