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A widespread cyber incident has disrupted access to the Canvas LMS, affecting major universities including Harvard University and Stanford University, along with thousands of other educational institutions across the United States.
The disruption followed a reported data breach claimed by the cyber extortion group ShinyHunters, which has been active in online attacks since at least 2019. The group alleged it had again gained access to systems linked to Canvas’s parent company, Instructure, and temporarily blocked user access to the platform.
Hackers Claim Data Breach and Threaten Leak
Students and staff attempting to log in on Thursday were reportedly met with a message attributed to the attackers, claiming responsibility for breaching Canvas servers. The message suggested that security measures taken after a previous incident were insufficient and accused the company of ignoring attempts to resolve the situation.
The group also issued a warning, stating that stolen data could be released publicly unless affected institutions initiated contact and negotiated a settlement before May 12.
A list of allegedly compromised schools was also shared by the attackers, according to reports circulating online.
Universities Confirm Service Disruptions
Stanford University confirmed that Canvas was temporarily unavailable due to technical issues affecting the service provider. The university noted that Instructure had recently reported a security incident that was believed to be contained, but a new outage was now impacting multiple institutions nationwide.
Other universities across the US reported similar disruptions, highlighting the scale of the incident across the education sector.
Data Exposure Concerns
Instructure stated that data linked to the earlier breach may have included sensitive user information such as names, email addresses, student identification numbers, and internal messages exchanged on the platform.
Investigations are ongoing as institutions work with cybersecurity teams to assess the impact and restore full access to the learning system.
