A major cyberattack on Thursday knocked offline Canvas, the widely used learning management system operated by Instructure, causing widespread disruption across schools and universities during final exam season. The hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach, according to cybersecurity analyst Luke Connolly of Emisoft. Universities including Penn State, Columbia University, University of Wisconsin–Madison and UCLA reported outages that affected access to grades, assignments, lecture materials and online testing systems.
The outage created confusion for students preparing for finals, with several institutions canceling exams and issuing emergency notices. Penn State informed students that no one had access to Canvas and warned that a resolution was unlikely within 24 hours. Universities in Illinois, including Northwestern University and University of Chicago, also confirmed disruptions. Public school districts in states such as Washington sought to reassure parents, saying they were not aware of sensitive student data being compromised.
Cybersecurity experts say the attack highlights the growing vulnerability of education systems that increasingly rely on digital platforms to store academic and personal information. According to Connolly, the hackers claimed nearly 9,000 schools worldwide were affected and threatened to leak billions of private messages and records unless ransom demands were met. The incident bears similarities to a previous breach involving PowerSchool, another education technology provider targeted by cybercriminals. Late Thursday, Instructure stated that Canvas services had been restored for most users, though investigations into the breach remain ongoing.
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