Canvas Cyberattack: ShinyHunters Breach Disrupts Schools and Universities Worldwide
A cyberattack on the learning management system Canvas, operated by Instructure, caused widespread disruption for schools and universities. The hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach, affecting nearly 9,000 schools globally. The group threatened to leak private messages and other records, prompting concerns about extortion. Schools are increasingly targeted by hackers seeking sensitive data that was previously stored in physical form. Instructure has not publicly addressed the attack on social media, but the incident mirrors a previous breach at PowerSchool. ShinyHunters, a group of young hackers, has been linked to other cyberattacks, including on Ticketmaster. Schools and universities affected by the outage are working to address the impact on final exams and end-of-semester activities. The situation is being treated as a national-level cybersecurity incident, with institutions like the University of Iowa and Virginia Tech notifying students about the disruption. Efforts are underway to restore access to the Canvas system as quickly as possible.