Cyberattack on Canvas platform disrupts thousands of US schools and universities

A cyberattack on the widely used education platform Canvas caused widespread disruption on Thursday at thousands of schools and universities across the US, local media reported. According to The Washington Post, hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach at Canvas, while Instructure, the company behind the platform, did not immediately comment on the incident.

Scale of disruption

Canvas, a platform used to manage grades, assignments, lecture videos and course materials, was reportedly disrupted at nearly 9,000 schools, with hackers claiming to have accessed billions of private messages and records. Students flooded social media with concerns over losing access to study materials ahead of final exams.

Hacking group

ShinyHunters is described as a loose network of teenagers and young adults based in the US and UK, and has also been linked to other cyberattacks, including one targeting Live Nation's Ticketmaster subsidiary.

Institutions affected

Universities and school districts across the US issued alerts and reassurances to students and parents after the cyberattack disrupted Canvas. Institutions including the University of Iowa, Virginia Tech, University of New Mexico, University of Florida, Harvard University and Johns Hopkins University reported outages or warned students about potential phishing attempts.