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Cyber attack disrupts swath of US universities and schools nationwide

Cyber attack disrupts swath of US universities and schools nationwide

A hacking group breached the academic software Canvas, used by thousands of schools and universities acrosst the US

May 8, 2026 at 12:27 PM Original source
11 agencies covered this story

Coverage by Political Leaning

See how different sides of the spectrum reported this story

Left
2 articles
Lean Left
2 articles
Center
6 articles
Lean Right
1 articles
Right
0 articles
No coverage

Notable Quotes

""Before Americans are hit with outages, disruptions, and attacks that could put lives and livelihoods at risk.""

— Chuck Schumer , Politician

"ShinyHunters has breached Instructure (again). Instead of contacting us to resolve it they ignored us and did some 'security patches'."

— ShinyHunters , Other

"If any of the schools in the affected list are interested in preventing the release of their data, please consult with a cyber advisory firm and contact us privately at TOX to negotiate a settlement."

— ShinyHunters , Other

"Nearly 9,000 schools worldwide affected. 275 million individuals data ranging from students, teachers, and other staff containing PII."

— ShinyHunters , Other

"the unauthorized actor carried out this activity by exploiting an issue related to our Free-For-Teacher accounts."

— Instructure , Executive

"Beyond the immediate response, we're hardening administrative access, token management, permissions, monitoring, and related workflows."

— Instructure , Executive

"the outage leaves students and faculty 'dead in the water here in academia right now.'"

— Damon Linker , Academic

"nearly 9,000 schools worldwide were affected, with billions of private messages and other records accessed."

— Luke Connolly , Academic

"This gives us the confidence to restore access to Canvas, which is now fully back online and available for use. We regret the inconvenience and concern this may have caused."

— Luke Connolly , Academic

"When these systems go down, you know, it causes a huge impact."

— Dave Hatter , Academic

All Coverage

Cyber attack disrupts swath of US universities and schools nationwide
BBC Newsvia rss 1 quote 1 person

A hacking group breached the academic software Canvas, used by thousands of schools and universities acrosst the US

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Jefferson Public Radiovia ai

The online education platform Canvas went offline after a data breach, temporarily leaving students and faculty at thousands of U.S. colleges without access to course materials during finals period.

80%
Canvas school login portals hacked as Instructure hack apparently gets even worse
TechRadarvia ai 2 quotes 1 person

The hacker group ShinyHunters defaced login portals for around 330 colleges and universities, demanding a ransom and threatening to leak sensitive data by May 12, 2026.

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Canvas maker Instructure reveals data breach - confirms user personal information leaked
TechRadarvia ai 1 quote 1 person

Instructure confirmed a significant data breach involving user personal information, including names, email addresses, and student ID numbers, with no evidence of financial data being compromised.

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Axiosvia ai

A cyberattack on Canvas caused major disruptions at colleges and universities across the U.S., leading to the delay or cancellation of final exams during a critical period.

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Cyberattack hits Canvas system used by thousands of schools as finals loom
Associated Pressvia ai 2 quotes 2 persons

A significant cyberattack disrupted Canvas, a widely used educational platform, just as students were preparing for final exams, with the hacking group ShinyHunters claiming responsibility.

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Canvas back online after cyberattack shuttered learning platform for schools across U.S.
CBS Newsvia ai 1 quote 1 person

Canvas, a learning management system used by thousands of schools and universities, was offline due to a cyberattack, creating chaos as students tried to study for finals.

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Universities recovering from Canvas cyber attack
Wave3via ai

A cyberattack on the online educational program Canvas is still impacting some schools and universities after the initial breach took the program offline, affecting students during finals week.

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Canvas cyber attack threatens data from millions of students nationwide
Cleveland19via ai 1 quote 1 person

A cyberattack on Canvas has compromised data from millions of students nationwide, with the hacking group ShinyHunters threatening to release stolen data unless schools negotiate by May 12.

80%
Rockstar ransom hackers claim to have stolen the data of 280 million teachers, school staff, and students in Canvas attack
PC Gamervia ai 2 quotes 1 person

The ransomware group ShinyHunters claims to have stolen data on 280 million users, including teachers, school staff, and students, by exploiting Canvas' vulnerabilities.

80%
Software Ate My Homework
The Atlanticvia ai

A university professor recounts the experience during a global Canvas outage caused by a ransomware attack, highlighting the fragility of educational systems relying on digital infrastructure.

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