Cyberattack disrupts Canvas platform used by thousands of schools, universities in US

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.

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, meanwhile, flooded social media with concerns over losing access to study materials ahead of final exams.

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.

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