Canvas Cyberattack Leaves Thousands of Students Scrambling Amid Finals
ShinyHunters says it stole data from 275 million users and threatened to leak it unless Instructure negotiated by May 12.
- On Thursday, May 7, 2026, the hacking group ShinyHunters breached Instructure, forcing the Canvas learning management system offline nationwide during finals week at over 8,000 institutions.
- Instructure serves more than 8,000 institutions globally, making Canvas a dominant learning management platform and prime target for cybercriminals seeking to access mass quantities of student data through centralized infrastructure.
- ShinyHunters claims to have stolen 3.65 terabytes of data including names, emails, student IDs, and private messages, while demanding a ransom settlement by May 12, 2026, to prevent public release.
- Universities including Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania postponed exams and advised students to remain vigilant against phishing attempts while forensic experts investigate the incident.
- The breach exposes structural risks of vendor concentration in ed-tech, where a single security failure at one company compromises millions of users across thousands of institutions globally.
515 Articles
515 Articles
Canvas Hackers Warn 'Pay or Leak' as Ransom Deadline Looms Over 30 Million Students' Stolen Records
ShinyHunters has breached Canvas, demanding a ransom from Instructure by 12 May 2026 and threatening to leak data affecting millions of students worldwide if it is not paid.
Hackers claim Canvas breach affecting millions of students | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Canvas, a platform used by more than 8,000 universities and K-12 schools for course websites, assignments and communication, was shut down for several hours Thursday. A hacking group claimed responsibility for a data breach affecting the company that owns the platform, jeopardizing the personal data of millions of students and teachers.
New Mexico State University students frustrated, but relieved that Canvas outage was short-lived
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) -- A cyberattack on Canvas knocked the widely used learning management system offline on Thursday, May 7. Nearly 9,000 schools were impacted worldwide, including New Mexico State University, according to different media outlets. NMSU students said they were frustrated but were glad to learn that the outage was short-lived. The system [...]
The Daily Gazette
union-bulletin.comSome college finals delayed after Canvas online platform hacked
Disruptions for college students are set to drag into the weekend after hackers briefly took down an online platform used by thousands of schools around the world, from Princeton University in the U.S. to the University of Manchester in the…
Canvas hack hits 8,000 schools and exposes millions of student records
A hacking group called ShinyHunters says it broke into Instructure, the company that runs the online classroom platform Canvas, for the second time this month. They stole millions of student and faculty records and cut off Canvas access for schools across Georgia and the United States. What’s Happening: The attack began Thursday, May 7, when […] The post Canvas hack hits 8,000 schools and exposes millions of student records appeared first on The…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 65% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
