HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Broward County Public Schools and Florida International University are among the thousands of school systems and universities that use Canvas in their classrooms across the country.
It’s a cloud-based digital hub, and now, the victim of a cyber attack.
More than 8,000 institutions are Canvas customers, including ivy leagues like Georgetown, Harvard and Columbia universities.
Many of the affected schools and universities reported a ransom note on the homepage of their Canvas sites.
The hacking group Shinyhunters has claimed responsibility and is threatening to leak more data unless contacted by next Tuesday.
Instructure, which is the parent company of Canvas, currently says the platform is in “maintenance mode” and that it’s investigating the issue.
So far, Broward County Public Schools confirmed Canvas access is being temporarily blocked districtwide to help protect its systems and data, warning students and staff not to log in from personal devices or click suspicious Canvas links or messages.
“What’s gonna happen to my grades? What’s gonna happen to my teachers? What are we gonna do about the stuff we’re going to do in class today?” South Broward High School student Jose Bonilla wondered. “Like I had some projects coming up to do. And since Canvas got hacked, I’m not sure what we’re gonna do today.”
FIU also blocked Canvas access, saying it’s actively coordinating with Instructure to assess the situation and determine next steps.
The university’s cybersecurity team also warned of potential phishing attempts offering to recover access to Canvas data.
Shinyhunters has also claimed responsibility for another data breach reported in schools and universities earlier this month.
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