Hack of Canvas app cripples colleges during finals week
The hacking group ShinyHunters disrupted the Canvas Learning Management System for over 9,000 schools globally, including UMass Lowell, UMass Boston, MIT, Harvard, Duke, Georgetown, and Princeton, during finals week, forcing exam cancellations and rescheduling. The group threatened to leak billions of private messages and student records, with discussions over extortion payments ongoing as of May 12.
A cyberattack on Canvas, a widely used Learning Management System for grades, assignments, and course materials, crippled universities across the U.S. on Thursday, just as final exams began. Affected institutions included UMass Lowell, UMass Boston, MIT, Harvard, Duke, Georgetown, and Princeton, with over 9,000 schools worldwide impacted, according to threat analyst Luke Connolly of Emsisoft. The hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility, threatening to leak billions of private messages and student records if demands were not met by Thursday and May 12." "UMass Lowell and UMass Boston canceled exams on Thursday, rescheduling them to Monday, which was already a makeup day. Students and faculty scrambled to find workarounds, as Canvas hosts lecture slides, readings, and assignments critical for finals. Damon Linker, a senior lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, noted students were left unable to access semester materials for their Monday exams. UMass President Marty Meehan stated the university’s IT and cybersecurity task forces were addressing the issue, though the disruption delayed finals." "ShinyHunters, described as a loose group of U.S. and U.K.-based teenagers and young adults, has ties to previous attacks, including one on Live Nation’s Ticketmaster. The group’s threat to expose sensitive data suggests ongoing negotiations over potential extortion payments. UMass Lowell warned students to remain vigilant against suspicious emails and interactions, though commencement activities scheduled for May 15–16 remain unaffected." "Canvas users at Harvard and other institutions reported system outages, with students turning to social media for updates and support. Faculty had to improvise solutions to help students study and submit assignments without access to the platform. Connolly emphasized the global scale of the breach, highlighting the vulnerability of educational institutions to cyber threats. The incident underscores broader concerns about cybersecurity in academia and beyond.
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