Students criticise Adelaide University's communication over Canvas cybersecurity breach

Adelaide University students criticized the institution’s delayed and unclear communication after a cybersecurity breach on the Canvas learning platform last week impacted thousands of global educational institutions. The breach, attributed to the hacking group ShinyHunters, disrupted access to course materials and assessments, with Adelaide University restoring access by 5pm on a recent day, while Flinders University expected full restoration later." "article": "Adelaide University and Flinders University were among nearly 9,000 institutions worldwide affected by a cybersecurity breach on the Canvas learning platform last week. The hack, carried out by the group ShinyHunters, forced universities to temporarily shut down access, leaving students unable to retrieve course materials or submit assessments. Adelaide University confirmed Canvas was back online by 5pm the day after the breach, while Flinders University expected full restoration later. However, students criticized the university’s communication, describing it as unclear and delayed. Second-year mechanical engineering student Ethan Brown said he only learned of the breach through friends and news articles, not from the university directly. Shannon Schmidt, a second-year international relations and arts student, called the incident ‘not ideal’ and questioned why universities rely on a single third-party provider like Canvas, which left them vulnerable. His friend, linguistics student Bailey Fry, noted that students were ‘very stressed’ due to the outage, particularly those with upcoming tests, and criticized the university’s ‘poorly managed’ response. Bachelor of Music Theatre students Gemma Vu and Taylor Schwartz echoed concerns, describing the disruption as ‘massive’ and expressing frustration over the lack of proactive communication. The breach follows recent issues tied to Adelaide University’s merger with the University of South Australia, adding to student frustrations. Canvas, developed by U.S.-based Instructure, is used by educational institutions globally. In some cases, hackers demanded ransom payments from affected users. The incident has raised questions about the security of third-party learning platforms and the need for universities to improve cybersecurity measures.