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ShinyHunters Claim New Canvas Breach Prompting Maintenance Mode

The extortion threat puts student data at risk during finals week.

Overview

  • Students at schools including the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, and the University of Oklahoma saw a ransom note on their Canvas pages Thursday.
  • Instructure put the system into maintenance mode and said it is investigating after the interruption blocked access to courses, grades, and quizzes.
  • The hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility and set a May 12 deadline, threatening to publish stolen data unless payment is negotiated.
  • Instructure previously disclosed a separate May 1 breach that exposed usernames, email addresses, and student ID numbers.
  • The outage lands during spring finals on a platform that Instructure says serves about 30 million users at roughly 8,000 institutions, raising the risk of missed exams and grading delays.