College and university students across the country are unable to access Canvas by Instructure, a widely used education portal, due to a data breach. Assignments, education tools and grades can all be found on Canvas.According to the University of California, Instructure notified them of a data breach affecting thousands of institutions. “We are in close communication with Instructure and are actively coordinating with UC location cybersecurity partners to monitor the situation,” the University of California said. “As always, we encourage our community members to remain vigilant and exercise caution regarding potential phishing attempts. Watch for unexpected messages that seem to come from UC. The university will never ask for passwords, Social Security numbers, birthdates, or bank account information through email, text, or phone calls.”The entire California Community College system uses Canvas, according to Los Rios Community College, who told KCRA 3 their students and faculty have been impacted. A Sacramento State student submitted a screenshot of what it looks like when you try to login to the Canvas portal. The screenshot shows a black screen with a message from a cybercrime group called ShinyHunters that reads in part, “Shinyhunters has breached Instructure (again). Instead of contacting us to resolve it they ignored us and did some ‘security patches.'”The message warns that Instructure has until the end of May 12, 2026 to contact them and has a link to “impacted schools.” Schools on that list are being prompted by the hackers to “consult with a cyber advisory firm and contact us privately” in order to reach a settlement agreement before “everything is leaked.” KCRA 3 has reached out to multiple universities regarding the hack.Updates on the status of Canvas can be found here.
College and university students across the country are unable to access Canvas by Instructure, a widely used education portal, due to a data breach. Assignments, education tools and grades can all be found on Canvas.
According to the University of California, Instructure notified them of a data breach affecting thousands of institutions.
“We are in close communication with Instructure and are actively coordinating with UC location cybersecurity partners to monitor the situation,” the University of California said. “As always, we encourage our community members to remain vigilant and exercise caution regarding potential phishing attempts. Watch for unexpected messages that seem to come from UC. The university will never ask for passwords, Social Security numbers, birthdates, or bank account information through email, text, or phone calls.”
The entire California Community College system uses Canvas, according to Los Rios Community College, who told KCRA 3 their students and faculty have been impacted.
A Sacramento State student submitted a screenshot of what it looks like when you try to login to the Canvas portal.
The screenshot shows a black screen with a message from a cybercrime group called ShinyHunters that reads in part, “Shinyhunters has breached Instructure (again). Instead of contacting us to resolve it they ignored us and did some ‘security patches.'”
The message warns that Instructure has until the end of May 12, 2026 to contact them and has a link to “impacted schools.” Schools on that list are being prompted by the hackers to “consult with a cyber advisory firm and contact us privately” in order to reach a settlement agreement before “everything is leaked.”
KCRA 3 has reached out to multiple universities regarding the hack.
Updates on the status of Canvas can be found here.