Access to an online learning platform used by universities and schools in Texas and across the U.S. has been suspended following a cyber security data breach Thursday that has left many local and statewide institutions unable to use the software.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The online program, used to manage grades, course notes, assignments, lecture videos and more, was hacked by a group known as ShinyHunters, the Associated Press reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n In\u00a0an alert posted Thursday<\/a> evening, Instructure, the company that owns the software program, said Canvas has been placed in maintenance mode and will be up soon. Several North Texas universities, including Southern Methodist University, the University of North Texas System,\u00a0Baylor University, and Tarrant County College, have been impacted.<\/p>\n In a campus email sent Thursday and reviewed by The Dallas Morning News,\u00a0SMU officials said the nationwide Canvas outage prompted them to reschedule final exams originally set for Friday, May 8, to be postponed until Sunday, May 10.<\/p>\n Baylor University posted an online notice<\/a> saying the learning platform is unavailable as a part of a nationwide issue and their teams are monitoring the situation. Provost Nancy\u00a0Brickhouse\u00a0said in an update<\/a> that the university has\u00a0delayed final exams scheduled for Friday and will provide an update by noon tomorrow about exams scheduled for Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n “At this time, we do not know how long Canvas will be unavailable. It could be hours or it could be days,” Brickhouse said in the notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n