A significant cybersecurity incident disrupted access to educational resources for students across numerous institutions, including the University of California and California State University systems, on Thursday. The breach, which affected Canvas—a widely used digital platform—displayed a ransom note on various schools' homepages, alarming students during finals week.
Officials from UC and Cal State are actively monitoring the situation as Instructure, the company that operates Canvas, works to restore normal service. Despite the widespread impact, UC Berkeley reported that it was not a primary target of the attack. The university advised its students via a community email to refrain from using Canvas until further instructions were provided.
In the wake of the breach, Acalanes Union High School District also communicated with families about the incident, urging them to avoid suspicious online activity. Instructure, which claims to serve over 8,000 educational institutions, noted that approximately half of college students in North America utilize Canvas or its Career platform. This incident marks the second data breach attributed to the hacking group ShinyHunters this month, which has called for ransoms to prevent further data leaks.