UPDATED: Ongoing cybersecurity incident puts Canvas offline ahead of finals week
UPDATED: Ongoing cybersecurity incident puts Canvas offline ahead of finals week
Publish Date: 2026-05-07 23:10:00
Source Domain: dailyillini.com
Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
UPDATE — Thursday, 9:40 p.m.
Finals and assignments due on Friday, Saturday and Sunday have been postponed due to the cyberattack, according to a Massmail sent Thursday night. It also said the pushback applies to all classes — regardless of Canvas use — for the sake of consistency.
The University emphasized that people should not click on the links at the bottom of the ShinyHunters’ message on Canvas, as they can be a source of malware.
University leaders are meeting with the college deans and the Senate Executive Committee, and they will communicate more details before noon Sunday. When more information becomes available, it can be found here or on the University’s Technology Services Canvas incident webpage.
Instructure has not yet shared information with the University about what specific data is involved in the breach, according to the University.
Previously, it said that certain data, including names, email addresses and student ID numbers, might have been leaked. However, Instructure stated that it has found no evidence that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers or financial information were involved.
UPDATE — Thursday, 7:34 p.m.
The University’s Canvas is offline because of an ongoing cybersecurity incident, and it is currently unknown when the system will come back online.
Some students attempting to access Canvas saw a black screen with a message from ShinyHunters, a criminal extortion group, upon opening the website. The message displayed called for affected universities to negotiate a settlement with the group.
“You have till the end of the day by 12 May 2026 before everything is leaked,” the message read.
According to Patrick Wade, director of executive communications and issues management for the University, the hackers’ message also contained malicious links.
The hackers’ demand has since been replaced by a message from the University’s Strategic Communications and Marketing team, which said the site is “offline due to an ongoing cybersecurity incident” and that they are “awaiting information from Instructure.”
In response to the shutdown, the University sent a Massmail to explain the situation. It said it is waiting for Instructure — the parent company of Canvas — to update when the website will come back online. The mobile app is also offline.
“Members of university leadership are discussing next steps, with sensitivity to the impacts on students and instructors during the final exam period,” the Massmail read.
At 3:41 p.m. CST, Instructure announced it is investigating the issue.
The shutdown is ill-timed: The final exam period begins tomorrow, and some students said they are feeling stressed about the situation.
Anusha Dharia, sophomore in Engineering, said her Canvas stopped working around 3 p.m. on both her laptop and her phone. She said, with four finals left, a final paper due tomorrow and assignments due tonight, the situation is frustrating.
“I feel like our professors aren’t really giving us much guidance because they probably don’t know what to do either,” Dharia said. “(I’m) definitely feeling more stressed because I can’t really access any of my materials needed to study.”
She reported that one professor offered to move an assignment’s due date depending on when the issue is resolved, but that the shutdown is still interfering with her and her friends’ studying plans.
“You don’t know how to plan ahead and how much time you’re really going to get to study because you’re going to be waiting on trying to access Canvas,” Dharia said.
The University is not the only one affected by the Canvas shutdown. The cybersecurity attack has allegedly affected nearly 9,000 other universities. ShinyHunters claimed it has the data of more than 275 million individuals, including students, teachers and other staff members.
The University Senate Executive Committee is holding an emergency meeting tomorrow at 9 a.m. to discuss the situation.
[email protected]
[email protected]
