Instructure, an edtech company widely known for its popular learning platform, Canvas LMS, suffered a major setback after the hacking group known as ShinyHunters reportedly breached its systems twice, causing disruptions across its platform.
The attack temporarily made Canvas LMS inaccessible to teachers, students, and staff who rely on the platform for academic activities. According to reports, the hackers were only able to access basic user information, while sensitive academic records and vital personal details were not compromised.
The outage affected more than 1,000 schools across the United States, disrupting ongoing academic sessions and halting several learning activities dependent on the platform.
In response to the incident, Instructure temporarily disabled its “Free for Teachers” feature, which investigators believe was exploited by the attackers to carry out the breach. The company is also working alongside cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike to conduct forensic investigations, strengthen system security, and ensure better protection of user data moving forward.