Canvas cyberattack leaves many DC-area school systems without service
Canvas cyberattack leaves many DC-area school systems without service
A cyberattack on the Canvas learning management system left thousands of schools and universities offline Thursday, disrupting access to grades, assignments, course materials and lecture videos as students prepared for finals.
WASHINGTON - A cyberattack on the Canvas learning management system left thousands of schools and universities offline Thursday, disrupting access to grades, assignments, course materials and lecture videos as students prepared for finals.
The hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach, according to the Associated Press. Instructure, the company behind Canvas, did not immediately respond to questions about whether the system was taken down as a precaution or knocked offline, the AP reported.
READ MORE: Canvas outage impacts thousands of schools, universities: Hacker group reportedly takes credit
The hacking group posted online that nearly 9,000 schools worldwide were affected, with billions of private messages and other records accessed. Many school systems and universities in the Washington, D.C., region rely on Canvas as their primary learning management system.
In Montgomery County, school officials said access to the platform will remain unavailable "out of an abundance of caution" while they work to understand the impact of the incident and any potential vulnerabilities. Families were urged not to log in until MCPS and the myMCPS Classroom vendor resolve the issue.
The University of Maryland and Prince George’s County Schools said Canvas service was restored on Friday.
Canvas Cyberattack DC-Area School Systems Affected
While Instructure has brought Canvas back online, several school districts in the DMV say they will not restore access to the platform yet out of an abundance of caution. Below are the latest statements from districts in the area.
Montgomery County Public Schools
The district continues to respond to a massive cybersecurity incident involving Canvas, the platform that powers myMCPS Classroom. Although the vendor, Instructure, reports that core services have been restored, and some universities and school districts are reconnecting to Canvas, MCPS is not. Here is why: There isn’t sufficient assurance from the vendor (and limited communication) that the problems have been truly addressed. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution regarding our data, MCPS technology and cybersecurity staff will continue to review system integrity and assess potential vulnerabilities before restoring access.
The plan is to restore service to teachers only late on Sunday and through Monday so that MCPS educators can examine their files and access learning materials. Then, throughout the day on Monday, we will determine if the system is safe to restore for student access.
While the outage creates a fairly significant inconvenience, teaching and learning continue across the district.
Anne Arundel County Public Schools
While Instructure has brought the Canvas Learning Management System back online, Anne Arundel County Public Schools – out of an abundance of caution – will not do so at this time. All schools will operate on normal schedules but without Canvas access on Monday, May 11.
Prince William County Public Schools
We are aware of the error appearing when accessing Canvas and are actively working with the vendor to resolve it. The issue is not just impacting PWCS, and is widespread and national in scope. We will provide updates when the vendor has resolved the issue.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Associated Press and previous FOX 5 reporting.