A massive cyber attack by the hacking group ShinyHunters has paralyzed the academic world, forcing thousands of schools and universities to cancel exams and suspend coursework during the critical end-of-year season.
The breach targeted Canvas, a widely used educational software owned by Instructure. The outage has affected an estimated 9,000 institutions across the US, Canada, Australia and beyond. While Instructure reported that services were "available for most" by late Thursday, many major universities including the University of Sydney, Penn State and the University of British Columbia continued to report disruptions on Friday.
Students at Mississippi State University described a harrowing scene where ransom notes appeared on their screens mid-exam. The group has previously targeted Jaguar Land Rover is demanding a Bitcoin ransom and has threatened to leak stolen student and institutional data.
The incident has sparked fresh political debate in Washington. US Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer has urged the administration to bolster defenses against AI-driven cyber risks, describing the situation as a threat to "lives and livelihoods."
Affected universities are currently rescheduling examinations and advising students to ignore suspicious emails while IT teams work to secure their systems.
Note: Information compiled from university official statements (MSU, Sydney, UBC) and reports from the BBC and Associated Press.
