ShinyHunters lays claim to Canvas cyber attack as universities and schools around the world are hit hard
A cyber attack has hit several universities and schools in the US, Canada and Australia, with ShinyHunters claiming responsibility as the academic software Canvas went offline.
On Thursday, Instructure, which owns Canvas, posted an update on its website saying that the solution was "available for most users", but some universities were still reporting outages on Friday. The cyber attacks are believed to have affected an estimated 9,000 institutions.
The hackers are threatening to release personal data, with affected campuses being given until the end of Tuesday, 12th May to comply.
Canvas has more than 30 million active users globally, with 8,000+ institutions as customers, according to Instructure’s website.
The FBI said it was aware of the platform service disruption and advised concerned students and faculty to wait for official guidance from their school “regarding the scope of the incident and the nature of any affected data.” It warned impacted individuals to be wary of potential scammers claiming to have their data.
2026 RTIH Innovation Awards
Cyber security will be a key focus area at our sister title RTIH’s 2026 Innovation Awards.
The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.
Check out the 2025 winners here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
