Canvas back up and running for local students following cyberattack that impacted schools nationwide
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Universities and school systems across the nation are dealing with a cyberattack.
Canvas, a popular cloud-based digital hub for classrooms, is being targeted.
Students we spoke with say issues with Canvas started on Monday, May 4, and while it's up and running now, some students say it was concerning to see hackers post a message demanding ransom.
“Canvas went down around like 4 o’clock, while I was doing some assignments, which sucked because I was doing a project and I lost all my data while doing it," said Ayaan Mirza, a sophomore at Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE).
More than 8,000 institutions use the service, including UW-Milwaukee and MSOE. Many schools reported seeing a ransom note on the homepage of their Canvas sites. The message came from a hacking group calling itself "ShinyHunters."
“I was texting a lot of my high school friends and people around here, like I hope this really doesn't extend or drag out because it would’ve been very problematic," said Ian Frangiamore, a sophomore at MSOE.
The group claims it obtained data from the schools and threatened to leak the information unless affected schools paid a ransom by next Tuesday.
Some students say while they were worried about the data leak, most personal information in Canvas is limited.
“Canvas doesn’t really have anything important. I mean, it just has my grades, my name. Unless the hackers want to change my grades," said Mirza.
In a statement sent to CBS 58, MSOE wrote in part, “Our IT team took proactive steps to protect our local information in the system….Faculty have contingency plans in place for any potential future interruptions.”
At UW-Milwaukee, instructors postponed several assignments.
“Our professors were going to postpone any late work and that there would be a grace period," said Nevaeh Gomez, a senior at UW-Milwaukee.
Gomez says many deadlines were extended because of the hack, and some teachers actually just opted to use standard bluebook testing.
Students are encouraged to look out for phishing emails following this ransomware hack.