A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION Vol. 144, Issue 11
@roundupnews
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Canvas restored after ShinyHunters hack causes global chaos
Students spent the weekend uncertain about quizzes, assignments and finals prep
Screenshot by Brianna Fuerte/ Roundup News
By Brianna Fuerte Online Editor
A
fter four days of disruption, the learning management system Canvas was restored Sunday to colleges and universities, including Pierce College. A group known as ShinyHunters shut down the learning platform Canvas on
May 7, preventing students from more than 9,000 schools worldwide logging in and completing assignments. ShinyHunters threatened all data to be leaked if no negotiations for a settlement occurred by May 12, 2026, which Canvas creator Instructure paid one day before the deadline, according to Inside Higher Ed. ShinyHunters is a threat actor group that rose in 2020,
with data theft of more than 200 million records stolen from 13 companies, according to Bugcrowd. The first attack occurred on Friday, May 1, according to Instructure’s Chief Security Officer Steve Proud, who confirmed that Canvas was having “disturbances” during that time, according to the status updates page posted by Instructure. “Instructure recently experienced a cybersecurity incident perpetrated by a criminal threat actor. We are actively investigating this incident with the help of outside forensics experts. We are working quickly to understand the extent of the incident and actively taking steps to minimize its impact,” Proud said. On Saturday, May 2, Instructure posted an update that the issue had been contained, and by Tuesday, May 6, Canvas appeared to be fully operational with no ongoing threats and no further updates were to be made. But, a message from ShinyHunters took over the screen on May 7, which read “ShinyHunters has breached Instructure (again). Instead of contacting us to resolve it they ignored us and did some ‘security patches.’” They continued the message demanding settlement negotiations, and if any schools affected wanted to negotiate, they should message them privately. Chief Information Security Officer Patrick Luce, at the Los Angeles Community College District, addressed the attack on Canvas while ensuring the LACCD internal system was not exposed. “This afternoon, LACCD,
students and faculty have received screens in Canvas that state the attackers have stolen LACCD data from Instructure. If you are logged into Canvas, log out immediately. We will provide updates as more information becomes available,” Luce said. “There is currently no evidence that LACCD’s internal system has been compromised.” Luce also mentioned, for caution, the Student Information System (SIS) was temporarily shut down until further notice. Distance Education
SPORTS
Baseball playoff run ends.
Infielder JJ Fagfoomsintu (#1) tosses a ball in a game against Fullerton College at Hornet Field on the Fullerton College campus in Fullerton, Calif., on May 7, 2026
CAMPUS
REVIEW
Academic Senate
ASO Denim Day
French comedy “A Flea in Her Ear”
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Lesa Greenfield / Roundup News
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Javier Ramirez / Roundup News
NEWS
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Coordinator at Pierce Wendy Bass-Keer told faculty they will be updated as more information is released. “At this time, we ask for your patience as the District works closely with Instructure to gather accurate information and determine next steps,” Bass-Keer said. “We will share updates and guidance as soon as official information becomes available.” As of May 12, Canvas is running normally and there seems to be no disturbances on the website or app.
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Lesa Greenfield / Roundup News
Javier Ramirez/ Roundup News