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Some California colleges, universities impacted by nationwide breach of Canvas

May 7, 2026

Students at some universities and colleges across California — and the nation — are unable to access Canvas, the online learning management platform used for class assignments, tests, and more, amid an apparent large-scale data breach of the platform.

Instructure, the company that manages Canvas, initially reported a cybersecurity incident involving a “criminal threat actor” on May 1. While the company has since taken steps to secure its systems, colleges using Canvas across the nation began reporting that the platform was inaccessible on Friday, May 7.

The California State University system, which serves more than 470,000 students at 23 campuses across the state, said on Friday that Canvas was down for all of its users at all campuses and at the CSU Chancellor’s Office, which is headquartered in Long Beach.

“Instructure is working diligently to gather more information and get systems restored,” the CSU wrote on its website. “This situation is fluid, and we are working with Instructure to determine the full scope of impact and will provide updates as soon as they are available.”

Instructure, in an incident report log posted on May 6, said that some information potential at risk on account of the security breach includes identifying information including names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and messages between Canvas users.

“At this time, we have found no evidence that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were involved. If that changes, we will notify any impacted institutions,” the Instructure log said.

Some social media users posted online Friday, May 7, reporting that their access to Canvas had been blocked — and instead, they were shown messages from the apparent perpetrator of the attack, a group that identified itself as “Shiny Hunters.”

The message, apparently from Shiny Hunters, claims that it will release the data it obtained from affected schools on May 12, 2026, unless Instructure or any of the impacted schools “consult with a cyber advisory firm” and contact Shiny Hunters “privately” to “negotiate a settlement.”

None of the impacted colleges or universities, nor Instructure, have confirmed the identity of the perpetrator of the attack as of around 4 p.m. on Friday, May 7.

California Community Colleges, with more than 100 campuses across the state, is also impacted, according to a message sent from Long Beach City College officials to students on Friday.

“Canvas is currently down for the California Community Colleges system. Instructure, the provider of Canvas, is actively working to resolve this most recent security issue,” the message said. “LBCC Information Technology Services, the Chancellor’s Office, and the California Community Colleges Security Center are monitoring this situation and will provide updates when possible.”

Several colleges, including Santiago Canyon College, California State University Northridge, and others also sent messages to students on Friday advising them about the situation.

University of California campuses also appear to be impacted by the cybersecurity incident.

Maryam Qazi, a UC Irvine student studying art history, was in an afternoon class when her professor alerted her to an “issue” with Canvas.

“I tried to open Canvas, but it’s just inaccessible, you just can’t open it,” Qazi said. “The whole campus is going through it. Everyone is talking about it.”

Canvas, Qazi said, is the “crux” of how UCI students get their work done. A portal for submitting assignments, adding discussion posts, taking tests and quizzes and even viewing grades, professor feedback and course syllabi — ”all of that is so specific to Canvas,” Qazi said.

And for UCI students, who operate under the quarter system, “we are just finishing up midterm week, so there’s still stuff needing to be done,” she added.

“I have another paper due this Saturday,” she said, “so even if it’s down for another 24 hours, we are going to have a bunch of problems.”

The CSU and California Community Colleges, meanwhile, have established websites to provide updates on the incident.

They can be accessed at lts.calstate.edu/csu-canvas-incident-reports and cccsecuritycenter.org/updates/canvas.php.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

Orange County Register

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Some California colleges, universities impacted by nationwide breach of Canvas

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