On May 7, Instructure, the developer of Canvas, was hacked by a group called “ShinyHunters.” A message appeared on the platform around 1 p.m. stating that they had breached the platform and preventing EWU students from accessing any class material.
The breach comes as students are in the middle of midterms.
“Shiny Hunters has breached Instructure (again),” the message said. “Instead of contacting us to resolve it they ignored us and did some ‘security patches.’ If any of the schools in the affected list are interested in preventing the release of their data, please consult with a cyber advisory firm and contact us privately at TOX to negotiate a settlement. … Instructure has until EOD (end of day) 12 May 2026 to contact us.”
The message disappeared about 20 minutes later and was replaced by a screen that reads, “Canvas is now experiencing scheduled maintenance. Check back with us later.”
According to a press release on Inside EWU from May 6, the school was made aware by Instructure that a hack may affect the school in the coming days.
A story published on Inside Higher Ed states that ShinyHunters has previously breached Google and TicketMaster’s systems, stealing data from them.
The Easterner has reviewed an email circulated by Gonzaga University that indicates nearly 9,000 schools have been hacked nationwide.
When reached for comment shortly after Canvas went down, EWU spokesperson Linn Parish said he would call the Easterner back with more information. We will update this story when he does.
