Canvas breach disrupts students' access to study materials; Columbia among schools impacted
MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, Manhattan (WABC) -- With final exams approaching, students at Columbia University say a reported data breach affecting the Canvas learning platform is adding stress at the worst possible time.
Canvas, widely used by colleges to share assignments, course materials and messages, has been disrupted after what its parent company described as a cybersecurity incident. Students said the outage has limited their access to essential study resources.
"I do have science and psychology next week actually so that will actually impact because the slides are all uploaded on Canvas," senior Zion James said.
Sophomore Jerry Yan echoed that concern, saying, "I really like need the materials on it because all my lecture materials are on it so I really need access to it."
Infrastructure, Canvas' parent company, reported on May 2 that it had been affected by a "cybersecurity incident perpetrated by a criminal threat actor."
The breach may have exposed personal information including names, email addresses, phone numbers, student ID numbers and internal messages, according to cybersecurity expert Rachel Tobac.
Tobac said that while hackers are not claiming to have passwords, the information they do have could still be used to craft convincing phishing attempts.
"You can kind of imagine after this kind of attack you get an email or text from someone who claims to be your professor saying hey you need to finish your exam right now - click here," said Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security. "It's kind of custom made for you because they have so much information about you because of this data breach."
Several university news outlets have reported being affected by the breach. Columbia posted a message on X on Thursday night saying, "The university is aware of widespread issues impacting Canvas and is actively investigating."
Students said the outage is especially disruptive during exam preparation.
"I think it's second nature to hop onto Canvas and everything is there," James said.
Asked whether moments like this make him wish for physical textbooks again, she said, "I don't think so, it's just so convenient not having to carry anything around everything just being on your computer."
Tobac said online education tools are frequent targets for hackers and recommended keeping software updated and avoiding password reuse to reduce risk.
----------
* Get Eyewitness News Delivered
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts on the go
* Download our connected TV app
Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
