Cyberattack Disrupts Universities in the US and Other Countries, Exams Suspended

Staff Report: PNN
Major cyberattacks on universities and educational institutions in the United States, Canada, and Australia have caused severe disruptions for students and teachers. Due to the attack, the widely used learning management platform Canvas became non-functional, severely affecting exams, assignment submissions, and online classes.

The hacker group ShinyHunters has claimed responsibility for the attack. They stated that they infiltrated the systems of the platform’s parent company Instructure and threatened to leak data unless a ransom is paid.

Nearly 9,000 educational institutions worldwide use this platform. As a result of the attack, final exams and coursework have been disrupted in many universities. Several institutions have suspended or rescheduled exams.

Mississippi State University postponed its scheduled final exams on Friday. Student Aubrey Palmer said that while submitting a long exam paper, a ransom message suddenly appeared on the screen. Initially, she thought she had been hacked personally, but later realized the entire platform was affected.

The University of Sydney in Australia advised students not to log into the platform. The university authorities stated that academic assignments and exams are being disrupted due to the global cyber incident.

In addition, Idaho State University canceled some scheduled exams. Penn State University said that access to the platform is temporarily unavailable and quick recovery is unlikely.

The University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto in Canada also confirmed the impact of the attack. Similarly, students at the University of California, Los Angeles faced difficulties submitting assignments online.

Meanwhile, the University of Chicago temporarily shut down its Canvas system. Reports in the university’s student newspaper revealed that hackers have attempted covert communication demanding negotiation in exchange for not releasing data.

Experts say that in recent years, educational institutions have become one of the biggest targets of cyberattacks. The increasing reliance on online learning platforms and cloud-based systems is increasing the risk.

US Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer expressed concern over the incident and called for strengthening cybersecurity measures. He warned that attacks on technology-dependent infrastructure could create even larger social and economic crises in the future.