Higher education campuses throughout the Inland Empire were recovering Friday from a wide-scale cyber attack that prompted a shutdown of online systems students utilize to access final exams and other resources.
“Canvas is now live and can be used by the Cal State San Bernardino campus community,” according to a statement released by administrators at the main and Palm Desert facilities Friday. “We ask that you continue to exercise caution during this time and report any suspicious activity immediately.”
The Canvas learning management system is widely employed by U.S. colleges and universities to record grades, distribute assignments and provide other means for students and faculty to network.
Signs of unauthorized access to the system appeared over the weekend, and by the beginning of the week, thousands of campuses throughout the country — including most or all of those in the inland region — were impacted, forcing the shutdown, according to published reports.
The hacking group ShinyHunters, which authorities characterized as loosely affiliated teens and young adults with a penchant for cyber raids, took credit for the intrusions.
Reports indicated that students’ private messages and other personal information were likely compromised.
“Moreno Valley College, Norco College and Riverside City College have been affected by the disruption of services caused by the recent cyber attack of the Canvas system,” Riverside Community College District Chancellor Wolde-Ab Isaac said in a statement released to City News Service Friday. “Out of an abundance of caution, some student services and online instruction via Canvas have been suspended through the weekend.”
“Only the Canvas system was affected by the attack,” he added. “Other college software and systems are still fully operational, and in-person classes have not been affected. The colleges are taking a careful, phased approach to restoring access to help ensure systems and user information remain secure for our students and faculty. We do not anticipate that final exam schedules will be affected.”
The College of the Desert in Palm Desert was reportedly also gradually re-activating its Canvas system Friday, as well as UC Riverside, according to the campus’ web portal, which referred to Instructure, the education technology company that operates Canvas, for all updates.
The outage also affected Mt. San Jacinto College and its satellite campus in Menifee. But as of Friday, Canvas operations had been restored, officials said.
“Students and faculty should now be able to successfully access Canvas and resume normal instructional activities,” MSJC said on its website. “We understand the disruption this outage caused, particularly during a critical point in the semester, and we appreciate everyone’s patience.”
The hackers have reportedly sent messages threatening to release loads of student data unless payments in unspecified amounts were made. Authorities have informed recipients not to respond to the extortion threats, which cited deadlines around May 12.
ShinyHunters is also tied to hack attacks against Live Nation, AT&T and Salesforce.
It was unclear whether a federal investigation had been initiated in the wake of this week’s cyber attack.