Here is the information we received from Instructure concerning this downtime:
"We are writing to inform you of a significant update in a recent Canvas security incident that specifically impacted your institution.
On May 7, an unauthorized actor made changes to the pages that appeared when some students and teachers were logged in. We quickly identified this unauthorized activity and immediately took steps to contain it, including temporarily taking Canvas offline into maintenance mode as a precaution to prevent further unauthorized access. Working in coordination with our independent forensics partner, we have found no evidence that the unauthorized actor established persistence, obtained credentials for accounts within your institution, or exfiltrated any additional data.
Additionally, we have confirmed that the unauthorized actor carried out this activity by exploiting an issue related to our Free-For-Teacher accounts. The entry point for the incident last week was also through the Free-For-Teacher accounts. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily shut down our Free-For-Teacher accounts.
This decision was not made lightly. Our priority is to protect all Canvas users and ensure the platform's security and integrity. Free-For-Teacher accounts have been a core part of our platform and we are committed to resolving the issues with these accounts. While we work through these issues, shutting down our Free-For-Teacher accounts gives us the confidence to restore access to Canvas, which is now fully back online and available for use.
We are working around the clock to resolve this matter, provide you with transparency about this incident, and deliver the best educational experience possible. We will continue to keep you informed as more information becomes available. Please visit http://www.instructure.com/incident_update for the latest updates.
Sincerely, Steve Daly Chief Executive Officer Instructure"
Posted May 08, 2026 - 05:41 EDT
Investigating
We have been informed by Instructure that Canvas is currently experiencing a widespread outage and is unavailable. We are monitoring Instructure's status updates but currently do not have any information about how long the outage may last. We will update system status here as we learn more. Thanks for your patience.
Posted May 07, 2026 - 18:21 EDT
This incident affected: Teaching and Learning Systems - Canvas, Library, DoOO, Sites@UMW, Lab Printing (Canvas).