What does a Howard County eighth-grader have in common with college students at Harvard or Johns Hopkins?They couldn’t get into Canvas because of hacking.| MORE: What we know about the Canvas hack impacting thousands of schoolsStudents in the Howard County Public Schools System who went to their grades on Canvas were still getting a big red error message because the online student learning platform used by thousands of colleges, universities and local school systems had been hacked amid an ongoing ransomware attack.”Canvas is one of the most popular education tech software (tools) that a lot of schools use,” said Bill Sieglein, a cybersecurity expert. “This will be incredibly disruptive, and I don’t know what the school systems are going to do.” Sieglein told WBAL-TV 11 News that the ransomware attack was launched by a threat group called “shinyhunters” more than a week ago. “About 9,000 schools are their customers, and technically, the attack happened at the parent company that wrote all the software. It’s called Instructure, but that doesn’t really matter to the end consumer because it’s Canvas that was affected,” Sieglein told WBAL-TV 11 News. Out of caution, many school districts — including those in Anne Arundel, Harford and Howard counties — shut the whole thing down and sent word to explain why.Instructure said student names and email addresses may have been exposed but there’s no evidence that passwords, dates of birth or financial information was compromised in the hack.| MORE: Canvas cybersecurity breach impacts US colleges, universitiesBy Friday afternoon, Canvas had been restored at some schools, including the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University.”Some faculty members actually complained they are trying to submit to the like final grade, but they cannot,” Yinzhi Cao, a cybersecurity expert with the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute, told WBAL-TV 11 News. “The panic is more coming from the disruption rather than really the consequence.”Schools said they’ll reach out to students with next steps.Sieglein said anyone who has a Canvas account should change their password.Anne Arundel County Public Schools(Thursday night)”Due to the ongoing issues with the Canvas Learning Management System, AACPS will operate schools on Friday, May 8, 2026, without the use of the LMS. The Virtual Academy will also remain open with altered instructional delivery that will also not use the LMS. Further instructions will be communicated from the school principal. The latest information regarding the breach and the status of school district operations can be found at www.aacps.org/canvasbreach.”Harford County Public Schools(Thursday night)”Due to a security breach at Canvas, and activity some users are experiencing when accessing the platform in districts around the country, HCPS is proactively removing access to Canvas while the issue is being addressed. “During this time, users are unable to access Canvas. Additional information will be shared as it becomes available.”Howard County Public Schools System(Thursday night)”Due to continuing issues related to the Instructure/Canvas security breach, HCPSS-user access to Canvas remains turned off. HCPSS staff are working to get more information from Instructure to ensure all services are confirmed to be safe for use.”Students, parents/guardians and staff should not attempt to access Canvas via a computer browser or mobile application.”Students should follow the directions of their teachers to understand how their teachers may continue providing academic resources. They may provide resources via Google Drive, Microsoft 365 (secondary students, email accounts, OneDrive, and SharePoint), Clever applications, and other services.”University of Maryland, College Park(Friday social media post from police)”Canvas is Restored. Following an assessment by the Division of IT, access is being fully restored at UMD. We remain vigilant in assessing this situation and ask that you report any issues you may notice while using the platform to itsupport@umd.edu. Continue to check it.umd.edu for more.”
What does a Howard County eighth-grader have in common with college students at Harvard or Johns Hopkins?
They couldn’t get into Canvas because of hacking.
| MORE: What we know about the Canvas hack impacting thousands of schools
Students in the Howard County Public Schools System who went to their grades on Canvas were still getting a big red error message because the online student learning platform used by thousands of colleges, universities and local school systems had been hacked amid an ongoing ransomware attack.
“Canvas is one of the most popular education tech software (tools) that a lot of schools use,” said Bill Sieglein, a cybersecurity expert. “This will be incredibly disruptive, and I don’t know what the school systems are going to do.”
Sieglein told WBAL-TV 11 News that the ransomware attack was launched by a threat group called “shinyhunters” more than a week ago.
“About 9,000 schools are their customers, and technically, the attack happened at the parent company that wrote all the software. It’s called Instructure, but that doesn’t really matter to the end consumer because it’s Canvas that was affected,” Sieglein told WBAL-TV 11 News.
Out of caution, many school districts — including those in Anne Arundel, Harford and Howard counties — shut the whole thing down and sent word to explain why.
Instructure said student names and email addresses may have been exposed but there’s no evidence that passwords, dates of birth or financial information was compromised in the hack.
| MORE: Canvas cybersecurity breach impacts US colleges, universities
By Friday afternoon, Canvas had been restored at some schools, including the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University.
“Some faculty members actually complained they are trying to submit to the like final grade, but they cannot,” Yinzhi Cao, a cybersecurity expert with the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute, told WBAL-TV 11 News. “The panic is more coming from the disruption rather than really the consequence.”
Schools said they’ll reach out to students with next steps.
Sieglein said anyone who has a Canvas account should change their password.
Anne Arundel County Public Schools
(Thursday night)
“Due to the ongoing issues with the Canvas Learning Management System, AACPS will operate schools on Friday, May 8, 2026, without the use of the LMS. The Virtual Academy will also remain open with altered instructional delivery that will also not use the LMS. Further instructions will be communicated from the school principal. The latest information regarding the breach and the status of school district operations can be found at www.aacps.org/canvasbreach.”
Harford County Public Schools
(Thursday night)
“Due to a security breach at Canvas, and activity some users are experiencing when accessing the platform in districts around the country, HCPS is proactively removing access to Canvas while the issue is being addressed.
“During this time, users are unable to access Canvas. Additional information will be shared as it becomes available.”
Howard County Public Schools System
(Thursday night)
“Due to continuing issues related to the Instructure/Canvas security breach, HCPSS-user access to Canvas remains turned off. HCPSS staff are working to get more information from Instructure to ensure all services are confirmed to be safe for use.
“Students, parents/guardians and staff should not attempt to access Canvas via a computer browser or mobile application.
“Students should follow the directions of their teachers to understand how their teachers may continue providing academic resources. They may provide resources via Google Drive, Microsoft 365 (secondary students, email accounts, OneDrive, and SharePoint), Clever applications, and other services.”
University of Maryland, College Park
(Friday social media post from police)
“Canvas is Restored. Following an assessment by the Division of IT, access is being fully restored at UMD. We remain vigilant in assessing this situation and ask that you report any issues you may notice while using the platform to itsupport@umd.edu. Continue to check it.umd.edu for more.”
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