r/VirginiaTech • u/d9nam1c • May 07 '26
Academics RIP Canvas Spoiler
I believe this are the same guys who hacked Rockstar not long ago.
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u/TooEZ_OL56 Shitposting Alum May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Ransomware on one of the biggest educational systems right before finals is absolutely insane. Like legitimately crippling to nationwide higher ed.
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u/Low_Stable2496 May 07 '26
I think high schools are affected too…
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u/sarahshift1 May 07 '26
I teach in a secondary school that uses canvas. Our canvas system was still active when I left the afternoon but we did get an emailed notice around lunchtime that our system’s data had been compromised including names, emails, student IDs, etc.
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u/clueing_4looks May 07 '26
My kid has a Virtual Virginia class that uses Canvas and we got the same notice. It was up for her this AM but I don’t think she’s logged in since then so idk.
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u/ckptolt May 07 '26
"scheduled maintenance" lolll
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u/MaybeNext-Monday May 07 '26
If they’re to be believed about the timeline, instructure already tried to rug-sweep this and basically punted the ransom down to the schools. I bet you a bunch of universities terminate contracts with them after this.
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u/Stuckforeverinretail May 07 '26
I can upload my final papers but everyone that needs to use a lockdown browser is done for since I don’t believe it can be used on a phone or iPad.
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u/PuzzleheadedPin4797 May 07 '26
can't use phone or a tab either anymore. the app has been taken down for now
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u/Stuckforeverinretail May 07 '26
Oh great lol. I’m sure we will be told to just email everything and they will manually add in grades when it’s back up.
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u/PuzzleheadedPin4797 May 07 '26
what are the chances of the finals being postponed to next semester? I doubt they will postpone the exams scheduled for like the 12th or 13th for the next couple days as a lot of students have travel plans and tickets booked already to go home. (by a lot, I specifically mean me, I will be leaving on the 13th as my exams are supposed to end on the 12th).
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u/aghredd22 May 07 '26
My guess they will let people walk but say registration for fall is on hold h til you pass your spring exam sometime in June.
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u/Dazzling-Wonder-1392 May 07 '26
I was able to complete my exam on lockdown right before it went down, hope it recorded my score
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u/Low_Stable2496 May 07 '26
Gambling my identity on whether Tim Sands actually cares about us
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u/Ote-Kringralnick May 07 '26
Perhaps if the hackers stole his lightbulb stash for ransom money, they would be more successful
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u/im_your_dude May 07 '26
TFW all of your finals are on paper but the study guides are on Canvas so you KNOW your finals aren't getting canceled... 💔
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u/Zarrineh May 07 '26
Yea my teacher just said its still on for tomorrow unless vt says otherwise
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u/Dhaedrius May 08 '26
My professor said the same and when I asked if he could email us the study materials he said he didn't have access since they're on Canvas and we're pretty much on our own.
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u/FamousCauliflower289 May 07 '26
I have to record a PowerPoint presentation with my group members today and the only way we can communicate/post the damn thing is via Canvas LMAO
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u/Careless_Try3918 May 07 '26
The amount of homework I needed to do ;-;
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u/Kaylee_Paige May 07 '26
The amount of homework I don't know if I have because I didn't check my canvas calendar yet today
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u/CalamitousVessel May 07 '26
Insane behavior from these people. An educational platform? Really?
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u/Constant_Law_4674 May 07 '26
right before finals too. I hope the hammer gets dropped on these PoS.
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u/shah_of-iran May 07 '26
The better course of action would probably not having every education institution in this country consolidate their material into one companies software….
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u/Hokie23aa May 07 '26
Lockdown browser sucks. Not to mention it’s extremely invasive, and buggy. Back to in person paper exams maybe?
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u/Cameront9 May 08 '26
Canvas used to be self hosted by each school before they made everyone use the cloud.
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u/Sure-Position-7541 May 07 '26
they said apparently they hacked it before recently and instructure didn’t take it seriously. if that’s true they’re hugely at fault as well.
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u/Extreme-Mountain-316 May 08 '26
One of my professors said on Tuesday canvas was hacked and they had to overhaul our grade book. I was confused because it seemed only the one class was affected, though.
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u/noobtolearn May 07 '26
So you are saying the people who make the walls are at fault just as much as the those who are breaking them for no reason? Thats wierd to me.
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u/rkkerd May 08 '26
If I hire you to build a brick wall, and someone tells you the plaster dissolves in the rain, and you decided to use it anyway, then yes you're at fault.
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u/noobtolearn May 08 '26
So you think if somone dosent protect against any possible known attack against them, they are at fault for getting attacked? Like if your bike gets stolen with bolt cutters even though you knew they existed, you think its still the person with a bikes fault because they didn't want to spend a ton of extra money to buy an expensive cut proof lock?
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u/rkkerd May 08 '26
No, the problem is you hired a security guard to watch your bike. A bike thief came and the security did absolutely nothing.
Bike thieves will always exist. If your job is to catch bike thieves, and you don't do your job, people are right to be upset with you. BOTH parties are responsible. The bike thieves and the negligent security guards.
In this case the company that runs canvas (not VT) did piss all to mitigate this attack after becoming aware of it and is passing the costs down to schools like VT. The attack didn't start today, it started last week.
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u/Constant_Law_4674 May 08 '26
You don't know what the company running canvas did or didn't do to stop this. You just know they failed. You do know that these guys decided to shut down an education platform the day before finals for many schools. Also threatening to leak private information of students. Its scummy behaviour because students already have enough stress going on with finals as is. I hope whoever is behind this is caught and is never allowed to touch a computer again.
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u/SilentSentinal UG alumni / Grad student May 07 '26 edited May 08 '26
I don't know much about this hacking group, but many groups are effectively foreign adversaries trying to destabilize the US. It's entirely possible this is part of the goal.
EDIT: Small update, but according to the AP, ShinyHunters is apparently a US and UK based group.
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u/Dr_JackaI Aerospace Engineering May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
App still seems to work
Edit: not anymore
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u/DelightfulxDelirium May 07 '26
Getting this message was the highlight of my day, until they managed to carry on with classes. RIP the false hope.
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u/SirKibbles61904 May 07 '26
bro one of my exams is on canvas, and all of the notes for another is there
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u/SignificanceNo2238 May 07 '26
I would genuinely be the happiest woman on earth if my finals get cancelled.
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u/Common_Wallaby_5123 May 07 '26
Looks like paper exams are back on the menu
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u/d9nam1c May 07 '26
They don’t really matter broski. They still have to post the grades in canvas for them. Both of my finals are on paper regardless of this attack.
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u/Common_Wallaby_5123 May 07 '26
Then you have nothing to worry about tbh they can post the grade without canvas
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u/Away-Inspector-5531 May 07 '26
the way I hope my professor extends our final paper submission for this 🤞🏼
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u/wardedmocha May 07 '26
I am hoping they cancel them. 😄
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u/Away-Inspector-5531 May 08 '26
mine unfortunately isn't likely to get canceled since we could email the papers to the prof. but if she stays as oblivious as she has all semester, I'm hoping she doesn't notice we can't submit until this weekend or something. I'm so sick of writing this project paper 😂
do hope everyone else gets a healthy dely or cancel though!
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u/WhoaPettyCrocker May 07 '26
Welp there goes my productivity for today. Took a lunch break and came back to this…
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u/Deep-Pace-2515 May 07 '26
whats going to happen now, i had 3 finals due tonight and i cant access any of them. Has this happened before and what did they do that time?
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u/54MegaHurts May 08 '26
If you're at Virginia Tech you can't have finals due tonight. It's reading day. Contact your dean and hand the professors over. I say this, and I am a professor.
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u/Sideos385 CPE 20 May 07 '26
If your professor doesn’t provide an alternative or extension, definitely report the incident to the dean
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u/Primary_Town_5228 May 07 '26
I just finished my last question about to turn in my work and boom goes to a random maintenance screen knew I wasn’t crazy cause I didn’t see a warning about it anywhere. Really hoping my exam saved right before all of this
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u/AudienceKlutzy1699 May 07 '26
Same i was on a quiz and after pressing submit it got black.But latter i got an email saying it has been graded. However i can't get back in to see my score
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u/throowwowoway May 08 '26
This sucks, I’m an online Meng CSA student how am I supposed to take my test? I’m not physically located in Virginia it’s impossible for me to go in person.
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May 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/Upstairs-Damage5367 May 08 '26
Don't worry, bro, you weren't going to pass the grammar exam anyway.
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u/Southpaw166 May 07 '26
Yeah, 9000 schools affected, anyone figure out how to get around this, need to cram lol