Uncertainty for UBC summer students after cyberattack

Post-secondary institutions in B.C. are among those impacted after a global cyberattack on a popular learning management system.

Students taking summer classes at the University of British Columbia are facing uncertainty following a cybersecurity breach at education technology company Instructure.

The school’s first summer term officially begins on May 11, and many classes are delivered through the online learning management system Canvas, owned and operated by Instructure.

For students taking online classes, all material is delivered through Canvas, including class content and assignment details.

• Related: ‘Cybersecurity incident’ impacted universities across Canada

With no projected timeframe for the restoration of services, students are scrambling for answers on whether summer courses will go ahead as planned.

“The university is working to maintain learning continuity for courses starting next week and will be contacting affected community members in the coming days,” the school’s IT department posted on its website.

UBC is encouraging all students to log out of Canvas and change their passwords if they logged in after noon on Thursday. Anyone who is currently trying to log in will be redirected to UBC’s IT website.

B.C.’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) said in a statement that it’s aware of the issue and will continue to monitor it.

“The OIPC has reached out to its federal and provincial counterparts to discuss and evaluate the national and international implications of this event,” the OIPC statement read.

The cyberattack was reportedly orchestrated by hacker and extortion group ShinyHunters, which formed in 2019.

The group is most notorious for its months-long campaign to acquire data from Salesforce employees through voice phishing scams. In each case, the group has demanded payment under the threat of data leaks.

There have been no updates from UBC since Thursday afternoon.