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Harvard, MIT Hit: Instructure Ransom Deadline Looms
7 May
Summary
- ShinyHunters claims Instructure attack impacted nearly 9,000 schools.
- Elite universities like Harvard and tech firms are among the victims.
- Ransom is due May 7, with 47 million students facing data exposure.
Elite universities, including Harvard, MIT, Oxford, and Stanford, may have had their sensitive data compromised in a recent cyberattack targeting Instructure, the provider of the popular Canvas learning platform. The hacking group ShinyHunters has escalated its pressure on Instructure by releasing more details about the breach.
ShinyHunters reports that over 8,800 educational institutions across 10 countries, including the US, Australia, the UK, and Sweden, were affected. Beyond universities, major tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Cisco are also listed as potential victims. The group claims to have stolen personal conversations and other Personally Identifiable Information (PII).
The deadline for Instructure to meet the ransom demand is May 7, 2026. Should the company fail to pay, an estimated 47 million students face the risk of their sensitive data being exposed. Instructure has confirmed that attackers accessed user identifying information such as names and email addresses, but stated that passwords and financial data were not compromised. The company has taken steps to mitigate the threat by revoking credentials and access tokens.
