Educational technology company Instructure which developed the hugely popular learning management system Canvas  which is used by school districts and universities around the world has confirmed that it suffered a data breach earlier this month in which as many as 275 million records of its users were compromised.  The notorious ransomware gang ShinyHunters has claimed responsibility for the data breach and has publicly shared a list of 8,809 school districts, universities and online education platforms from which they claim to have information.  Fortunately, the data breach does not appear at this time to have included passwords, dates of birth or financial information such as credit card data.

TIPS

Even though it presently appears that passwords were not compromised, it would be prudent for anyone affected by the data breach to change their password.  You should make sure that you have a unique password for each of your online accounts so that if one of your passwords is compromised in a data breach, all of your accounts will not be in danger. Dual factor authentication should also be set up if it is not already being used.

If you have not already done so, set up dual factor authentication for each of your accounts where it is available. This will protect you from having those accounts stolen by someone who may have access to your password.

Finally, be wary of calls, emails or text messages that appear to be related to the data breach, particularly communications asking for personal information in regard to data breaches as that is a favorite tactic of  hackers to lure you into providing personal information that can lead to your becoming a victim of identity theft.  Scammers often pose as the breached company and contact victims of the data breach to convince them to provide personal information. As always, don’t click on any links in emails or text messages related to the data breach which may be from scammers.  Instead go to your school’s Canvas account directly or to your school’s website for information you can trust.

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