Harvard, Princeton Portals Disrupted by Canvas Service Hack

Hackers briefly took down an online portal used by thousands of colleges around the world, disrupting services at institutions from Harvard and Princeton in the US to the University of Manchester in the UK and the Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile.

Instructure Inc., which runs the Canvas service used by students to take tests and get grades, said it was forced to suspend the portal after a May 1 infiltration by a “criminal threat actor.” The perpetrators exploited a vulnerability in a specific account for teachers, the company said, gaining access to some of its websites. The KKR & Co.-owned company restored much of the service Thursday, though the teacher accounts remain suspended for now.