{
  "id": "2026-05-07-sheridan-college-canvas-cybersecurity-incident",
  "slug": "sheridan-college-canvas-cybersecurity-incident-2026-05-07",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Sheridan College",
    "shortName": "Sheridan",
    "state": "WY",
    "type": "community-college",
    "alertSystemName": "Alert Me"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2026-05-07",
    "type": "cybersecurity",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "resolution": "resolved",
    "headline": "A cyber incident locks Canvas until access is restored",
    "headlinePublic": "A cyber incident locks Canvas until access is restored",
    "summary": "The college updates page said a cybersecurity incident at Canvas's parent company had taken Canvas offline, then said Canvas was accessible that night, then said access was fully restored the next morning.",
    "outcome": "Canvas access was fully restored the next morning."
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2026-05-07T17:30:00-06:00",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "Update\nMay 7, 2026 | 5:30 p.m. MST\n\nWe are aware of a cybersecurity incident involving Instructure, the parent company that operates our learning management system, Canvas. This incident has reportedly affected Canvas users at education institutions worldwide.\n\nAt this time, we are actively reviewing information from Instructure and working with our information technology team to determine additional details regarding the breach. Information that may have been accessed include names, email addresses, and student ID numbers. No passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were involved in this incident.\n\nAt this time, students, faculty, and staff are unable to access Canvas. It is unclear whether the loss of access is related to unauthorized activity or whether access has been temporarily restricted by Canvas/Instructure as part of its response.\n\nWe know this comes at a time when there are important academic deadlines, assignments, and final exams and projects. We are working through individual instructors to determine next steps, as we do not know the extent or timeline of this incident. We ask that you please communicate directly with your instructor regarding all end-of-semester items.\n\nWhile we do not know the full extent or timeline for this incident, please know that our celebration of students on Saturday, May 9, 2026 will continue as planned.\n\n-Dr. Walter Tribley, President",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.sheridan.edu/updates/",
      "sourceDescription": "Sheridan College updates page",
      "characterCount": 1434,
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "confidence": "high",
      "annotations": [
        "The page prints the clock with the label MST. May 2026 in America/Denver is MDT, so the timestamp uses offset -06 for that same wall clock.",
        "Two independent reads matched sha256 0a644a443e26656222ef1ffa30b30fcea496a17eed1fd011e4750a012ad19c64.",
        "No SPN save this batch. Snapshot not requested while other reads were in flight."
      ]
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestamp": "2026-05-07T20:20:00-06:00",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "Update\nMay 7, 2026 | 8:20 p.m. MST\n\nCanvas is accessible for Sheridan College. \n\nThank you for your patience and please continue to monitor this site and/or https://status.instructure.com for any further updates from our vendor, Instructure, on this outage.\n\n-Sheridan College, Information Technology Services",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.sheridan.edu/updates/",
      "sourceDescription": "Sheridan College updates page",
      "characterCount": 309,
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "confidence": "high",
      "annotations": [
        "The page prints the clock with the label MST. May 2026 in America/Denver is MDT, so the timestamp uses offset -06 for that same wall clock.",
        "Two independent reads matched sha256 78e8dfc93e74a7e41b543c9c9deb3c8aedf37a6ede2a875a9647e19e042ee19c.",
        "No SPN save this batch. Snapshot not requested while other reads were in flight."
      ]
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "all-clear",
      "timestamp": "2026-05-08T09:21:00-06:00",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "Update\nMay 8, 2026 | 9:21 a.m. MST\n\nAccess to Canvas has been fully restored for all of our users. We have been in direct communication with Instructure, Canvas’s parent company, which has confirmed that our Canvas system is now fully operational and available for use. We hope this access will continue, but we will continue to work with Instructure and cannot guarantee that there will be no future disruption.\n\nInstructure also indicated through communication with us that there is no evidence that the unauthorized actor obtained account credentials within our institution or accessed additional data.\n\nWhile this is encouraging news, the disruption serves as an important reminder of both the vulnerabilities of technology and the need to maintain appropriate safeguards and backup plans. As an institution, we are reviewing and strengthening our processes based on what we have learned from this incident.\n\nI want to sincerely apologize to those who were unable to access Canvas during finals week. I understand that this may have caused stress or uncertainty, and I regret the impact this disruption had on your work.\n\nFor students with upcoming final exams or project deadlines, Canvas should now be functioning normally. Please continue to communicate directly with your instructors regarding any specific course expectations and to ensure all requirements are completed.\n\nWe will continue to monitor the situation closely and will provide additional updates if necessary.\n\n-Dr. Walter Tribley, President",
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.sheridan.edu/updates/",
      "sourceDescription": "Sheridan College updates page",
      "characterCount": 1513,
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "confidence": "high",
      "annotations": [
        "The page prints the clock with the label MST. May 2026 in America/Denver is MDT, so the timestamp uses offset -06 for that same wall clock.",
        "Two independent reads matched sha256 5b094cc2398633b6b4eb71d8906e46e3858d708e767c4056807fe7b6c626004d.",
        "No SPN save this batch. Snapshot not requested while other reads were in flight."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "context": "All three notices are on the Sheridan College updates page. The incident began the evening of May 7 and the restoration notice is the morning of May 8.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "Canvas was taken offline because of a cybersecurity incident at its parent company.",
    "A later notice the same evening said Canvas was accessible.",
    "The next morning, access was fully restored."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Sheridan College updates, Canvas cybersecurity incident",
      "url": "https://www.sheridan.edu/updates/",
      "type": "official-archive",
      "accessDate": "2026-10-04",
      "archiveUrl": null,
      "archiveNotes": "No SPN save this batch. Snapshot not requested while other reads were in flight. Two reads sha256 0a644a443e26656222ef1ffa30b30fcea496a17eed1fd011e4750a012ad19c64."
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "community-college",
    "wyoming",
    "sheridan",
    "cybersecurity",
    "2026"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-10-04",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-10-04",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}