A hack of Instructure's Canvas locked out students at schools and universities across the US in the middle of finals period; some US colleges postponed exams (Associated Press)

A cyberattack on Instructure's Canvas learning management system disrupted educational operations at multiple US institutions during finals period, forcing some colleges to postpone exams and highlighting critical vulnerabilities in mission-critical SaaS platforms. This incident underscores the business continuity and reputational risks associated with third-party platform dependencies, as well as the cascading impact of security breaches on institutional operations during time-sensitive periods. IT leaders must reassess their incident response protocols, vendor security requirements, and disaster recovery strategies for educational technology infrastructure.