Critical incident

IT: Instructure Security Incident & Canvas Update

Affected: Canvas

Current status of IT: Minor issues — live IT status

Timeline

1. May 4, 2026, 14:42 UTC
   monitoring
   NU ITS is aware of a nationwide cybersecurity incident involving Canvas, the university’s learning management system. We are actively monitoring our instances of Canvas as well as updates from Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, to assess any potential impact to university services. This is a vendor-driven, nationwide event affecting multiple institutions. At present, the University of Nebraska has not been notified of any direct impact to our campuses. However, we thought it was important that you were made aware of this situation. NU ITS will continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates as new information emerges. Canvas remains available and operational to University of Nebraska students, faculty, and staff. NU ITS routinely communicates the current status of common technologies used in teaching via the status bar on canvas.nebraska.edu . Instructure is also sharing periodic updates about this incident on their status page .
2. May 7, 2026, 20:22 UTC
   monitoring
   We are aware that a threat actor has interrupted access to Instructure Canvas and is currently preventing some users from accessing and authenticating to the service.
3. May 7, 2026, 20:36 UTC
   investigating
   We are aware that a threat actor has interrupted access to Instructure Canvas and is currently preventing some users from accessing and authenticating to the service. ITS has received confirmation from Instructure that they are aware of the problem and are actively working to resolve it.
4. May 7, 2026, 21:33 UTC
   investigating
   On Thursday afternoon, Canvas users around the world, including users at all four NU campuses, experienced interruptions to access. Canvas remains unavailable across the University of Nebraska. The university is in contact with Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, and will update the NU community as more information is available. For updates, visit status.nebraska.edu.
5. May 8, 2026, 13:36 UTC
   investigating
   While Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, has taken steps to restore access, the University of Nebraska is continuing to evaluate risk before restoring access across our campuses. The University of Nebraska will continue to share updates with our faculty, staff and students.
6. May 8, 2026, 18:10 UTC
   monitoring
   The University of Nebraska has restored access to several Canvas services. Canvas is now available at canvas.nebraska.edu Key integrated tools used for teaching, learning, and assessment—including Yuja, Canvas Quizzes, Turnitin, and Respondus—are now live and ready for use. Due to ongoing security precautions, the following services have not yet been restored within Canvas: Microsoft 365 Zoom Unizin Data Platform (UDP) Peoplesoft "Import Grades from Canvas" feature Instructors can find guidance on how to enter grades without this feature at canvas.nebraska.edu/gradebook . Functionality for Microsoft 365 and Zoom remains intact outside of Canvas and can still be accessed directly through their respective platforms. Some users may notice a different appearance on the Canvas login page; please be assured that it is safe to use. Students who have questions or encounter issues can contact [email protected]. Faculty may reach out to the Learning Technologies team at [email protected]. The university will continue to assess security considerations and will restore additional Canvas services as soon as it is safe to do so. We appreciate your patience, flexibility, and understanding during this time as we work to fully restore services.
7. May 14, 2026, 17:18 UTC
   monitoring
   Update 5/14/26 Peoplesoft Import Grades from Canvas has been re-enabled Following a security review and assessment, we are now re-enabling the option that allows instructors to import grades from Canvas to Peoplesoft (MyRed, MyBlue, MavLink, MyNCTA, MyRecords). Canvas integrations for the following services are still pending restoration: Microsoft365, Zoom, Unizin Data Platform (UDP). Functionality for Microsoft 365 and Zoom remains intact outside of Canvas and can still be accessed directly through their respective platforms.
8. May 21, 2026, 13:45 UTC
   resolved
   Integrated tools have now all been re-enabled in Canvas. All systems are operating normally. This issue is resolved. Updated by Rick Murch-Shafer

Updates as published by IT (original).