Southwest Texas school districts are investigating a nationwide Canvas breach that exposed basic student info. \n<\/p>\n
HOUSTON \u2014 Several school districts across the Houston area are responding to a cybersecurity incident involving Instructure, the company behind Canvas, a widely used learning management system.<\/p>\n
Houston ISD confirmed it was affected by the incident. The breach appears to be nationwide. In an emailed statement, the district said Canvas was working to secure its systems.<\/p>\n
“While Canvas works to resolve the issue, HISD is standing up a temporary Google site to provide access to curriculum materials,” according to the statement. “The site is expected to be available within the next few hours, and we will send an additional update once it is live.<\/p>\n
We recognize the disruption this may cause and appreciate your patience and cooperation as Canvas works to resolve the issue and HISD implements a solution to ensure teachers have the resources they need for instruction. Our priority is to minimize disruption and continue supporting teaching and learning during this outage.”<\/p>\n
Katy ISD was one of the many districts affected.<\/p>\n
“While the incident was not directed at Katy ISD, it has affected thousands of organizations that use Canvas services,” Katy ISD told parents in an email.<\/p>\n
Katy ISD said “certain user information may have been exposed, including names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and messages exchanged within the platform.”<\/p>\n
Sensitive identifying information like Social Security numbers and passwords \u00a0was not affected.<\/p>\n
“Updated information, including a timeline for when Canvas will be operational again, will be shared as soon as it becomes available from the vendor,” Katy ISD told parents.<\/p>\n
Lamar ISD and Conroe ISD was also affected by the outage.<\/p>\n