'You deserved more': Instructure CEO apologizes following Canvas hack, admits company paid hackers to get stolen data back

Date:
Tue, 12 May 2026 13:05:00 +0000

Description:
Instructure CEO confirmed the company paid ShinyHunters to delete the stolen files.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Instructure confirmed paying ShinyHunters to delete stolen data and halt extortion Agreement included digital shred logs and covered all impacted customers Amount paid
undisclosed; law enforcement warns ransom payments fund crime and dont guarantee safety Instructure has confirmed it paid ShinyHunters their ransomware demand in exchange for deleting the data and not targeting its customers in the future.

The news was confirmed by the companys Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Steve Daly, who explained its response in a blog post . Instructure reached an agreement with the unauthorized actor involved in this incident, the announcement reads. As part of that agreement the data was returned to us, we received digital confirmation of data destruction (shred logs), we have been informed that no Instructure customers will be extorted as a result of this incident, publicly or otherwise. Latest Videos From You may like Canvas
school login portals hacked as Instructure hack apparently gets even worse Canvas maker Instructure reveals data breach confirms user personal information leaked Top universities among victims named in Canvas data breach The terms of the deal Daly also said the agreement covered all impacted customers and stressed there is no need for individual customers to attempt
to engage with ShinyHunters.

It was not said how much money Instructure ended up paying, and law enforcement usually advises against paying ransom demands, since it just
funds more attacks, while not guaranteeing the stolen data wouldnt surface somewhere on the dark web. It also cant guarantee the same group, or a different one, wont strike again in the future.

In early May 2026, news broke that Instructure, the edtech giant behind the popular Canvas learning system, suffered a cyberattack and lost sensitive customer data. Hours later, ShinyHunters added Instructure to its data leak site, saying the breach affects nearly 9,000 schools and 275 million individuals, including students, teachers, and other staff.

"Several billions of private messages among students and teachers and
students and other students involved, containing personal conversations and other PII. Your Salesforce instance was also breached and a lot more other data is involved, ShinyHunters allegedly said at the time. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get
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A few days later, the group turned up the heat by defacing the Instructure login portal and namedropping a few high-profile victims: Harvard, MIT, Oxford, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Cambridge, Cornell, Berkeley, and Georgetown. It also listed Amazon , Apple , and Cisco. The best antivirus for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/you-deserved-more-instructure-ceo-apolo gizes-following-canvas-hack-admits-company-paid-hackers-to-get-stolen-data-bac k


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