The warning follows last week’s outage and security incident involving Instructure, the company behind Canvas. Schools including Las Cruces Public Schools and New Mexico State University reported impacts related to the outage.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (via Facebook)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning students, families and educational institutions to remain cautious following the recent cybersecurity incident involving the Canvas online learning platform used by schools and universities across the country, including institutions in New Mexico.
In a public advisory issued following the disruption, the FBI confirmed it is aware of the incident affecting a major online Learning Management System, or LMS, which disrupted access for schools, educational institutions and students nationwide.
The warning follows last week’s outage and security incident involving Instructure, the company behind Canvas. Schools including Las Cruces Public Schools and New Mexico State University reported impacts related to the outage.
While Canvas services have since been restored for most users, federal officials are cautioning users against responding to unsolicited communications claiming to involve compromised personal information.
“If you are contacted directly by anyone claiming to have your data, we recommend you not send payment or respond to their demands,” the FBI stated.
Federal officials emphasized that receiving threatening or alarming messages does not necessarily mean personal information was actually compromised.
“Threat actors often exaggerate or fabricate their access to sensitive or personal information to prompt payment from victims,” the FBI warning stated.
The bureau also urged students, parents and educators to be wary of emails, text messages or phone calls claiming to come from schools, the LMS provider or law enforcement agencies.
“We encourage individuals to be cautious of unsolicited emails, calls, or texts claiming to be from your school, the LMS provider, or law enforcement and to verify the contact through known channels before responding,” the FBI stated.
According to previous updates released by Instructure, the company said investigators currently believe exposed information may include names, email addresses, student identification numbers and user messages associated with affected institutions. The company stated there was no evidence passwords, financial information, dates of birth or government identification numbers were compromised.
The FBI said individuals concerned about possible exposure should wait for formal guidance from their school or educational institution regarding the scope of any affected data.
“At this time, the strongly recommended course is to await formal guidance from your educational institution regarding the scope of the incident and the nature of any affected data,” the agency stated.
Anyone who believes they may have been directly impacted by the incident is encouraged to file a report through the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov.
All crimes can have a devastating effect on those who have been impacted, as well as their families who may need help coping with what happened. Visit fbi.gov for more resources on coping with the impact of crime:
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