Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,
We are providing you an update on the latest information we have regarding the cybersecurity incident involving Instructure, the vendor that provides Canvas, San José State University’s learning management system.
We have been informed that the threat actor has escalated their attack on Instructure. In response, Canvas has been taken offline at all California State University campuses while they address the threat. Out of an abundance of caution, CSU campuses have temporarily blocked or redirected Canvas access, and Canvas access will not be restored until we are fully confident the system is secure.
Information Technology Services, Information Security, and Academic Affairs teams, in coordination with CSU systemwide officials and cybersecurity experts, are actively investigating the situation and working to provide options for continuing operations as quickly and safely as possible. Because we do not know the length of the outage, the campus is planning alternative ways in which faculty and students can complete their courses and assignments for the remainder of the semester. Further information will be coming shortly.
- Faculty are encouraged to communicate with students regularly; they may access their course rosters via MySJSU and email students within that platform or via their SJSU emails.
- Students should check their campus email regularly for updates and instructions.
Threat actors often try to take advantage of incidents such as this. We encourage all community members to remain vigilant and immediately report any suspicious communications, which could include messages that appear to come from within the campus community. If you encounter such an activity, please report it to abuse@sjsu.edu. CSU or SJSU will never ask you to pay money to access your Canvas materials, including examinations. Please log out immediately and notify abuse@sjsu.edu if you are asked for any payment information.
We understand this is causing a major disruption at a time when our faculty, staff, and students are preparing for the end of the semester and commencement ceremonies. We sincerely appreciate your patience and unwavering commitment to our academic mission.
Protecting the security and privacy of our students and employees is a top priority. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available. Please continue to refer to the CSU Canvas Incident Reports page for updates and resources at https://lts.calstate.edu/csu-canvas-incident-reports.
Sincerely,
Chris Wessells, Interim Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer
