To: All campus
Dear Campus Community,
At the direction of Chancellor Muñoz, access to CatCourses (Canvas) has been restored as of 2 p.m. today following coordination among campus academic and administrative leadership, Office of Information Technology (OIT) leaders, UCOP, and Instructure, the vendor that provides the Canvas learning management system.
With this, final exams will take place as scheduled.
As previously shared, the system disruption was associated with a cybersecurity incident affecting the Canvas platform. Prior to restoring access, campus academic and administrative leadership and OIT leaders carefully evaluated available information regarding system security, operational needs, and the academic impacts associated with the outage during a critical period of the semester.
At this time, there is no indication that UC Merced systems or user accounts were compromised. However, out of an abundance of caution, the campus is operating with heightened cybersecurity awareness while system monitoring and third-party security reviews continue.
What You Should Know Before Logging In
As CatCourses access resumes, all faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to practice heightened cybersecurity awareness and follow the guidance below:
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Be cautious of unexpected or urgent emails or messages claiming to be from Canvas/CatCourses, Instructure, UC Merced, or campus IT support, especially messages requesting passwords, Duo verification approvals, personal information, or links to log in.
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Do not click unfamiliar links or download unexpected attachments that may have appeared in Canvas/CatCourses announcements, messages, discussion boards, or email communications during the incident period, April 29-May 7.
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Faculty are encouraged to review recent course announcements, uploaded files, modules, external links, and discussion activity for any unfamiliar or suspicious content posted between April 29-May 7.
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If you encounter suspicious activity, unexpected login prompts, altered course content, or unfamiliar files or links, please report a cybersecurity incident immediately via the IT Service Hub.
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Users may need to restart their browser and clear cookies/cache before they can log in.
The campus will continue coordinating closely with UC leadership, Instructure, and cybersecurity professionals while ongoing monitoring and verification efforts continue.
We recognize the stress and disruption this situation has created for our campus community and appreciate your patience, vigilance, and flexibility as we navigate this evolving situation together.
Additional updates and guidance will be shared on OIT’s incident page.
Elizabeth R. Dumont
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Nick Dugan
Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer
