Access to an online learning platform used by universities and schools in Texas and across the U.S. has been suspended following a cyber security data breach Thursday that has left many local and statewide institutions unable to use the software. 

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The online program, used to manage grades, course notes, assignments, lecture videos and more, was hacked by a group known as ShinyHunters, the Associated Press reported.

In an alert posted Thursday evening, Instructure, the company that owns the software program, said Canvas has been placed in maintenance mode and will be up soon. Several North Texas universities, including Southern Methodist University, the University of North Texas System, Baylor University, and Tarrant County College, have been impacted.

In a campus email sent Thursday and reviewed by The Dallas Morning News, SMU officials said the nationwide Canvas outage prompted them to reschedule final exams originally set for Friday, May 8, to be postponed until Sunday, May 10.

Baylor University posted an online notice saying the learning platform is unavailable as a part of a nationwide issue and their teams are monitoring the situation. Provost Nancy Brickhouse said in an update that the university has delayed final exams scheduled for Friday and will provide an update by noon tomorrow about exams scheduled for Saturday. 

“At this time, we do not know how long Canvas will be unavailable. It could be hours or it could be days,” Brickhouse said in the notice. 

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Tarrant County College also posted a security update to their website saying the college is aware of the situation and their information technology team is “thoroughly assessing the security incident’s impact on the College community.”

UNT System issued a message saying campus-wide access to the application has been temporarily disabled. 

“Academic and IT leaders at each institution will be convening to discuss how to manage pending assignments, any final exams, grades, etc. and will be providing relevant information to their student populations,” UNT System said in a statement.

The University of Texas at Dallas, University of Texas at Arlington and Texas Woman’s University did not immediately respond to The News’ email request for a comment. 

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