Body
OVERVIEW
In late April 2026, Instructure — the company behind Canvas, the learning management system used by all 116 California Community Colleges — experienced a cybersecurity incident in which a criminal threat actor gained unauthorized access to their systems. Instructure detected the intrusion on April 29th, immediately began containment, and confirmed the incident publicly over the following days. A threat actor group subsequently claimed responsibility and attempted to extort the company using a "pay or leak" approach. Based on the investigation to date, data that may have been exposed includes names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and messages within the Canvas platform. There is no evidence that passwords, Social Security numbers, financial information, or dates of birth were involved.
The California Community Colleges Security Center began tracking this incident on May 1st and has been actively monitoring developments in close coordination with the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. The privacy and security of our students and employees is something we take seriously, and we are committed to keeping our campus communities informed as the investigation continues. Canvas remains fully operational and the incident has been contained, though the investigation with outside forensic experts is ongoing.
UPDATE: May 11, 2026 7:50 AM PST STATUS: ONLINE
All Canvas activity, across all RCCD departments, including the delivery of instruction, is now restored and accessible for students and instructors/staff. Instructors should adjust their schedules so that coursework can resume once the Canvas system is restored.
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the RCCD Help Desk:
Phone: (951) 222-8388
Email: helpdesk@rccd.edu
Thank you for your patience, cooperation, and continued vigilance.
RCCD Information Technology
UPDATE: May 8, 2026 1:25 PM PST STATUS: STILL DOWN
RCCD District Technology is receiving reports that some users are able to access Canvas through mobile applications (Apps) on mobile devices. We are advising all users to not access Canvas through mobile applications (apps) due to heightened security precautions.
All Canvas activity, across all RCCD departments, including the delivery of instruction, is suspended through the weekend. Instructors should adjust their schedules so that coursework can resume once the Canvas system is restored. Based on guidance from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and the CCC Security Center, RCCD has not yet restored general access to Canvas.
Thank you for your vigilance and care
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the RCCD Help Desk:
Phone: (951) 222-8388
Email: helpdesk@rccd.edu
Thank you for your patience, cooperation, and continued vigilance.
RCCD Information Technology
UPDATE: May 8, 2026 10:22 AM PST STATUS: STILL DOWN
All Canvas activity, across all RCCD departments, including the delivery of instruction, is suspended through the weekend. Instructors should adjust their schedules so that coursework can resume once the Canvas system is restored. Based on guidance from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and the CCC Security Center, RCCD has not yet restored general access to Canvas.
For the protection of the District, Canvas will remain inaccessible until issues have been addressed/resolved. Please note, no other District or college systems have been affected by the outage at this time. This situation is only affecting the Canvas system.
A similar message will be going out to RCCD students for awareness. Please expect an updated message and status, following a scheduled RCCD leadership meeting, on Monday morning May 11.
Thank you for your vigilance and care
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the RCCD Help Desk:
Phone: (951) 222-8388
Email: helpdesk@rccd.edu
Thank you for your patience, cooperation, and continued vigilance.
RCCD Information Technology
UPDATE: May 8, 2026 7:45 AM PST STATUS: STILL DOWN
Late last night, Instructure, the vendor that hosts the Canvas learning management system, restored the Canvas platform to operational status after placing the system into maintenance mode on Thursday, May 7, in response to a public defacement and extortion attempt. Based on guidance from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and the CCC Security Center, RCCD has not yet restored general access to Canvas.
The Chancellor’s Office has advised districts to proceed cautiously until Instructure provides documented assurances that students and employees are no longer at risk from the threat actor associated with the incident. Accordingly, colleges have been advised to temporarily limit student and employee access to Canvas until additional guidance and security assurances are provided. In alignment with this guidance, RCCD IT continues to restrict general access while we monitor the situation and assess the associated cybersecurity risks in close coordination with the Chancellor’s Office, the CCC Security Center, Instructure, and peer districts statewide.
In addition, faculty, district, and college leadership are meeting this morning to discuss operational impacts and determine how best to proceed while access to Canvas remains restricted. Guidance for faculty and students is expected to be distributed by mid-morning today.
Thank you for your patience, cooperation, and continued vigilance.
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the RCCD Help Desk:
Phone: (951) 222-8388
Email: helpdesk@rccd.edu
Thank you for your patience, cooperation, and continued vigilance.
RCCD Information Technology
UPDATE: May 7, 2026 8:16 PM PST STATUS: STILL DOWN
RCCD continues to monitor the nationwide disruption impacting colleges and universities across the country, including Moreno Valley College, Norco College, and Riverside City College.
While some Canvas services appear to be recovering, we are continuing to closely monitor the situation and will provide updates as additional information becomes available.
Before full access can be restored, important security protocols must be completed. Security teams must validate the environment, confirm data integrity, and ensure the system is secure before normal operations resume. This process is deliberate and necessary to protect students, faculty, staff, and institutional data.
For the most up-to-date information regarding the incident, please refer to the California Community Colleges Canvas Incident Report:
California Community Colleges Canvas Incident Report
In connection with this incident, RCCD is also seeing an increase in phishing attacks attempting to capitalize on the outage. These messages are designed to harvest usernames, passwords, and other sensitive information by impersonating trusted organizations or support services.
Many of these phishing messages include links or QR codes directing users to fraudulent login pages. Users should exercise extreme caution when scanning QR codes received through email, text messages, or online postings related to the Canvas outage or account verification requests.
If you clicked on a suspicious link, scanned a QR code that directed you to a login page, entered your RCCD credentials into an unfamiliar website, or believe your account may have been compromised, you should reset your password immediately.
Instructions for resetting your password are available in the RCCD Knowledge Base article below:
RCCD Password Reset Instructions
Please remember:
- RCCD will never ask you to provide your password through email
- Do not click links or scan QR codes from unexpected or suspicious messages
- Verify the sender before responding to requests for login credentials or personal information
- When in doubt, contact RCCD IT directly before taking action
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the RCCD Help Desk:
Phone: (951) 222-8388
Email: helpdesk@rccd.edu
Thank you for your patience, cooperation, and continued vigilance.
RCCD Information Technology
UPDATE: May 7, 2026 1:27 PM PST STATUS: DOWN
Do not access Canvas until further notice.
It appears that the cyber incident with Instructure/Canvas is still active and you may have encountered this page when attempting access:
Will provide updates once we have more information.