Nationwide Canvas Outage - Restored
Posted: 2026-05-07 17:02:10 Expiration: 3000-01-01 00:00:00
Update as of Friday, May 8th at 11:45 on the nationwide Canvas outage.
Friday, May 8th 11:45 am
Canvas is back online, and you may resume normal activity. You may need to refresh your browser to log in.
We are asking all instructors to carefully review that Canvas course materials have not been negatively impacted and please be flexible on course-related items that were due on Thursday (5/7) or today (5/8).
As a best practice, we also recommend instructors download their Canvas grade book, and if needed, consider alternative methods of accepting assignments. If you need assistance, please reach out to your IT Consultant by submitting a Help Desk ticket.
At this time, no changes are planned to the final date for instructors to complete and submit grades for spring 2026 courses. That date remains, May 20, 4:30 p.m. CT.
This was a nationwide outage that we are continuing to monitor. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused at the end of the semester.
Please inform the Technology Help Desk if you are still experiencing issues with Canvas.
What Happened?
On April 29, 2026, Instructure (the parent company of Canvas) detected unauthorized activity in Canvas. They immediately revoked the unauthorized party’s access, started an investigation, and engaged outside forensic experts.
On May 7, 2026, Instructure stated that additional unauthorized activity was tied to the same incident. The unauthorized actor made changes to the pages that appeared when some students and teachers were logged in through Canvas. Out of caution, Instructure temporarily took Canvas offline into maintenance mode to contain the activity, investigate, and apply additional safeguards.
They have since confirmed that the unauthorized actor carried out this activity by exploiting an issue related to their Free-For-Teacher accounts. This is the same issue that led to the unauthorized access the prior week. As a result, they have made the decision to temporarily shut down Free-For-Teacher accounts.
In the meantime, Canvas has indicated that they are fully back online and available for use.
What Information was Involved?
Based on the investigation so far, the data taken in the April 29 incident includes certain personal information of users at affected organizations. That includes names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and messages among Canvas users. They have found no evidence that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were involved.
Based on the investigation to date, they have not found evidence that data was taken during the May 7 activity. The investigation is ongoing, and they'll share more as findings are verified.
Where Can I Learn More?
Instructure is updating their incident FAQ at https://www.instructure.com/incident_update
Friday, May 8th 8:15am
Thursday, May 7th 3:30 pm
We are aware of the outage and multiple teams are working with the Universities of Wisconsin Administration to address this issue on behalf of our students.
Please note: If Canvas prompts you to perform any action - such as clicking a link, logging in, resetting your password, or completing any tasks - do not proceed. These prompts may not be legitimate while the system is down.
The original breach, first reported May 1, affects the cloud-based system operated by Instructure, and affects UW-Stout and all other Universities of Wisconsin (UWs) campuses.
Instructors:
We ask that instructors communicate with their students as soon as possible with a plan for course completion, should Canvas remain unavailable. Course roster information can be found via Navigate or Access Stout.
Students:
Please give your instructor the opportunity to identify and provide alternative options, as necessary, for course completion. We recognize this technical outage, on the last day of the class, requires careful and timely communication. Accommodations will be made for coursework that is negatively impacted due to the outage.
-- UW Stout
KnowledgeBase: Heidi Catlin