Canvas access fully restored in Wake County after hacking, potential data leak

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — To protect schools and sensitive data, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction disabled access to the platform Canvas after a global cybersecurity incident in April.

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As of Monday, the Wake County Public School System has fully restored access for staff and students through WakeID. First, a rebook is needed, the school system said in its announcement.

While services are back and hopefully for good, the district cautions all users to remain vigilant in looking for suspicious emails, phishing attempts or even fake communications that are constructed to appear they came from school or technology support staff.

“Cybersecurity incidents are sometimes followed by scams designed to take advantage of heightened attention around an outage,” the district spokesperson said.

More on the hacking, potential data leak

Canvas, a tool used across North Carolina by students, teachers, and parents, was the target of a cyberattack on April 25. It took four days for the attacker to be discovered and an investigation quickly followed, according to Instructure, Inc., the owner of the Canvas.

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According to WCPSS, the school says personal data of current students and staff may have been accessed during the attack. However, there is no sign that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were discovered during the attack.

The software was brought back online Friday, less than 24 hours after a message from the apparent hacker appeared on the platform. The note said, in part, “You have till the end of the day by 12 May 2026 before everything is leaked.”

Instructure has since said Canvas is fully operational, and the company isn’t seeing any “ongoing unauthorized activity.” The company has also taken steps to enhance Canvas’ security.

Wake County schools kept the access to Canvas disabled for users throughout Friday and the weekend, eventually reinstating that access on Monday.

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