By Ava Uhlack, May 8, 2026
As of the afternoon of May 8, Canvas is officially back up and running for Cal Poly Pomona after experiencing a global outage.
According to an email sent from University News around 2 p.m. announcing the platform was back online and that the CSU is currently in the process of reintegrating campus systems and data connections.
IT Services first announced a Canvas outage from “unscheduled maintenance” May 7 around 2 p.m., via email. An hour later at 3 p.m., University News alerted it was a global outage that Instructure (the company that developed Canvas) was working to gather more information.
“This situation is serious and fluid, and we are working with Instructure to determine the full scope of impact,” the University News email reported.
According to CBS News, the maintenance was due to a hacking group named ShinyHunters, who have claimed responsibility for the breach. According to a post on the CPP subreddit, ShinyHuntersallegedly threatened the release of data if negotiations were not settled by the end of day, May 12.
As a result, the university email instructed the campus community to remain vigilant with possible email phishing scams, along with any possible suspicious communications.
In the meantime, students and faculty struggled with the outage, as they prepared for finals week from May 9-15,
“I think this entire situation is incredibly unfortunate for both professors and students,” psychology student Ozzy Oregel said. “I’m just hoping they figure it out soon or that they can accommodate students who are affected.”
Students also received an email from Student Affairs May 7 around 6:30 p.m., giving students instructions on how to proceed during finals. According to the email from Student Affairs, professors were to reach out regarding Zoom links, assignment deadlines and how to turn in work outside of Canvas.
“If you’ve used Instant Access this semester, you can access your VitalSource books through a direct link,” the email read. “You may need to change the term from summer to spring. Please continue to monitor your CPP email for official updates about the Canvas outage and messages from faculty.”
Additionally, the Chancellor’s Office launched a Canvas/Instructure service status site for the community to follow. On this site is an overview of the entirety of the system, or users can check individual university sites. For updates on CPP’s, click the update button and type canvas.cpp.edu.
The Poly Post will continue to follow updates and keep the community informed.
Feature image courtesy of the Cal Poly Pomona Canvas Portal