SMU Moves Some Final Exams After Cyberattack Affecting Canvas Systems

SMU has rescheduled some final exams after Canvas, a web-based learning management system used by it and thousands of other schools and universities, was impacted by a cyberattack.

SMU said in a post May 7 that final exams originally scheduled for Friday, May 8, were moved to Sunday, May 10, because Canvas was down. The university said that while the Canvas system has since been restored, it was moving forward with the plans to move Friday exams to Sunday.

SMU said exams scheduled for Saturday will continue as planned, while exams originally scheduled for Friday will be moved to Sunday at their original times and locations. All other exams and activities will continue as planned, and dining services will be available on Sunday for those on campus.

“We share your frustration with this widespread national Canvas outage. We recognize that moving Friday exams to Sunday creates disruption during an important time in the semester, but our goal throughout this situation has been to make decisions that position students to perform at their best,” SMU’s post continued. “We are also deeply grateful for the grace, patience and flexibility our community has shown each other throughout this unexpected challenge.”

The Associated Press reports that a hacking group named ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the Canvas breach, and that the group said nearly 9,000 schools were affected worldwide.

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Rachel Snyder

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Rachel Snyder, managing editor at People Newspapers, first joined the staff in 2019. She's covered everything from Dallas and University Park municipal government to business. Rachel began her journalism career at the daily newspaper The Express Star in Chickasha, Okla. She went on to work for the daily Duncan Banner in Duncan, Okla. the weekly Sand Springs Leader, and WFAA-TV in Dallas. She’s a fan of puns and community journalism, not necessarily in that order.