Aggregator

It's amazing what happens when you plug everything in

Wired describes the recent Canvas breach as an unusually disruptive ransomware-style extortion incident because one attack on Instructure's learning platform temporarily paralyzed thousands of schools during finals and end-of-year assignments. The hackers using the "ShinyHunters" name claim more than 8,800 schools were affected, while Instructure says exposed data included names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and platform messages. From the report: Higher education has long been a target of ransomware gangs and data extortion attacks. But never before, perhaps, has a cyberattack against a single software platform so thoroughly disrupted the daily operations of thousands of schools across the United States. The widely used digital learning platform Canvas was put into "maintenance mode" on Thursday after its maker, the education tech giant Instructure, suffered a data breach and faced an extortion attempt by attackers using the recognizable moniker "ShinyHunters." Though the hackers have been advertising the breach and attempting to extract a ransom payment from Instructure since May 1, the situation took on additional immediacy for regular people across the US and beyond on Thursday because the Canvas downtime caused chaos at schools, including those in the midst of finals and end-of-year assignments. Universities like Harvard, Columbia, Rutgers, and Georgetown sent alerts to students about the situation in recent days; other institutions, including school districts in at least a dozen states, also appear to have been affected. In a list published by the hackers behind the attack on their ransom-focused dark web site, they claim the breach affected more than 8,800 schools. The exact scale and reach of the breach is currently unclear, though. And the fact that Canvas was down throughout Thursday afternoon and evening further complicated the picture. In a running incident update log that began on May 1, Steve Proud, Instructure's chief information security officer, said that the company had "recently experienced a cybersecurity incident perpetrated by a criminal threat actor." He added on May 2 that "the information involved" for "users at affected institutions" included names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and messages exchanged by users on the platform. The situation was ultimately marked as "Resolved" on Wednesday, with Proud writing that "Canvas is fully operational, and we are not seeing any ongoing unauthorized activity." At midday on Thursday, though, the Instructure status page registered an "issue" where "some users are having difficulties logging into Student ePortfolios." Within a few hours, the company had added another status update: "Instructure has placed Canvas, Canvas Beta and Canvas Test in maintenance mode." Late Thursday evening, the company said that Canvas was available again "for most users." TechCrunch reported on Thursday that the hackers launched a secondary wave of attacks, defacing some schools' Canvas portals by injecting an HTML file to display their own message on the schools' Canvas login pages. According to The Harvard Crimson, attackers modified the Harvard Canvas login page to show a message that included a list of schools that the hackers claim were impacted by the breach. The message from attackers "urged schools included on the affected list to consult with a cyber advisory firm and contact the group privately to negotiate a settlement before the end of the day on May 12 -- or else risk their data being leaked," The Crimson reported. "It is unclear what information tied to Harvard affiliates was included in the alleged breach."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

She shot to fame as a child star in the early 2000s.

The Only Way Is Essex hit screens 16 years ago, leading to droves of fans loving insight into the life of the home county's glamorous elite. 

The Daily Mail has established that the Green Party leader was registered on the electoral roll at a building in a marina in east London where he kept a narrowboat.

Making Life On Earth: Attenborough's Greatest Adventure, BBC iPlayer 

Cheban, 52, shared a hilarious take on the possibility of Kardashian, 45, tying the knot with her new F1 megastar boyfriend Lewis Hamilton, 41.

The single most common category of entries for this column is failed handling of NaN, null and undefined. Almost exclusively from javascript in web pages, sometimes in node servers, and almost never any other languages or frameworks. They're getting a bit repetitive but it's our solemn duty to call out failure where we find it. So if you send us one of these, make sure it identifies the source!

"If you want something you've never had, do something you've never done" exhorted Ben.

"Dashed Hope for Jennifer Null," titled an entry from some guy[sic]. "As recently linked from TDWTF article "Not for Nullthing", not only names can break computer systems, but also article content." Stretching, but we'll allow it.

"Where does Batman go on holiday?" asked Morgan. "Nananananana... Nowhere!"

"UBER is ready for driverless vehicles..." Bruce C. "Uber is getting so big, they can't even keep track of their driver's names."

"Well at least the reason wasn't null or NaN," wrote Steve W. regarding CenturyLink. "I've been trying for weeks to use their web page to change my (incorrect billing address). Such progress."

Additional entries on the topic from
Dan : "we're fresh out of null"
Henrik : "What is this null music streaming service"
Mike : "Name: undefined"
Laks : "In this app, every new user defaults to a nullptr."
and
Jim : "Think I'll buy $NaCar with this refund!"
and many others were all appreciated and noted.

[Advertisement] Picking up NuGet is easy. Getting good at it takes time. Download our guide to learn the best practice of NuGet for the Enterprise.

Crews from Braintree fire station were called to Great Notley yesterday after an adventurous cat became stranded high in a tree. Cat rescued and returned.

Adrian Valdovinos, 25, was gunned down inside his girlfriend's Hanford, California , home on Sunday by love rival Vincent Diaz, 33, who forced his way inside.

The legendary Welsh singer, 74, underwent emergency bowel surgery on the Algarve after being rushed to Faro Hospital with a perforated intestine late last month.

The five-minute trailer named Backyard Legends was released on YouTube on Thursday with a star-studded cast.

It's been a busy night across the county

Janai Safar was among four women linked to ISIS fighters who touched down in Australia on Thursday night, almost two weeks after leaving the Al-Roj detention camp in northeastern Syria.

Is your wardrobe more packed than a Central Line tube carriage? Do you have to warm up before attempting to squeeze in an extra hanger? Then read on...

Brake giant Brembo has confirmed its fully electronic 'brake‑by‑wire' system is now in production and will debut on a new mainstream model due to be revealed soon. But how safe is it?

The plans had been met with mixed views from residents

The 46-year-old moved into the infamous Playboy Mansion in 2001, quickly becoming his 'number one girl' for seven years, even though she later described the place as isolating and downright 'cult-like'.

Questions have been raised over the symptoms of the deadly hantavirus variant, how contagious it is - and even whether it can be caught at a cruise ship buffet.

One of the standout faces of 70s cinema, who worked alongside some of Hollywood's greats, stepped out for a rare outing in LA on Thursday.