Instructure, the company that owns and manages Canvas, was recently compromised. This affects all institutions that use Canvas.
This page is being updated with more information as it becomes available.
May 8, 4:30 p.m. Update
The DIT website has now been updated to include answers to questions about the outage and its impacts. Questions address such topics as whether the Instructure security incident involved personal information and what the university is doing to prevent future cybersecurity incidents. Moving forward, any new information will be posted there.
Please remember to remain vigilant and report any issues you notice while using ELMS-Canvas to the IT Service Desk at itsupport@umd.edu.
May 8, 11:10 a.m. Update
Canvas is restored.
Following an assessment by the Division of IT, access is being fully restored at UMD. We remain vigilant in assessing this situation and ask that you report any issues you may notice while using the platform to itsupport@umd.edu.
May 8, 9 a.m. Update
For those closely following the nationwide Canvas outage, you may have noticed that some K-12 systems and select higher education institutions have resumed using the platform.
UMD's Division of IT is currently rapidly assessing the feasibility, data integrity and safety of resuming access to Canvas. Even if you receive Canvas updates or can access the platform, DIT Security urges you not to do so until we provide further guidance.
We continue to ask faculty to deliver course materials to students and provide course-specific updates to assist end-of-semester preparations. We aim to provide further updates later today.
May 7, 11:04 p.m. Update
Canvas may appear to be up right now, but please to not use it. DIT Security is not confident the system is safe to use right now. Please check back here before using Canvas.
May 7, 9:40 p.m. - Resources for working when Canvas is down
For our faculty who use Canvas, we have created this guidance, and we will continue adding resources tomorrow. Please stay in touch with your students as we adapt to this evolving situation.
For our students, we are urging faculty to communicate directly with you about next steps. Please check your TERPmail regularly.
ELMS-Canvas Outage Announcement
May 7, 2026 - 5:17 p.m.
Instructure, the company that owns and manages Canvas, was recently compromised. At this time, Instructure has taken Canvas offline while they investigate. This is affecting all institutions that use Canvas and at this time we have no indication there is a compromise of any systems at UMD.
At this time we do not know when Canvas will be returned to service. Instructure is providing updates at their status website: https://status.instructure.com/
We will update this page with more information as it becomes available.
Campus Networking
Around 4 p.m. on May 7, there was an unrelated interruption of UMD’s network caused by a configuration error of a network switch. That issue has been resolved.
Panopto
Panopto logins are unavailable at this time due to the Canvas outage. DIT is working to restore service.
Last updated: May 8, 2026 4:30 p.m.