The learning management system Canvas is currently down after it was hit by a massive data breach, with the hacking group ShinyHunters claiming responsibility. The group has posted a list of affected schools and threatened to leak sensitive information unless they are paid.

Instructure, the company that owns Canvas, has placed the platform in maintenance mode as they work on resolving the issue. They had already deployed security patches following last week’s breach but ShinyHunters seems undeterred.

The scale of the data breach is staggering: 275 million students, teachers and staff across 9,000 schools are potentially affected. This includes student names, email addresses, ID numbers and messages – all at risk of exposure to the world.

ShinyHunters has a history of targeting large corporations including Ticketmaster, AT&T, Rockstar Games and ADT. Their latest move is raising questions about the security of educational technology platforms and how well-prepared schools are for cyber threats.

Instructure says they expect to be back up soon but until then, students and educators are left wondering if their personal data is safe.