Peninsula College was recently informed by Instructure, the parent company that administers the Canvas Learning Management System, of a cybersecurity incident that may have affected certain user information associated with Canvas accounts.
We are sharing the information we currently have in the interest of transparency and will continue to provide updates as more details become available.
What Happened
- On May 1, 2026, Instructure (parent company that administers the Canvas Learning Management System) disclosed a cybersecurity incident that is still under active investigation.
- On May 2, 2026, an update was issued by Instructure stating that the incident had been contained.
- On May 5, 2026, Peninsula College (along with thousands of other institutions) was contacted by Instructure and informed that it had been impacted by the breach.
- On May 7, 2026, the Canvas LMS went “down for maintenance” at approximately 1:30pm. There is currently no ETA for restoration, and we are waiting on Instructure for more information.
- On May 8, 2026, the Canvas LMS came back online and is now operational for all users.
For up-to-date information from Instructure about the incident, please visit Instructure’s official security updates.
Instructure's Official Security Updates
What Peninsula College is Doing
- Peninsula College’s eLearning and IT departments are continuing to monitor the situation and working with Instructure and other partners to better understand any potential impacts
- College leadership is communicating with the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, as this incident has affected many colleges and universities.
What You Should Do
- Please be alert to unexpected emails, text messages, or phone calls that ask for personal information or direct you to log in through unfamiliar links. If you receive a message that looks suspicious, do not click links in it or open it. We have received some reports that people have received individualized phishing emails that may be linked to this incident.
- Continue to watch for announcements shared on the Peninsula College website and/or email with updates.
As always, we encourage everyone to practice good cybersecurity habits including using strong passwords and enabling multi-factor authentication tools (MFA) when available, avoiding sharing log in credentials, and logging out of shared or public systems after use. For more recommendations, see: Cybersecurity Tips for College Students from the National Cybersecurity Alliance.