Canvas - May 7: Global Outage

Increased Phishing and Fraudulent Text Message Activity

May 14, 2026

What is happening?

The District and colleges are currently experiencing a significant rise in phishing emails and fraudulent text messages targeting students and employees. These messages are designed to trick recipients into clicking on malicious links and/or revealing sensitive personal information. 

We urge everyone to remain vigilant if you get messages you were not expecting. Please note that the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District and the colleges will never request sensitive information such as passwords, authentication codes, or other login credentials. 

Guidance for all students and employees 

To reduce your risk of falling victim to phishing or fraudulent text messages, please follow these cybersecurity best practices:

  • Be cautious with unexpected messages. Consider whether an unsolicited email or text message is legitimate, especially if it is urgently requiring you to click a link, open an attachment, or provide personal or authentication information.
  • Verify links before clicking. Hover over links (on a computer) to confirm they lead to a legitimate destination, or access the destination from known valid links. Be aware that recent phishing attempts have included multiple legitimate-looking information that make it appear trustworthy, so treat any link requesting action – such as signing in to or verifying your account – with skepticism.
  • When in doubt, don’t interact. If you are unsure about the legitimacy of a message, do not reply or open any links. Instead, screenshot the message and email the screenshot to helpdesk@gcccd.edu with any relevant details about the message. 

 

Global Canvas Outage

May 7, 2026

What is happening?

Instructure, the vendor that provides Canvas, the learning management system used by organizations worldwide and across the California Community College (CCC) system, recently experienced a cybersecurity incident and is unavailable at this time. Instructure notified institutions across the globe of this incident, including the CCC system.

Instructure has advised that they continue to investigate, but to date, they have found no indication that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were involved.

Although Canvas has slowly become available for some institutions, it will remain unavailable for our District and other California Community Colleges until additional security measures are implemented.

Guidance for faculty and students:

Faculty are encouraged to stay in close communication with students, extend flexibility with any immediate assignments and final exam deadlines, and rely on alternate communication channels such as GCCCD email accounts and Zoom. Using these resources for course communication can help minimize disruption as we approach the end of the semester. For those faculty members who may have had an exam scheduled for today, Thursday, May 7th, that was disrupted by the outage, please work with your students to determine makeup or alternative options. 

Students who have questions about assignments and/or exams should contact their instructor directly for each class in which they are enrolled. 

Faculty and students, please check your email regularly for more details and guidance. 

Guidance for all students, faculty, and staff:

Reports are being received that students are being contacted directly with ransomware offers. Please take note of the following information: 

  • If anyone receives information to this effect or emails that appear to be suspicious, do not respond. Do not attempt to open any links, do not download any attachments, and do not reply to the message. Email helpdesk@gcccd.edu.
  • Students, faculty and staff should not attempt to access the Canvas portal at this time.  The District will send an official notification when access is cleared.