BOISE, Idaho — Boise State University canceled all final exams scheduled for Friday after an ongoing security incident left the school’s Canvas learning platform unavailable.
The outage happened Thursday as universities across the country experienced issues accessing Canvas, the online platform students and faculty use to manage grades, assignments, coursework and communication.
WATCH | Boise State students react after Canvas outage cancels exams
First-year civil engineering student Cash Spackman said he was in the middle of taking a final exam when the system suddenly went down.
“The people that were running it were like, everyone just stop your tests, just close it out,” Spackman said. “It was very chaotic.” Spackman said he was nearly finished with his exam when students began noticing unusual messages appearing on screens.
“I’m like, wow, this is crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.
Canvas parent company Instructure said information potentially compromised in the cyberattack may include email addresses, student ID numbers and messages between users. The company said there is currently no evidence that passwords, Social Security numbers or government identification information were exposed.
Boise State officials announced while systems were offline that all Friday final exams would be canceled and would not be rescheduled. University leaders also told students the canceled exams would not negatively impact final grades.
Health Studies student Madison Lewton said the incident raised concerns about personal data security.
“I’m hoping my personal information didn’t get taken,” Lewton said.
Although Canvas systems have since been restored, students say the disruption added stress during one of the busiest times of the semester. “It can definitely stress a lot of students out, especially with finishing up finals, because obviously finals are very important,” Lewton said.
In emails sent to students and staff, Boise State administrators acknowledged the widespread disruption caused by the outage as colleges nationwide worked to restore access during finals week.
University officials said students who still wish to complete a canceled Friday exam should contact their professor or college faculty directly.
The disruption comes as Boise State prepares for commencement ceremonies this weekend, with undergraduate graduation ceremonies scheduled to begin Saturday at 9 a.m.
