A cyberattack on Instructure disrupted Canvas access for thousands of schools during a critical testing window, leading universities to pause coursework, extend deadlines, and improvise alternatives while IT teams assessed the damage. The breach affected nearly 9,000 schools and educational institutions worldwide, including parts of the University of Illinois system, according to the report. The incident forced higher-ed operators to confront operational continuity risk in their digital teaching stacks. Beyond immediate course disruptions, the episode highlighted the structural dependence many institutions now have on centralized learning management vendors acting as de facto critical infrastructure. The event is likely to intensify institutional pressure for incident-response planning, risk-based vendor oversight, and contingency pathways for assessments and student support when major LMS platforms become unavailable.