ISU navigates Canvas hack as semester ends, cancels final exams

POCATELLO (KPVI) — Finals week is always a stressful time for students, but this week was even more so.

Idaho State University was one of thousands of universities and schools nationwide affected by the Canvas hack this week.

This week Canvas, an education platform used by nearly 9,000 universities and K-12 schools, was hacked, preventing students and instructors from accessing learning materials.

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The digital education software was rendered unusable in the middle of many colleges’ final exams.

“Most students, they’re checking out of their dorms all this week, and then on top of that, finals. And then now learning that they could have had their data leaked at the same time,” says junior student Dillan Kissak. “That just kind of put a big damper on the end of the semester.”

As Canvas works to get back to fully operational, and the FBI is investigating the group behind the hacking, students are trying to figure out how this will affect the end of their semester.

“I didn’t know what my grade was or how I did, but then found out I probably won’t get to know,” Kissak says. “I can’t go into Canvas and view it. Teachers can’t grade them. It was just the uncertainty that was the main concern for me.”

Thursday night, Idaho State University sent out a letter to students informing them that any and all final exams after 12 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, would be canceled and not rescheduled, not counting toward final grades.

In a statement, the university says: “Faculty and university officials are working together with students to manage any unique situations. We are continuing to update our campus community as the incident evolves. Finals week is already a challenging time in the semester, and our priority is offering support to our campus community.”

It’s not immediately clear what the impact will be on students’ final GPAs or graduation requirements. Students who might’ve been relying on a final exam to improve their grade will no longer have that opportunity. But the school is doing what it can to address the ongoing situation.

“Specifically with the College of Business that I’m in, they were constantly on it,” Kissak says. “Assistant Dean Dr. Buder was my main line of communication about it, and she did very well just keeping me up to date with everything. And honestly, it made the uncertainty feel less worrisome.”