District says internal systems were not breached; names, emails, student ID numbers and Canvas messages may have been involved
Wayzata Public Schools notified families Monday, May 4, of a security incident involving Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, the learning management system used by district students in grades 4–12.
In a notice sent by Technology Services through ParentSquare, the district said Instructure notified Wayzata Public Schools on May 1 that an unauthorized party had gained access to certain systems within Instructure’s environment.
“This was a vendor-side incident,” the district wrote. “The internal networks and systems of Wayzata Public Schools were not breached or compromised.”
According to the district notice, information potentially involved includes student and staff names, email addresses, student ID numbers and internal messages sent between users within the Canvas platform. The notice said Instructure found no evidence that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers such as Social Security numbers, or financial information were involved.
Instructure’s public status page also identified the matter as a “Confirmed Security Incident.” In an update posted May 2, Instructure Chief Information Security Officer Steve Proud said the company believed the incident had been contained and had taken steps including revoking privileged credentials and access tokens, deploying patches, rotating certain keys as a precaution and increasing monitoring across its platforms.
Wayzata Public Schools said it has activated its District Incident Response Team, remained in communication with the vendor for forensic updates and initiated a review of internal security protocols.
Families were encouraged to remain alert for phishing attempts, particularly unsolicited emails or messages appearing to come from Canvas and asking for personal information or password resets. The district also advised families to monitor student school-related accounts for unusual activity.
The district said it will provide further updates if new information becomes available. Families with questions may contact the Wayzata Technology Department at 763-745-5100.
