A key online learning system used by thousands of schools and universities is back after a cyberattack knocked it offline, creating chaos as students tried to study for finals. A cybersecurity threat analyst says a hacking group called ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for breaching Canvas. Instructure, the company behind Canvas, said late Thursday that the system was available for most users. An expert says the hackers posted online that nearly 9,000 schools worldwide were affected, with billions of private messages and other records accessed. Teachers had to find workarounds to help students study for exams and submit final assignments, and some schools pushed back finals.

Schools and universities across the country are recovering from an outage tied to a cyberattack that knocked down Canvas. The online platform manages exams, course notes, lecture videos and grades. The disruption hit in the middle of finals period for many colleges, a high-stress time when students and instructors rely heavily on the platform. Instructure is the parent company of Canvas and says the platform is available again to most users as of late Thursday. A threat analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft says the hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach.

A cyberattack has caused chaos for students at thousands of schools as they study for finals. The attack Thursday targeted a system that schools and universities use to manage grades, assignments and lecture videos. The hacking group named ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the breach at Instructure, the company behind the learning management system Canvas. An expert says the hacking group posted online that nearly 9,000 schools worldwide were affected, with billions of private messages and other records accessed.

Cyber operations against foreign actors, across the whole spectrum of offensive and defensive measures, began ahead of the election and will continue after the final ballot is cast.