A widespread cyberattack targeting the learning platform Canvas is disrupting thousands of schools across the country, including in Colorado. It’s hitting students at one of the worst possible times: finals week.

Cybercriminal group ShinyHunters claimed credit for the attack, breaching systems tied to Instructure, the company that runs Canvas. Canvas is used by 41% of higher education institutions across the country to deliver courses. Millions of K-12 students rely on the platform as well.

In Colorado, more than 20 schools, including Colorado School of Mines, Metropolitan State University of Denver, the University of Denver, the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University, and the University of Northern Colorado, have been affected by the cybersecurity attack.

The group is attempting to extort the company, threatening to release massive amounts of student data if demands are not met.

For students like Flannery Headley, a political science major at MSU Denver, the disruption is more than an inconvenience — it’s a major source of stress.

“The moment I tried to click on something, it gave me this maintenance down page,” she said. “I started Googling things, and I saw this whole thing about the hack.”

Headley says she was working on assignments when Canvas suddenly stopped functioning.

MSU sent out guidance telling students not to log into Canvas and to wait for updates from professors.

Like many students, Headley is now left in limbo, unsure how finals will be submitted or graded.

“This final I’ve spent the last week working on might not matter,” she said. “At least one of my grades is hinging on another final, whether I’m going to pass or fail.”

The attackers claim to have stolen large amounts of data, including names, student ID numbers, email addresses, and academic records.

Experts say the real risk may not just be disruption, but what happens next.

“The worst they could do is release it,” said MSU Denver computer science professor Steve Beaty. “There’s been minor leaks and breaches and these sorts of things from time to time, but nothing on the scale of this.”

Beatty says the group claims to have terabytes of student data, which could include personally identifiable information protected under federal privacy laws. If released, that information could be used for scams, identity theft, or further cyberattacks.

Canvas is a cloud-based system used by thousands of institutions, meaning a single attack can have massive ripple effects.

“They took the entire Canvas infrastructure down,” Beatty said. “That affects about 9,000 schools, tens of thousands of people in Colorado alone.”

Right now, schools are scrambling to find workarounds, from email submissions to alternative testing methods.

There is no current timeline for resolution. The hacker group has set a May 12 deadline for the company to respond before potentially releasing the data.

Until then, students like Headley are left waiting, hoping their work doesn’t disappear.

“I’m going to keep working on my finals,” she said, “but I’m not sure what that’s going to look like.”

In 2007, Frank DeLuz III donated a plot of land with sweeping views overlooking Hilo Bay to the Hawaii Island Portuguese Chamber of Commerce for one specific purpose: to build a cultural and educational center to preserve and share Portuguese history and culture on the island.

Now, nearly 20 years later, that vision is finally coming to life with construction of the center expected to be completed by March 2027 and open shortly thereafter.

It has been a long, obstacle-ridden journey for the HIPCC, with delays being caused by everything from lava flows and storms to COVID-19 and high cost of materials. But Marlene Hapai, former HIPCC president, said it will be worth the wait.

“You just have to wait your turn, especially when you’re a nonprofit,” she said. “You have to just say, okay, just be patient, no problem.”

She said plans for the center — which is being built on the corner of Komohana and Ponahawai streets — were revised several times to accommodate financial constraints.

“Originally it was supposed to be about 3,500 (square) feet. Now it’s considerably smaller because of cost,” Hapai said. “But, hey, you go with what you can get so it’s quality not quantity, so we just make it really good.”

The center will feature a main hall, archive room, resource center, kitchenette and outdoor lanai space. It will serve as a venue for cultural events as well as hosting educational materials and exhibits, one of which Hapai is especially excited about.

“We are going to have a 30-panel exhibit gifted to us from Portugal on the explorations during the golden years of discovery of Portugal,” she said.

She saw the exhibit on temporary display years ago at the Portuguese Consulate in San Francisco, and after she inquired about it, the consulate agreed to donate it to the center once it is complete.

Hapai said she feels it is important to have more physical documentation about Portuguese history, culture and influence on Hawaii Island, which stretches back to 1878, when the first Portuguese families arrived in Hawaii.

Primarily from the Azores and Madeira, which were experiencing an economic depression at the time, they were drawn by opportunities to work on plantations. Hapai said they also brought other skills and cultural contributions.

“(They came) mainly for plantations, but many of them were very skilled carpenters and masons and other things,” she said. “And you know, the culture that was brought … what we have today, the foods, the music, the dance, the ukulele, many became well-established in businesses.”

She said the center has also strengthened the connection between Portugal and the Portuguese community in Hawaii. When the Azorean government got word of HIPCC’s plans, Hapai said it reached out and offered to have the center be designated as a “House of the Azores,” making it part of a network of cultural centers around the world.

At some point, Hapai said, HIPCC could leverage this partnership to provide courses at the center, potentially including a certificate in Portuguese studies and cooking classes, among other offerings.

Hapai is far from the only one committed to seeing the center become a reality. Throughout the past 20 years, the support of members of the community is what has kept the project alive.

When the initial plans for the building proved too expensive, Mountain View architect and former HIPPC board member Blaise Caldera offered to create a new one pro-bono. And, when HIPCC was on the verge of giving up and settling for a pavilion instead, resident Theresa Perreira Zendejas donated her house to the cause.

“She had been to a number of our events, and she said, ‘Marlene, I want to give you my home.’” Hapai recalled. “‘I’m in the fourth stage of cancer, I’m not going to be around much longer … I want to see the center built.’”

After that, with additional help from a $200,000 state grant, Hapai said they were able to move forward with starting work at the site, which began in January of this year. In total, she estimates the cost of the project to be close to $3 million, including in-kind service donations.

“So, we have the money, and now we’re just dealing with the weather,” Hapai said, referencing the recent Kona low storms. “It put us way behind.”

Yet she is hopeful work will continue soon.

“Everything is working out, we just had to be patient,” she said. “It’s not going to be as big as we originally had hoped, but I think we’re going to definitely have the quality that’s needed, and we have a lot of community members that have their heart and soul in this.”

Email Grace Inez Adams at grace.adams@hawaiitribune-herald.com.

MISSOULA, Mt. — Karsen Beitz arrived at Montana with no scholarship offers, one remaining walk-on spot and no guarantee that his track career would last.

Now, the former Sentinel High School standout is one of the fastest athletes in Montana history.

Beitz, a Missoula native and junior sprinter for the Grizzlies, has turned an unlikely college opportunity into a record-setting career. He owns Montana’s 100-meter and 200-meter program records and enters next week’s Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships as one of the top sprinters in the league.

Coming out of high school, Beitz was a football and track athlete without a Division I offer.

“I was upset about it,” Beitz said. “But at the same time, I was fine with just going to college and living a normal college life.”

That changed after conversations between Sentinel coach Dylan Reynolds and Montana coach Doug Fraley.

“You may not think he’s a D-I prospect based on his times,” Reynolds told Fraley, “but I’m just telling you, if he gets in the right program, he’s going to be a D-I runner.”

Fraley had one walk-on spot left on his roster. He brought Beitz into his office, talked with him and decided to take a chance.

“I liked him. We had a good conversation, so I decided to give him the last walk-on spot,” Fraley said. “I’m sure glad I did.”

Beitz became a Division I athlete in his hometown, but his first goal was modest. He wanted to prove he belonged and earn a scholarship.

He did that quickly.

As a freshman, Beitz placed at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships and helped Montana’s 4×100-meter relay reach the podium with a school-record performance.

“There was no doubt he earned that scholarship,” Fraley said.

Beitz continued to climb in 2025. He placed second in the 200 meters at the Big Sky indoor meet, but a hamstring injury kept him out of the outdoor championships.

“It sucked to deal with,” Beitz said. “But I’m young and still had two years left, so I shifted my mindset to how I could come out these next two years.”

He has not looked back.

Beitz won the 200 meters at the 2026 Big Sky indoor championships, the first individual conference title of his track career. His time of 21.09 seconds edged Idaho State’s Alex Conner by one-hundredth of a second.

“I think the best part about it was seeing how happy Doug was,” Beitz said. “He was jumping up and down, gave me a big hug. After last year, I knew what I was capable of, so to go out there and do it was amazing.”

Then came the outdoor season.

In April, Beitz broke Montana’s 58-year-old 200-meter record, running 20.55 seconds at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate in Long Beach, California. The previous record had stood since 1968.

Two weeks later, he added the school’s wind-legal 100-meter record, running 10.25 seconds at the Bengal Invitational in Pocatello, Idaho. Which broke a 44-year-old program record and gave Beitz both sprint marks.

“He’s a really competitive guy, and he wants to be the best in the Big Sky,” Fraley said.

The records have not left Beitz satisfied. They have made him hungrier.

“You have all these goals and numbers in your mind,” Beitz said. “Then once you hit those numbers, you’re not satisfied. There’s just more numbers to chase.”

The next chase begins at the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships, scheduled for May 13-16 in Portland, Oregon.

After college, Beitz hopes to follow his mother’s footsteps and become a pharmacist. Maybe even the world’s fastest pharmacist.

“If I’m running around the hospital talking to doctors,” Beitz said, “I’ll do it pretty fast.”

From a walk-on few people noticed to a conference champion and school-record holder, Beitz has become Montana’s fastest man — and he is not done running.