Congress investigates Canvas breach as company pays ransom

The US Congress has summoned education tech firm Instructure's CEO Steve Daly to the Hill to explain how digital thieves breached its Canvas online platform twice within two weeks.

In a letter sent to the digital learning giant late Monday - around the same time Instructure said it had reached an “agreement” with extortion crew ShinyHunters - the US House Homeland Security Committee “requested” that Daly or a “senior representative” schedule a briefing with the committee as part of its investigation into the hacks.

“The briefing should address the circumstances of both intrusions, the nature and volume of data accessed, the steps Instructure has taken and is taking to contain the threat and notify affected institutions, and the adequacy of the company’s coordination with federal law enforcement and CISA,” Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) wrote [PDF].

“With students at more than 8,000 institutions navigating final examinations and ...