MSU Student Association President Keegan Figueroa provided insight on how the Student Association has been involved in the situation in an email conversation with the Reflector.

“From my conversations with many students, there was widespread confusion about final exams, particularly today, May 8th,” Figueroa said. “Many had questions about whether the postponements applied only to online exams or to all exams, so I worked quickly with our departments to send a follow-up message with very clear details on the upcoming exam procedures.”

Figueroa went on to commend the action that university officials took to address the situation.

“Each person with jurisdiction over the hack worked tirelessly to ensure students and resources were protected and communicated as quickly and effectively as possible, and it was very impressive and comforting to experience firsthand,” Figueroa said.

While some students may still experience trouble with the new exam schedule, Figueroa emphasized the adaptability of the university to help students.

“This is a very difficult scenario to handle, especially given that the academic schedule is determined so far in advance,” Figueroa said, “but I’m confident MSU will provide every avenue for students to succeed.

MSU has sent out another email to students expanding on the new exam schedule proposed earlier today.

Exams scheduled on Thursday, May 7 for the 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. time slot will now be moved to Wednesday, May 13 at 7:00 p.m. As stated in a previous email today, all exams scheduled for today will be moved to Saturday. Students will have access to their original exam locations for the rescheduled sessions.

Following the shift in exam schedules, additional information has been released regarding the logistics of the change.

The email states that if any student is available and wants to take their exams today, they are able to with faculty agreement. Additionally, faculty are unable to require students to take the exam today under any circumstances and must plan on giving the exam Saturday following the original schedule unless an alternate solution is proposed.

The university encourages students and faculty to review online submissions to confirm completion and download any online materials that may be necessary for the remainder of the exam period. The university claims to have been assured by Canvas that all digital materials within Canvas are safe to access.

The university added that plans are in place if Canvas goes offline again.

MSU is now directing people to visit Instructure’s new “Security Incident FAQ” page for more details about the Canvas hack.

Instructure said the security incident is tied to an April 29 incident in which hackers exploited a vulnerability in Free-For-Teacher accounts, which provide teachers with free Canvas accounts even if their institution does not use Canvas. The Free-For-Teacher accounts have been temporarily shut down.

Instructure claims that the information stolen includes personal information—names, email addresses, student ID numbers and messages among Canvas users.

“We have found no evidence that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were involved,” the page read.

Instructure went on to say that Canvas is safe to use, and there is no indication that the hackers have access to the platform.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, announced this morning that it, too, would move exams from Friday to Saturday due to the Canvas outage.

“Students who are unable to take finals tomorrow because of religious observances or extenuating circumstances should contact their instructors to make other arrangements,” the announcement said. “We ask that instructors be as flexible and accommodating as possible to students in considering requests for make-up arrangements.”

MSU just sent an email that says that exams scheduled for today will be moved to the same time on Saturday.

“As Mississippi State University continues to review the effects of the nation-wide Canvas outage and confirm its viability during this crucial final exam period,” the release reads, “we have made the difficult decision to postpone today’s final examination schedule and allow those affected to have added time to recover any lost course materials and preparation time.”

The email also asks for faculty to work with their departments on a “reasonable solution” to allow students to complete assignments and exams.

“Faculty are encouraged to download current copies of their Canvas course grade books and any other material needed to complete their courses out of an abundance of caution,” the release also said.

A little before midnight last night, Canvas went back online.

As the Canvas outage stretches into its eighth hour and midnight deadlines approach, students are still waiting for communication from MSU on how the disruption will affect final exams and assignments due tonight and in the coming days.

According to the New York Times, ShinyHunters, the group that claims to be behind the attack, has previously targeted Microsoft, AT&T and, most notably, Ticketmaster in 2024, where it claimed to have stolen data from over 500 million users.

Other targeted Mississippi universities listed include the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi College.

The University of Mississippi was not affected because it uses Blackboard.

MSU has sent a message to students about the nationwide Canvas hack. MSU Information Technology Services says that no internal MSU servers have been compromised, and no MSU passwords were involved in the data leak.

“Mississippi State understands the importance of Canvas to teaching and learning activities and recognizes the challenges this outage is causing,” the ITS website reads, “We will share updates as additional information becomes available.”

MSU also advises, out of caution, against interacting with links or content posted by hackers.