Needham Public Schools’ Data Accessed in Cybersecurity Breach

May 11, 2026
• Names and emails of students and staff were involved, the superintendent said. The district’s teacher gradebook data also “could have been modified” during the breach.

During a recent cyberattack involving Canvas — the software schools use for class assignments and grades — Needham Public Schools data was compromised, Needham Superintendent Dan Gutekanst wrote in an email to families Friday.

The information accessed across two security breaches “included first names, last names, and email addresses for all Needham Public Schools students and staff,” Gutekanst wrote in the email. The school first learned of the attack on May 1, he said, and then of the second on May 7.

Administration also learned that gradebook data in the district’s PowerSchool system “could have been modified,” Gutekanst added, though they have not yet confirmed that possibility.

“Immediately upon notification of the breach, we disconnected Canvas from PowerSchool to prevent any further potential compromise of data or systems,” he wrote.

Gutekanst said the schools have requested Infrastructure, the organization who owns Canvas, for “a complete documented accounting of the incident,” as well as what specific data was involved.

“We are also continuing to closely monitor the situation and review any additional systems that could potentially have been affected downstream,” he wrote.

The Canvas outage impacted thousands of other schools and colleges, including Boston College, MIT, Harvard, Northeastern University and UMass Amherst. Hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for the attack.

Infrastructure, the company behind Canvas, issued an apology to users and reported Canvas was back running by Friday, May 9.

Needham High School will fully transition from Google Classroom to Canvas starting next school year, according to The Hilltopper, the school newspaper. The phase-in of the learning management system began this school year — Canvas will “enhance teacher instructional tools” and “promote stronger family partnerships,” Gutekanst said at the School Committee’s June 17 meeting.

At a January School Committee meeting, members discussed technology budget updates, including $17,000 for additional licenses, trainings and support for Canvas as they look to bring students on in September.

The breach comes a couple weeks before senior final exams begin at Needham High School.

“We understand the concern that incidents like this create for families and staff,” Gutekanst wrote in the email, “and we are committed to keeping you informed as we learn more.”