Rep. Don Beyer criticizes FBI leadership following major cyberattack on Canvas system

U.S. Representative Don Beyer criticized FBI leadership on Thursday after a major cyberattack disrupted the Canvas system, which is used by thousands of schools in America. Beyer claimed that he, too was affected by the attack, which was executed by a hacker group, and took a jibe at FBI Director Kash Patel, arguing that his agency should focus on responding to such attacks rather than investigating people who discuss his misconduct at the office.

The outage, reportedly linked to the hacker group ShinyHunters, affected millions of students nationwide as Canvas, which is used to manage course notes, assignments, grades, lecture videos and more, went offline. While the attack raised concerns about potential data leaks, students were left in chaos as the platform is vital for their final exam preparation. The hacking group claimed online that nearly 9,000 schools worldwide were affected, with billions of private messages and other records accessed,  Luke Connolly, a threat analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, told Politico.

"9,000 schools across the country are being affected by a massive hack right now that is shutting down Canvas during finals week for millions of American students (including me)," the Democratic Congressman wrote in his post on X. He went on to add that it would be nice if the FBI Director was "focused on responding" to such attacks "with the same verve" he allegedly shows for "abusing his power to investigate people who discuss his consumption of alcohol," referring to recent reports of Patel ordering polygraph tests of FBI agents who potentially leaked information for The Atlantic's bombshell report on his professional misconduct. 

Citing two sources, MS NOW reported that the FBI Director ordered the polygraphing of over two dozen former and current members of his staff, in what was described as a "panic mode" decision to save his job. The report added that Patel had walled himself off from some senior bureau leaders this week after multiple media reports raised red flags about his leadership. Last month, The Atlantic published a report that alleged Patel had problems with excessive alcohol consumption on the job, unexplained absences and misuse of the agency's resources.

Two people with the knowledge of the events, told MS Now that the director had ordered the polygraphing this week of former and current security detail members, and other technology staff. The polygraphs were allegedly demanded to determine if any members of Patel's team that accompanies him on his travels or staff with access to sensitive data had communicated with reporters, the sources who requested to stay anonymous due to fear of retribution, told the publication. The sources expressed concern over the probe which is reportedly to investigate the journalists involved in the matter as well.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson declined to comment on the matter to the publication and disputed claimed of the director being walled off. “I’ve been in the usual operational leader meetings with him every day this week … it’s false,” he said. He further claimed the media was pushing out false stories and not covering the "record-breaking" success in reduction in crime by the current FBI.