Security breach in Absalon

LATEST NEWS: Absalon reopened, 8 May at 17:30

UCPH has assessed that it is now secure to reopen Absalon.
​Students and teachers can therefore access their material on the platform again.
Absalon can be used as usual. As always, please do not share or upload sensitive and confidential personal data on the platform.

It is possible to download material from Absalon.

Be aware of the risk of phishing emails. Do not click on links – neither in emails nor in Absalon – that appear suspicious or deviate from what you normally see.

As previously announced, data is compromised.​

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The supplier of Absalon recently experienced a security breach. This means that information about current and former students and employees may have been leaked or stolen.

Absalon is a course platform for teaching staff and students, which contains, for example, information about course registrations, messages between students and lecturers, names and email addresses.

"I fully understand that the situation is causing anxiety and frustration among students and staff. This is a serious incident, and we’re working hard to handle the situation, implement the necessary security measures and get the systems back to normal as quickly as possible," says Prorector for Education Kristian Cedervall Lauta.

The University of Copenhagen’s next steps

The University of Copenhagen is taking the situation very seriously and is in the process of:

  • clarifying to what extent current and former students and staff at the University have been affected by the security breach.
  • taking the proper security precautions to protect the University of Copenhagen and anyone else affected.

The University of Copenhagen notified the Danish Data Protection Agency on 5 May 2026.

Further information

Contact

If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact the University of Copenhagen:

  • Press office

  • Individuals affected by the security breach who have concerns or questions regarding their own situation may contact the University of Copenhagen’s Data Protection Officer (DPO) at dpo@adm.ku.dk

About the security breach

Instructure, the provider of Absalon (also known as Canvas), has confirmed the security breach. The platform is used by thousands of educational institutions, and it is feared that 275 million users globally are affected. A hacker group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the supplier has confirmed that the University of Copenhagen is affected.


Situation update, 8 May at noon

The situation is that the American supplier has shut down the system behind Absalon due to a major hacker attack. It happened without warning in the early hours of Friday, 8 May. Until then, the message from the American supplier Instructure to UCPH was that the situation was under control.

The situation is now that no staff or students at UCPH have access to Absalon (Canvas). There is currently no information from the supplier on when the system will be back up.

  • The shutdown affects all our enrolled students and teachers in relation to supporting teaching with materials, course information, etc.
  • The supplier has confirmed that UCPH's data is subject to a hacker attack. It concerns course information from up to 160,000 current and former students, and, in a worst-case scenario, 70,000 current and former teaching staff and administrators.
  • UCPH expects it to concern messages between students and teachers, their names and KU email addresses. The hackers have not had access to CPR numbers, passwords or name-and-address protected information.
  • UCPH has organised an emergency response to closely monitor the situation, including alternative solutions for teaching as well as the consequences of the security breach.
  • Current and former students and teaching staff should be aware of phishing emails, as the leaked data may be used for this purpose.

The University will be communicating about the situation on this page.