Essential Tech

The recent Canvas breach showed how attackers can exploit weaknesses in account creation processes, access large amounts of data, and disrupt an entire cloud platform. Because Canvas is SaaS (software you access over the internet), the outage became a single point of failure for everyone who relied on it.

⚠️ Stronger identity protection is essential: Attackers took advantage of weaknesses in the identity process. Phishing resistant MFA and passwordless logins make this much harder.

⚠️ Keeping too much data increases the damage:
Canvas stored years of messages and records, leaving more data exposed. Regular clean ups and clear retention rules reduce the impact of data breaches.

⚠️ When a SaaS platform goes down, core functions stop:
The Canvas outage affected communication, services, and day to day operations. Every organisation should plan for SaaS outages, not just server failures.

⚠️ Vendors are part of your security:
Cloud providers and integrations need clear expectations around breach notifications, recovery, and access permissions.

⚠️ Social engineering follows most breaches: Stolen details are often used to create convincing phishing or impersonation attempts. Staff should be prepared for this.

Canvas paid a ransom to the ShinyHunters group, but Australian authorities strongly advise against paying - it doesn’t guarantee recovery or prevent further harm.

👉 If this incident has made you rethink your SaaS use, data retention, or vendor security, contact us to review your environment and strengthen your defences: https://essentialtech.com.au/contact/

Internet Outage Reported!

Did you know that in our service Portal, you can see important Updates that may affect services provided by Essential Tech? We will be providing updates from our providers as they become available.

👑 Most of Australia will be getting a long weekend with the King’s Birthday public holiday on Monday 8 June. Sorry, not you Queensland and Western Australia - you’ll get your turn later in the year!

Enjoy the break. And if technology decides to misbehave, we’ll still be here to help 24/7.

Contact us: www.essentialtech.com.au/contact