Education tech giant Instructure has confirmed a data breach affecting student information, with hackers claiming to have stolen names, emails and messages between teachers and students. The ShinyHunters gang, known for targeting universities and cloud database companies, also released a list of about 8,800 schools allegedly affected by the breach.

Instructure's platform Canvas, used by both affected schools in Massachusetts and Tennessee, was targeted. However, TechCrunch could not confirm whether all listed institutions were Instructure customers or if they were indeed victims.

ShinyHunters, who previously shared similar data samples with other media outlets, also claimed to have stolen the personal information of 275 million people from 9,000 schools worldwide. The hackers are threatening to release this data unless companies pay a ransom.

Instructure’s spokesperson did not comment on the specifics but referred to their official page where updates about the breach were being published. As of Tuesday, some Instructure products had been restored after maintenance.