So, if you haven't heard (it blew up on May 5, so you probably have) there's a "virus" on scratch. I'm going to explain to you what we know, and what ST is doing about it. I'll answer any of your questions in the comments. ==== What is Canvas? ==== This is the most asked question of all, and because people call it a virus(which it isn't) , there's been a lot of panic over it. It's not actually a virus, It's a vulnerability in the Scratch costume/backdrop editor. it allows you to run code (possibly malicious code) in the background. bottom line, IT ISN'T AN ACTUAL VIRUS. ==== What does it do? ==== No one fully agrees on what it does. But what we DO agree on is what it can/might do. ==== So what CAN it do? ==== Well, it varies from victim to victim, and we don't know why. but here's what it can do : Delete/Unshare your projects, change your projects to the infected ones, log you out, crash your computer, and change your password. ==== How dangerous is it? ==== Well, in reality, it can't actually do much to you, and it's decently hard to get. IT CANNOT DO ANYTHING TO YOU OUTSIDE OF SCRATCH, UNLESS YOU'VE STORED PERSONAL INFORMATION ON HERE. (it can do more malicious things on the offline version) The only thing it can do is ruin all your hard work, and maybe grab your email, which CAN POSSIBLY lead to other things. ==== How do you get it, and how can you avoid it? ==== This is a big one. First of all, it'll almost certainly pass through any anti-viruses you have,(@Chicken-Plant is working on a replica so he can create an anti-virus specifically for svg costume hacks like this, go @Chicken-Plant!) because it doesn't do anything outside of scratch, so you don't need one and you won't be protected by one. You get it by going into the costume/backdrop editor of any infected project, so it's decently difficult to get, you just have to be uninformed, which is kinda hard cuz it's all over Scratch. So, just don't really go into any project costume editor, or else you might get it. IT CAN'T LURK INSIDE YOUR OWN PROJECTS UNLESS YOU ALREADY HAVE IT! (We're pretty darn sure about that one.) ==== Where did this come from, and what is ST doing about it? ==== Well, it came from a h@cking group whose name I don't personally remember, they have been active in 2026, and they made this sometime this or last week. And their account has been banned. As for their reasons, we have absolutely no idea why they did this, or why anyone would to this! It's possible this is a test run for something bigger, but I don't want to fear monger. And what ST is doing about it? Not a whole lot. said they believed they had contained it and were working on the fixing the issue. They were wrong. It might still be spreading. However, ST HAS been retrieving the lost projects of victims, which is a step in the right direction for a ST who may or may not be not meeting most of the community's wants. They are planning to fix cloud though, which is awesome! Anyway, ST has been doing their best to stop the hack's spread and fix the issue, however damages to projects and users has probably already surpassed the thousands range, but that's just a rough estimate. I, for one, back ST whole-heartedly. (except for AI I'm gonna ignore that one) They're just doing their best and have announced that they're going to fix a lot of gripes from the community, which is HUGE. Anyway, stay safe out there, it's hard times right now. ==== Sources: ==== The Grillin' comments section: The 'Canvas costume virus/hack' explained forum: Mehlon_'s brain: Also better explanation of how it works: credit to ABCvah for that one. I'll keep you guys posted as situations develop :) Stay safe, guys. It's a brutal world out there. No, this isn't AI, and AI is not my future. I wrote this in here because of the virus, I was kinda scared to open the editor.
