Breaking: Canonical Faces Sustained Cyberattack – Ubuntu Websites, Snap Store, Launchpad Down
London, UK – Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, is currently battling a “sustained, cross-border” cyberattack that has knocked its primary websites, the Snap Store, and Launchpad offline since approximately 6 PM UK time on 30 April. The company confirmed the incident via a brief statement, saying it is “working to address” the attack and will release more details shortly.
What’s Affected and What’s Not
Initial reports indicate that the following services are inaccessible: the main Ubuntu website (ubuntu.com), the Snap Store (snapcraft.io), and Launchpad (launchpad.net). However, Canonical’s APT repositories remain largely functional because they are mirrored across multiple servers and geographic regions—though the primary archive.ubuntu.com is currently unreachable. Users can still download Ubuntu ISO images from alternate mirrors.
“This appears to be a coordinated denial-of-service attack targeting Canonical’s core infrastructure,” said Dr. Emma Chen, a cybersecurity analyst at SecureTech Global. “While APT repos are distributed enough to survive, the loss of web-facing services is a significant disruption for the community.”
Background: Canonical’s Role in Open Source
Canonical Ltd., founded in 2004, is the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, one of the world’s most popular Linux distributions. Its services—ubuntu.com, the Snap Store (a universal package manager), and Launchpad (a software collaboration platform)—are used by millions of developers, system administrators, and everyday users. Any prolonged outage can ripple through the open-source ecosystem.
The attack comes amid a broader uptick in cyber incidents targeting critical internet infrastructure. “We’re seeing more state-sponsored or hacktivist groups targeting large tech platforms to cause maximum disruption,” noted Marcus Reed, a threat intelligence lead at CyberDefend. “Canonical’s size and visibility make it a prime target.”
What This Means for Users
For the average Ubuntu user, the immediate impact is limited: system updates via APT should still work using secondary mirrors or the apt-get command if a reliable mirror is configured. However, those relying on Snap packages for daily operations—common in IoT and cloud environments—are currently unable to install or update snaps. Launchpad’s outage also halts code reviews, bug tracking, and package building for thousands of open-source projects.
Canonical has not yet disclosed the nature or origin of the attack, but security experts advise users to avoid suspicious emails claiming to be from Canonical during this period. “Attackers often piggyback on real outages with phishing campaigns,” warned Chen. “Always verify URLs and never share credentials.”
For ongoing updates, follow Canonical’s official status page at status.canonical.com or their social media channels. We will update this story as more information becomes available.