LINCOLN PARK — DePaul University was hit with hate fliers criticizing Jews this week, reportedly made by hackers using the institution's own printers.
NBC News reported that similar fliers were found at least a dozen universities in the United States, including the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, UCLA and Princeton, also the work of hackers.
"We don't know if this was timed to Easter or not," the Anti-Defamation League's Todd Gutnik told NBC News.
At DePaul, several printers were hacked late Thursday afternoon, according to the DePaulia, DePaul's student newspaper, and began appearing in "output trays throughout DePaul's campus."
In a statement, DePaul president Dennis Holtschneider said the school is "investigating the breach as well as the source and origin of this despicable act."
Robert Trestan of the New England Anti-Defamation League told masslive.com that where in the past people would print flyers and slip them under doors, hacking into systems on campuses is "a new tactic."
"They've apparently found a vulnerable [way] into university and college computer systems to be able to do this," Trestan said. "It's important for law enforcement [to figure this out]."
"It's quite concerning because it's so widespread," he said. "There was considerable planning that was involved to do this."
At Amherst, officials said the flyers appeared to have been transmitted from an off-campus location.
The flyers touted white supremacy and blamed Jews for immigration "destroying" the country.
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