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The New York Times published an article that says something about the security of networks at German universities, and at universities in general:
Printers at several universities across Germany produced anti-Semitic leaflets on or before Hitler's birthday this week, after hackers appeared to break into their computer systems, according to university officials.
Universities in Hamburg, Lüneburg and Tübingen confirmed that printers connected to their computer networks had suddenly started churning out the leaflets, most of them on Wednesday, the anniversary of Hitler's birth in Braunau, Austria, in 1889.
At least six other universities in Germany reported similar episodes, according to the German news agency DPA.
The leaflet produced at the University of Hamburg carried the slogan "Europe, awake!" and alluded to the mass migration that brought more than one million people, many from the Middle East, to the Continent last year. "Europe is being flooded by enemy strangers," it read, in part.
Without naming Hitler, the leaflet referred to "the words of a former European führer" who blamed the Jews for bringing non-Europeans to the Rhineland.
The article noted a similar breach at American universities, including one at Princeton in March.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday April 29 2016, @01:50PM
Gallows humor is actually a common response to horror. It's the response that serves as a reminder that you're still alive.
In the case of the Holocaust, I'll just say that most of the Jews I've known in my life (including some relatives) were able to joke about it. Heck, Mel Brooks is Jewish and wrote The Producers, which a few years ago had a nice run in Berlin [theguardian.com].
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Friday April 29 2016, @02:44PM
It doesn't sound very funny to me. It seems more like a cowardly anonymous veneration of what Hitler did to the Jews, homosexuals, communists, Roma, disabled, mentally ill and others and a call to instigate a pogrom against Muslims perhaps with genocide as the end game. But then my beard is getting grey and I no longer have the wit of a young man.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Friday April 29 2016, @03:06PM
Don't get me wrong, it's not like I think the Holocaust was fine and dandy. I'm saying that jokes are one of the responses to horrible things, and attempting to turn this into some kind of Nazi-themed episode of Scooby-Doo is one way to reduce the power of those ideas. Imagine if the next time a would-be Hitler showed up on the scene, all he was met with was howls of derisive laughter.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.