Pro-Palestinian messages praising Hamas and criticizing President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were broadcast over public-address systems at four North American airports on Tuesday, disrupting operations and prompting investigations into what officials believe were coordinated hacks.
Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania, as well as Kelowna International Airport and Victoria International Airport in British Columbia and Windsor International Airport in Ontario, were the four affected airports.
“Free Palestine” chants could be heard in a passenger’s video reviewed by CNN.
Harrisburg airport spokesperson Scott Miller told local TV station WGAL that “an unauthorized user gained access to the airport PA system and played an unauthorized recorded message,” adding, “It was not a threat, that’s the important thing.”
The pro-Hamas recordings and messages that appeared for roughly 10 minutes over public-address speakers and screens praised Hamas and, using expletives, were critical of the Trump administration and Netanyahu.
“This is absolutely unacceptable and understandably scared travelers,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on social media, adding the FAA is working with the Harrisburg airport “to help get to the bottom of this hack.”
A spokesperson for Victoria International Airport told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that hackers were able to penetrate the cloud-based external system “used by many airports” to control the public-address loudspeakers.
“The message was political in nature and did not contain any threats against the airport, our tenants, airlines, or passengers,” the spokesperson added.
“The incident is being investigated by local, state, and federal officials.”
The cybersecurity breaches highlight growing vulnerabilities in airport networks that have become increasingly reliant on cloud-based audio and display systems.
The FBI warned in June those in the “airline ecosystem” that hackers have begun targeting their industry, adding that “once inside (a victim’s network), Scattered Spider actors steal sensitive data for extortion and often deploy ransomware.”
The agency said it is “actively working with aviation and industry partners to address this activity and assist victims.”
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