Vulgar messages insulting President Donald Trump and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu were broadcast to travelers at Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg International Airport (HIA) Tuesday night, as a hacker took control of the P.A. system and display screens to promote pro-Palestine propaganda.
The hacks, which preempted flight information displays and public address system broadcasts for approximately 10 minutes, repeated messages such as “F**k Netanyahu and Trump,” “Free, free Palestine,” and “Turkish hacker, cyber-Islam was here.”
Because of the hack, one plane that was about to depart the airport was delayed and searched, but authorities found no threats.
The incident was reportedly recorded and posted online by TikTok user Larissa Dean in the video embedded below. [Strong Content Warning].
"Our IT department discovered it, they took it down, we referred it to the police department, and they're doing an investigation," Harrisburg International Airport spokesman Scott Miller told local station WGAL.
“This is absolutely unacceptable and understandably scared travelers. The @FAANews and I are coordinating with @FlyHIA to help get to the bottom of this hack,” U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on social media, replying to a post by WGAL.
The hack was most likely accomplished by accessing a third-party, cloud-based system commonly used by airports to manage public address systems and flight-time displays, a security consultant suggested to The New York Times.
