Three Canadian airports and one US one were claimed to have been hacked on Tuesday, and praises for Hamas and criticisms of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were flashed on monitors. Flight information display screens were also hit by the hackers, which alarmed passengers in both countries.
The Victoria International Airport and Kelowna International Airport in British Columbia, Windsor International Airport in Ontario, and Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania were some of the airports hit.
“Netanyahu and Trump, go to hell and Freedom for Palestine” was heard over loudspeakers at four American airports
The work of Hackers from Turkey .
Several flights were reportedly delayed due to the hack.
— Tony (@Cyberspec1) October 16, 2025
A foreign language message was sent.
A representative of the Victoria International Airport said that the hackers showed foreign-language messages. They broke into third-party software to enter the system, and the airport switched to an internal system to regain control, the representative added.
The hack was to a “cloud-based software provider” the airport employed, and “our systems returned to normal shortly thereafter,” Windsor International Airport wrote in a release. Significantly, all four airports are smaller, feeder airports.
Sean Duffy, the US secretary of transportation, tweeted on X, “This is absolutely unacceptable and understandably scares travelers.”
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What were the messages?
Photos of the messages shown and the announcements made at the four airports have gone viral on social media. HT.com was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of these photos.
A woman at Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg airport could be heard on the public address system uttering the words “Free Palestine” and using profanities against Trump and Netanyahu. She was also heard declaring, “Turkish hacker Cyber Islam was here.
The Canadian hacks were aimed at flight display screens with pro-Hamas slogans. “Israel lost the war; Hamas won the war honorably,” a Kelowna International Airport message read.
These were just the latest in a series of cyberattacks that have hit major airports in recent times. Last month, a cyberattack disrupted travel at a number of European airports, including London’s Heathrow Airport.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), with the help of other agencies, is probing the cyberattack at Canadian airports and is being aided by the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. The US Federal Aviation Administration and airport authorities are investigating the incident at Harrisburg International Airport.
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