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In a troubling cyber attack, hackers broke into the public address (PA) systems in four airports, three Canadian and one American. They broadcast messages glorifying Hamas and denouncing former US President Donald Trump, officials and news outlets said.
The compromised Canadian airports were Kelowna International Airport and Victoria International Airport in British Columbia, and Windsor International Airport in Ontario. These are regional airports that fly fewer passengers, unlike the bigger airports like Vancouver International.
In Kelowna International Airport, an ‘advertisement streaming service’ was temporarily compromised, and hackers were able to broadcast unauthorized content. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is conducting an investigation into the breach.
Meanwhile, at Victoria International Airport, intruders allegedly played foreign language and music messages over the PA system. They accessed the airport's network via third-party software. Airport officials said they switched to an internal network to regain control. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security is helping with the investigation.
Both the flight information display screens and the PA system within Windsor were used to broadcast unauthorized messages and images. Authorities indicated that the incident was a result of a cloud-based service provider breach and further stated that systems were restored just after the breach.
In Pennsylvania, Harrisburg International Airport security was also breached. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledged the attack on his social media page. He said that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and local airport officials are probing the incident. Although the FAA has not issued a formal statement.
Smaller regional airports might be easier targets for hackers since they typically rely on outside companies to handle their electronic systems. Take Kelowna airport, it's the biggest of the affected airports and handled around 2 million travelers in 2024, which is pretty small compared to Vancouver International's 25 million passengers that same year. Now, both countries are looking into their cybersecurity measures to prevent these kinds of problems from happening again in the aviation sector.
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