An “unauthorized user” appeared to gain access to the public address system in a Pennsylvania airport, where anti-Trump messages were blasted for a few minutes on Tuesday.

The Harrisburg International Airport (HIA) reported that its PA system was hacked for about 10 minutes, as video showed when a message repeatedly declared “Free, free Palestine!” and “F— Netanyahu and Trump” and other messages.

“This is absolutely unacceptable and understandably scared travelers,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a social media post, adding that the FAA is working with the airport “to help get to the bottom of this hack.”

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. https://t.co/3rOKbanfVw

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) October 16, 2025

HIA said in a statement that “an unauthorized user gained access to the airport PA system and played an unauthorized recorded message.”

“Turkish hacker Cyber Islam was here,” one message said, evidently naming the hacker responsible.

(Video Credit: WHTM – abc27 News)

“Following the incident, the PA system was shut off and is now under investigation by police,” Fox43 noted. “Out of an abundance of caution, a Delta flight that was boarding at the time of the incident was searched, the airport said. No security issues were found in the flight, and the plane left HIA safely.”

Scott Miller, spokesman for Harrisburg International Airport, told WGAL, “It was not a threat, that’s the important thing.”

“Our IT department discovered it, they took it down, we referred it to the police department, and they’re doing an investigation,” he said. “The only impact was a loud political message for several minutes.”

U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R) called the incident “disturbing” and wants accountability.

This is extremely disturbing. Bad actors who target and threaten our nation’s transportation security must be held accountable, and any vulnerabilities to our airports must be addressed. Our airport security must be vigilant against such threats. https://t.co/jvxzFRSwA6

— Senator Dave McCormick (@SenMcCormickPA) October 15, 2025

“This is extremely disturbing,” McCormick said Wednesday in a post on X. “Bad actors who target and threaten our nation’s transportation security must be held accountable, and any vulnerabilities to our airports must be addressed. Our airport security must be vigilant against such threats.”

Kelowna International Airport and Victoria International Airport in British Columbia, as well as Windsor International Airport in Ontario, also reported incidents, according to Transport Canada.

“You had to do a double-take and ask yourself if what you were hearing was actually real,” Glen Brown, a passenger at the Harrisburg airport, said, according to CNN. “The real question I have is, if they hack the paging system in an international airport, what else are they tunneling into?

“The airport staff was about as in the dark as we were,” another traveler said. “They even had to resort to using megaphones to give people boarding information because the intercom was down.”

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Frieda Powers

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Frieda@bizpacreview.com

Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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