Fast Company, the American magazine with a focus on business, technology, and design, found its Apple News media feed hijacked. Hackers sent an Apple News notification from Fast Company that contained a racial slur and an invitation for a sexual act.
Apple News addressed the issue on their official Twitter account, saying “An incredibly offensive alert was sent by Fast Company, which has been hacked. Apple News has disabled their channel.”
Fast Company acknowledged the hack saying, “Fast Company’s Apple News account was hacked on Tuesday evening. Two obscene and racist push notifications were sent about a minute apart. The messages are vile and are not in line with the content of Fast Company. We are investigating the situation and have suspended the feed and shut down FastCompany.com until we are certain the situation has been resolved.”
An article on the publication’s website, before it disappeared, included a message from “postpixel” detailing how the hack was possible. The message derided the company’s security measures and said the hacker gained access via a password that was shared across many accounts, including an administrator.
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While the extent of the hack is not clear, Verge reported Vox Media employees receiving the notification from Fast Company on their devices, though they do not subscribe to the magazine.
The hack has left some jittery, with one individual asking Apple News on Twitter, “What steps will you be taking to ensure this sort of alert doesn’t go out if it comes from other channels in future?”
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Another individual called for an FBI investigation into the hack, replying to Fast Company’s acknowledgement of the breach, saying “Thank you for the quick response. We need the heroes at the FBI to investigate this bigoted attack against African Americans. The person who did this was likely involved with the Jan 6th attack on our democracy. We won’t allow fascism to take root!”