Fast Company’s Apple News access hijacked to send an obscene push notification

It’s been a little while since we had a high-profile media feed hijacking, but tonight someone sent an Apple News notification from Fast Company containing a racial slur and invitation for a particular sexual act. They also posted similar content to the outlet’s website, indicating its CMS or an account on it has been compromised.

Apple and Fast Company haven’t commented on the incident yet, and it’s unclear exactly how many people received the blast, but a look around social media reveals it went out widely — Vox Media staffers who don’t subscribe to Fast Company say it popped up on their phones as well.

We’ve seen hackers take over Twitter feeds, YouTube channels, press release newswires, and occasionally deface websites, but an Apple News alert takeover may be a first. However, as startup exec Zack Wynegar notes, while the message sent was obscene and offensive, someone with that kind of access could’ve gone another route to manipulate stock markets or crypto prices, similar to the Walmart Litecoin crypto hoax last year.