Fast Company hacked: Site shuts down after hackers exploited its CMS tool to send “obscene and racist” notifications to Apple users

Fast Company, a U.S.based business media publication, was forced to shut down its site on Tuesday evening after hackers used the site to send “obscene and racist” notifications to Apple users via the iPhone maker’s Apple News service.

The company confirmed hackers broke into those publishing tools. The company is now investigating the incident. Fast Company’s website was down on Tuesday evening and the page displayed a 404 error. In a tweet from its official Twitter account, the company said:

“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 not in line with the content and ethos of Fast Company. (continued below)”

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 not in line with the content and ethos of Fast Company. (continued below)

— Fast Company (@FastCompany) September 28, 2022

In a subsequent tweet after the shutdown, the company also clarified saying that its content management system (CMS) software, which is used by news outlets to publish and manage their stories, was hacked to send the notifications, which also impacted its Apple News alerts.

To clarify: Fast Company’s content management system (CMS) was hacked on Tuesday evening, which impacted our Apple News alerts.

— Fast Company (@FastCompany) September 28, 2022

“We are investigating the situation and have suspended the feed & shut down FastCompany.com until we are certain the situation has been resolved,” the publication added.

Data breaches and hacking incidents have increased in recent months. Just last week, Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive Software was hacked for the second time in a month, as hackers targeted 2K Games Support urging users to download malware. In a statement today, Take-Two said that a hacker had gained access to the help desk platform of its unit 2K Games and sent a malicious link to certain customers.