Push notification from Apple News was received by its users that contained offensive and racist language, as reported by 9To5Mac.

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CUPERTINO, CA - MARCH 25: Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook speaks during a company product launch event at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park on March 25, 2019 in Cupertino, California. Apple Inc. announced the launch of , it's new video streaming service, and also unveil a premium subscription tier to its News app.

The incident was done after Fast Company news was hacked by someone identified as "Thrax." Although a name was revealed, it remains unclear who is the person behind this hack.

Different screenshots from several iPhone users who are confused circulated on Twitter. A report from The Verge also confirmed that some users who were not subscribed to Fast Company also received these notifications.

The notification leads its users to another vandalized article with the same offensive language. The article was originally published in 2009, and instead of an author's name, it was replaced by "Hacked by Vinny Troia," a reference to a cybersecurity researcher.

Hack Execution

The message from "postpixel" was also on the site before it got deleted, and it described how the hackers got access to vandalize the articles and notifications. Through a shared password, the hackers got in as it was already shared on several accounts, including an administrator.

Aside from the execution, the hackers also revealed that the company traded information stolen in security breaches. The hackers threatened to release records of different employees and other draft posts from the database.

Apple's Action

A tweet from Apple News revealed that Fast Company's channel has been disabled on the platform. The alert was described as "incredibly offensive."

As per the same report from 9To5, Apple does not approve notifications directly before it distributed to some users, hence the incident happened. This was because the publications have the same flow in how they post news on the web.

Fast Company's Response

Through The Desk, an editor confirmed that the online vandalism incident is now resolved. Minutes after the confirmation, Fast Company tweeted via their official Twitter account and announced that both the site and the application will be shut down temporarily to resolve the issue.

This hack from Apple News may be a first, as it usually only happens to Twitter feeds, Youtube channels, websites, and more.

Also Read: Russia: Hacker Booked Yandex Taxi to Create Traffic Jam in Moscow-Protest for Ukraine?

Apple just released earlier this month a new security update that avoids potential hacking through a zero-day flaw.

Bleeping Computer reported that these might have been exploited by hackers, but fortunately, a patch was released the same day of rolling out iOS 16 updates for iPhone users. 

Related Article: Apple iPhone, Mac Security Update Fixes Actively Exploited Zero-Day Flaw - Update ASAP to Avoid Hacks 

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Written by Inno Flores