Hacker uses Fast Company's Apple News account to send offensive message

A hacker has obtained access to Fast Company's Apple News account, and used it to send extremely offensive message alerts to subscribers on Tuesday.

The message, which we will not quote here, is offensive on several levels, and is signed "Thrax was here."

Apple News has confirmed that the message was sent by Fast Company's account.

"An incredibly offensive alert was sent by Fast Company, which has been hacked. Apple News has disabled their channel," Apple News's official Twitter account said in a tweet Wednesday.

Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab)

There's no word on when and if Fast Company's channel on Apple News will be reinstated.

The message you'll see if you try to access Fast Company on Apple News. Credit: Apple

In an official statement, Fast Company said its content management system was hacked on Tuesday evening and used to send "two obscene and racist push notifications" to the publisher's followers, "about a minute apart."

"The messages are vile and are not in line with the content and ethos of Fast Company."

Fast Company says that the hack is related to the hack of its website on Sunday afternoon, where similar language appeared on the site's homepage and other pages. The company shut down the site but restored it two hours later.

However, it appears that the hacker has leveraged access to Fast Company's Apple News account as well. Fast Company says it's investigating the situation, and has shut down its website over at FastCompany.com until the matter has been resolved. As of this writing, that website is still unavailable.