Image copyright Getty Images

Sony Music has said sorry to pop star Britney Spears, after an official Twitter account suggested the pop star had died.

The entertainment firm quickly removed the hoax tweets, saying its global account had been "compromised" but that the situation had "been rectified".

Sony added it "apologises to Britney Spears and her fans for any confusion".

The 35-year-old did not react directly to the tweet, but her manager confirmed the singer was "fine and well".

Image copyright Twitter Image caption The tweets were quickly dismissed as a hoax

As well Sony's Twitter account, the official account of Bob Dylan also appears to have been hacked. It tweeted: "Rest in peace @britneyspears" around the time of the fake Sony tweets.

After the tweets were published, a group called OurMine appears to have gained access to the Sony Music account and pointed out the security breach. It is not clear whether it was also responsible for the original false messages.

Just a few days ago, it appeared to have hacked into the Twitter accounts of Netflix US and Marvel Entertainment.

And it has also been linked to compromising the Twitter accounts of top executives including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai.

Hollywood hack

While the latest incident is potentially embarrassing to Sony Music, it is not likely to have the same repercussions as another cyber-security breach that Sony suffered in 2014.

That hack, which targeted Sony Pictures, resulted in unreleased films and the script for the next James Bond movie being leaked online.

Details of corporate finances and private emails between producers and Hollywood figures were also released.

North Korea was accused by the US of orchestrating the move and the eventual fallout saw Sony cancel the Christmas release of a comedy called The Interview, a film depicting the assassination of the North Korean leader.