Hackers gain access to Haskell programming language server

Unknown hackers gained access to a server that hosted the Debian packages for the Haskell programming language. The server is said to have been hacked since February 12. The possible consequences of the hack are not yet known.

The website of Haskell, a functional programming language, states that unknown persons had access to the server deb.haskell.org for some time. This server contained several packages for the Linux distribution Debian, including the so-called Glasgow Haskell Compiler. After the hosting company spotted suspicious activity on the server, the administrators decided to take the server offline.

The Haskell site would have been accessible to the attackers since February 12, but there would have been relatively little time to manipulate the Haskell packages on offer. An investigation into the attack is still ongoing, including into whether multiple servers may have been attacked. Despite this, there has been some concern among Debian users programming with Haskell over whether keys to sign the packages may have been obtained and whether the attacker may have been able to insert backdoors into the code after all.