Hackers deface 2,770 websites till August

NEW DELHI: As many as 2,770 Indian websites have been defaced by hackers in the first eight months of this year, according to estimates of the cyber security wing of the Department of Information Technology.

The period between January-August this year witnessed 2,770 breach of cyber security, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) said in its latest report on hacking.

During the entire last year, 5,200 websites were hacked. Phishers or hackers attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information such as user names, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

Besides, 326 security incidents were reported to CERT-In from various national and international agencies in the first eight months of this year, CERT-In added.

Security-related incidents like phishing, unauthorised scanning, virus and worm under the malicious code category were reported, it said.

Of the total number of sites that were hacked and defaced in eight month of 2007, an overwhelming majority were in the '.com' domain (1,135 incidents), while 899 incidents occurred within the '.in' domain.

"Phishing incidents cannot be eliminated completely but FIRs should be filed by the victim organisation or institution and it should be made a penal offence," cyber law expert and Supreme Court lawyer Pavan Duggal said last week.

The e-commerce sector reported the largest number of phishing attacks in 2006, accounting for 76 per cent. The other most targeted area is financial services which accounted for 24 per cent.