Over 380 phishing incidents from January to October

"A total number of 508 and 386 phishing incidents have been reported to CERT-In in the year 2010 and during January-October 2011 respectively," Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The minister also said a large number of phishing incidents leading to hacking of bank accounts have also been reported to CERT-In by banks and financial institutions apart from reports of objectionable content, including videos on internet, especially on social networking websites.

Asked if the ministry plans to update the existing cyber crime laws enabling stringent punishments to cyber criminals, Pilot said the Information Technology Act, 2000, has already been amended by the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, and provides a legal framework to address prevalent cyber crimes.