Seems, government websites are turning out to be soft targets for hackers. If reports are to be believed, about 112 government websites, including that of the Planning Commission, the Finance Ministry and various State government agencies were hacked or defaced in last three months. 

Sources informed that the website of state-owned telecom operator BSNL was attacked on December 4, by a Pakistani hacker group called 'H4tr!ck'. This was the fourth time the BSNL website was attacked. 

Besides this, some other hacked websites belonged to the agencies in the government of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and Manipur. 

According to Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications and IT, during the period December 2011 to February 2012, a total number of 112 government websites were hacked. In addition, the number of internet frauds of Rs 1 lakh and upwards, declined to 125 in 2011 from 269 cases reported, three years ago. 

As far as internet fraud cases are concerned, about 1,800 cases of internet fraud were reported in 2011, a decline from 2,234 cases reported in 2010.

Notably, the amount involved in the internet frauds declined from Rs 12.3 crore in 2010 to Rs 7.8 crore in 2011.  

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