With increasing penetration of technology, cyber crime is on the rise with 966 cases reported in 2010 under the IT Act, 2000, Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal today said.

"With the increase in the increasing proliferation of IT and related services, there is a rise in the number of cyber crimes and cyber security incidents," Sibal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

According to data maintained by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 217, 288, 420 and 966 cyber crime cases were registered under the Information Technology Act, 2000, during 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively, he said.

Sibal added that "...399, 176, 276 and 356 cyber crime cases were reported under Sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to cyber cases during 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively".

The nature of cyber crime recorded by NCRB included tampering computer documents, hacking, obscene publication/ transmission in electronic media, unauthorised access/attempt to access protected computer system, breach of privacy/ confidentiality and digital signature related crimes.

Sibal said the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 has been enforced on October 27, 2009 and provides a legal framework to address the issues connected with security breaches of IT infrastructure.

He added that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) issues alerts, advisories and guidelines regarding cyber security threats and measures to be taken to prevent cyber incidents and enhance security of IT systems.

In response to a separate question, Minister of State for IT and Communications Sachin Pilot said that 219 government websites were defaced by various hacker groups between January to October, 2011.

"A total of 90, 119, 252 and 219 government websites as reported and tracked by CERT-In were defaced by various hacker groups in 2008, 2009, 2010 and January-October 2011," Pilot said.