NEW DELHI: Several Indian banks have come under more than 400 phishing attacks during the past few months with the number rising sharply in Sept-Oct, 2008, according to industry lobby National Association of Software Companies (Nasscom).

Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication in a bid to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details.

Criminals using the Internet have attacked banks such as state-owned Bank of India, private lender HDFC Bank, India's largest private lender ICICI Bank among others, Nasscom president Som Mittal told reporters on the sidelines of a Nasscom-organised conference on cyber security awareness.

Further, the number of phishing attacks on Indian banks sharply increased during Sept-Oct 2008 with most of the phishing attacks using compromised Indian government servers.

"There is high awareness at the government level and the number of attacks proves that we are at the cusp of a significant increase," Mittal said..