A Cisco report said cyber attacks increased 14% in 2013 as hackers set their sights on industries like pharmaceuticals, mining and electronics, the Financial Times reported. These are considered as intellectual property-rich industries.

Last year saw the highest level of threats from online criminals and susceptibility of computer systems since the technology firm started publishing its yearly security report in 2000. According to Cisco, an "unprecedented growth" was seen in advanced attacks. Malicious traffic targeted each big firm the company tracked, the report said.

Cisco Senior Vice-President and Chief Security Officer John Stewart told FT that the report showed a grim picture of cyber security today. However, he said that trust can be restored if defenders really get to understand the perpetrators of the attacks. He said, "To truly protect against all of these possible attacks, defenders must understand the attackers, their motivations and their methods - before, during and after an attack."

The report showed that malware targeted for the pharmaceutical, chemical, agriculture, mining and electronics industries rose up to over 600%. Meanwhile, efforts to hack the security of companies in the energy, oil and gas industries went up by over 400%. Hacking attempts toward retailers and wholesalers increased by over 100%.

Depending on the protections the companies have set in place, the hacking attempts may not have necessarily resulted in breaches, the report said. The target of online criminals is to search for intellectual property which can either be sold on the black market or utilized to inform decisions on rival products, the report said.

Symantec Chief Executive Officer Steve Bennett said last year that the theft of intellectual property was far greater than cyber war. He disclosed that even western firms were resorting to hacking attacks to get their hands on commercial secrets.

Cisco said one main problem in fighting cyber crime is the shortage of the right employees since time and experience were needed to equip people as attacks get more sophisticated, FT reported.