As U.S. companies and the federal government look for ways to limit cybercrime, a new report from ArcSight reveals companies pay $3.8 million (a median figure) due to cybercrime every year.

Research collected from 45 companies over a four-week period discovered 50 successful cyber attacks every week.  Hackers are interested in stealing a variety of things including employee records, customer information, credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and other sensitive information.  

President Barack Obama has made cybersecurity a priority in his administration, with military leaders also trying to increase their cyber defense abilities.

Hackers now want to attack companies to steal trade secrets that can be sold or held for ransom.  The Virginia Health database previously suffered unauthorized server access, and then received a ransom demand so the records wouldn't be sold.  This type of attack is expected to increase if hackers are able to easily access sensitive information.

Around 90 percent of the cost related to cyber crime cleanup stems from necessary responses to attacks using malicious code.  Companies also need to have internal detection systems in place to prevent unauthorized access.  Millions of dollars will be invested to try and better increase cyber security, especially as the use of trojans and malware increase year-over-year.  

In addition, around half of all successful malware was installed on a PC or network by a remote user.  About 19 percent of malware was installed after a user visited an infected website, while 9 percent unintentionally installed malware when clicking on a URL in an e-mail or instant message.  

The financial sector was the most popular target among cyber criminals, with 33 percent of total data breaches.  The No. 2 position was captured by the hospitality industry (restaurants, hotels, etc.) with 23 percent, a Verizon annual cyberattack study implies.