Cyber security is a matter of life or death—for some businesses.

At a Kenosha Area Business Alliance panel discussion on the topic this week, statistics were presented indicating that three-quarters of cyber attacks on business are inflicted on small to mid-sized companies. 83% of those businesses paid a ransom in order to regain control of data. And over half of those companies never recovered and went out of business.

Panelist Davene Smith works for a security management company. She says companies need to have an in-depth discussion with the understanding that it’s a matter of when not if a firm will be the target of an attack. “Are we one of the businesses that tanks or do we have the necessary infrastructure in place to get over this?” she asked.

Dave Schaibly is Director of IT Security for Uline. One of the first things companies need to do to protect themselves is make sure all employees are trained to recognize attacks when they pop up on their work computers. “These (hackers) are getting very sophisticated in figuring out how to get into your environment using social engineering–phishing–you name it,” he said. “And we’ve got to keep our guard up.”

Abhi Gautam is Vice-President & Chief Information Officer for Jockey. He and other speakers made the point that cyber security isn’t just about technology—it’s a mindset that needs to permeate an entire company. Business managers need to balance resources with the knowledge of the possible consequences of spending too little on security, they said.

Companies should make sure they have adequate back-up systems in place and may want to retain a security company that can easily swoop in in the event of an attack, the panelists said.

Read – and listen to – more at WGTD.org.