Companies that don't invest in protecting their data online are bound to pay much more if they ever suffer a data breach.

That was the warning from cybersecurity experts who addressed members of the Carbon County Chamber on Thursday morning.The event was co-hosted by Mauch Chunk Trust.Representatives from the tech industry, law enforcement, academia and the legal field talked about how companies can protect important data.No company is immune from data breaches - Target and even federal government agencies have been victims of breaches that resulted in a large amount of internal and customer data being compromised.Paul Iannace, who leads Lehigh County's cyber crime unit, said that other crimes often use up law enforcement's resources for fighting cyber crime."Every crime today involves some sort of technology. And we have to prioritize what we're going to work on," he said.He started his presentation with the disclaimer that most of the technology seen on shows like CSI is fictional, and just does not exist.He said local law enforcement has some capabilities, but are in a constant learning process."This is new to law enforcement, cyber crimes. And it's not that crap you see on TV - CSI. WE don't do one-eighth of the stuff they do on TV. Most of it is impossible," he said.And unfortunately, the number of attacks is going up, and they are more financially damaging than ever, intellectual property lawyer Kevin Gold said."The average damage caused by a breach is about $5.4 million. And the unfortunate part is that the small-medium businesses are the big targets," he said.They're also spreading onto different platforms.Patricia Riola of DeSales University talked about how the battlefield for cyberattacks is shifting to cellphones, and how the next generation of business leaders must be prepared for potential attacks.Many attacks are the result of employees, both ones with malicious intent, and ones who don't use their company equipment responsibly.PenTeleData employee Frank Clements said education is one of the most important aspects of protecting a company from cyberattacks, along with having a broad base of security measures.He suggested strong passwords - emphasizing security over convenience.Nearly everyone is guilty of just adding a digit onto their expired password instead of coming up with a strong new one."As soon as somebody gets those administrative account passwords, they have the keys to the kingdom, they can get into anything. They can access any data, they can shut your business down," he said.Iannace said he's not afraid to put security over his employees' convenience to prevent attacks. He said that when the cyber crime unit has a summer intern and that intern leaves, he changes the 30-character password each time.