The Increasing Involvement of CFOs in Cybersecurity
2025 has seen a number of major and widely reported on cyber-attacks on several of the UK’s well-known and loved blue chip brands. As companies face an ever-increasing threat coming from anonymous cybercriminals, there has been a rise in investments to try and protect businesses’ systems and data. This has impacted the role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as much as the rest of the organisation. Once regarded primarily as guardians of financial performance, compliance and investor reporting, CFOs now find themselves drawn into the domain of cybersecurity. This trend has gained momentum because cyber risk has evolved into a direct financial risk, with consequences that can threaten liquidity, valuation and long-term competitiveness. Cybersecurity is no longer just an IT issue but a direct threat to business continuity, shareholder value and corporate reputation.
CFOs are being pushed into the cybersecurity spotlight by a convergence of powerful trends, first among them the rapid rise in both the frequency and complexity of cyber-attacks targeting organisations worldwide. High-profile incidents involving ransomware, phishing and financial fraud have demonstrated that no sector is immune, and the costs go far beyond ransom payments spanning business interruptions, legal and recovery expenses, regulatory fines and long-term reputational damage. For financial leaders, these escalating threats now represent material risks that are on par with more traditional concerns like credit or market risk, pushing CFOs to treat cybersecurity as a key element of their risk management strategy.
Alongside the rise in attacks, the regulatory environment has tightened. In the U.S, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced rules requiring companies to disclose material cyber incidents and detail governance structures around cyber risk. European rules such as GDPR impose significant penalties for mishandling personal data, while SOX compliance obligations reinforce accountability over internal controls. Regulatory bodies are effectively putting CFOs on the front line, since financial leaders must verify accuracy in disclosures and ensure that risks are communicated transparently to boards and investors.
Beyond immediate recovery costs, breaches can erode trust with customers and suppliers, damage investor confidence and trigger downward pressure on share prices. This has placed cyber risk firmly in the CFO’s remit: if a breach can wipe hundreds of millions from a company’s market capitalisation overnight, the financial leadership cannot delegate accountability entirely to IT.
Today, boards expect CFOs to present an integrated view of corporate risk. That includes the ability to quantify cyber risk in terms familiar to directors: potential revenue loss, impacts to cash flow and overall value at risk. Investors, too, are demanding greater transparency on cyber resilience as a determinant of sustainable performance. CFOs must translate technical cyber risk into measurable financial exposure, enabling boards to understand the impact in terms of revenue, EBITDA and overall business value. Cybersecurity spend is rarely straightforward; CFOs must assess competing priorities, ensuring investments both strengthen defences and demonstrate a return through reduced probability or impact of a breach.
The growing partnership between CFOs and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) is central to success. Joint ownership of cyber strategy not only ensures financial backing but also keeps priorities aligned between risk prevention and business value protection.
Advanced analytics and real-time monitoring tools are also helpful, providing dashboards and metrics that help map technical vulnerabilities and financial impact enabling CFOs to integrate cyber risk into the company’s risk management systems. As supply chains become increasingly digital, CFOs are playing a greater role in identifying, monitoring and mitigating risks from vendors and partners who could potentially all be weak links in cyber defences.
Finally, cyber insurance has emerged as part of the CFO’s toolkit, offering a financial safety net and influencing broader resilience strategies.
Despite progress, hurdles remain. Many finance leaders lack deep cybersecurity expertise, creating a steep learning curve when engaging with CISOs on highly technical matters. Measuring the return on cybersecurity investments remains another challenge, for example, justifying spend on prevention when there is no breach is hard to quantify. Additionally, the pace of change in the threat landscape works against traditional planning cycles. Attack methods evolve constantly, and regulatory expectations tighten each year, meaning CFOs must adapt governance and reporting frameworks in real time to keep pace.
At Partner Executive we think that cybersecurity has become inseparable from financial stewardship. CFOs are now expected not just to safeguard numbers but to protect the company from risks that directly influence value creation and sustainability. Their role is not to become technical experts but to ensure that cyber discussions are framed in financial terms, backed by robust governance and clearly communicated to boards and markets. By strengthening ties with CISOs, investing in monitoring and governance and presenting cyber strategy in financial terms, CFOs can turn cybersecurity from a compliance burden into a value preserving pillar of corporate strategy. The challenge for CFOs will be to build cyber-literate finance teams and foster strong collaboration with IT, all while managing the relentless demands of financial leadership.
