Cybersecurity Can’t Wait: How IT and Finance Teams Close Gaps with Automation

5 min read
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BY onPhase

 

Updated September 2025

It’s September, which means October and Cybersecurity Awareness Month is right around the corner. For many organizations, that month acts like a reminder on the calendar: time to double-check systems, review policies, and put up a new poster about phishing emails. For finance and IT leaders, the reality is more urgent. 

Cyber risk does not wait until October to strike. IT leaders already know attackers are refining tactics, costs are climbing, and finance operations are often the first entry point. CFOs see the financial fallout, but IT feels the pressure first. Every breach begins as a technical fire to contain. This makes September the perfect moment to get ahead. 

A ransomware incident now costs an average of $4.5 million to remediate. Meanwhile, 40 percent of risk leaders say cybersecurity breaches are one of the biggest sources of financial disruption. The message is clear: finance data is not just an accounting concern, it is a top cyber target. 

This blog explores the risks, the reality, and the practical steps you can take now to prepare before Cybersecurity Awareness Month begins. 

Why Cyber Threats Matter More Than Ever 

Cybercrime has evolved. Attacks no longer look like clumsy emails filled with typos. They are sophisticated, AI-assisted, and increasingly targeted at finance operations. 

Picture an AP clerk receiving what looks like a routine invoice from a vendor. The formatting is polished, the signature block matches, and the amount is in line with prior orders. Without realizing it, the employee forwards it to a manager for approval. In that moment, a well-executed phishing attempt slips deeper into the system.  

This is not hypothetical. 72 percent of organizations were hit by ransomware in the past year, and recovery times keep stretching. Even more concerning, over half of business leaders believe a serious cyber incident could cripple their company.  

Finance data is especially vulnerable because it is both valuable and accessible. Vendor details, bank routing numbers, payroll files, and contracts are all prime targets. When these assets are left sitting in email inboxes or stored on local hard drives, the exposure multiplies. 

Generative AI is raising the stakes. Deepfake audio can mimic a CFO’s voice to authorize fraudulent transfers, and AI-written phishing emails slip past the red flags employees are trained to catch. Deloitte projects that losses tied to AI-enabled fraud could grow from $12 billion in 2023 to as much as $40 billion by 2027. 

The Stakes for Finance and IT Teams 

These evolving threats are not just an IT problem. They land directly in the office of the CFO, where finance teams face the consequences. 

Breaches don’t just create technical headaches. They trigger financial, regulatory, and reputational damage that lands squarely in the office of the CFO. 

  • Compliance fines: Regulations like FINRA, HIPAA, and SOX require strict retention and protection. Gaps can lead to penalties. 
  • Audit readiness: Missing version histories or untraceable edits complicate audits and erode trust. 
  • Vendor confidence: A data breach that exposes supplier payment info can disrupt critical relationships. 
  • Downtime costs: Every hour spent recovering from an attack translates into lost productivity and lost revenue. 

And for IT, every one of these outcomes begins as a ticket, an outage, or a system recovery. They are the first responders when finance systems are compromised. 

Physical risks can be just as damaging as digital ones. Consider a company that keeps its AP server in a storage room onsite. When a flood damages the building, both paper files and digital records are destroyed. Recovery takes weeks instead of days, and insurance does not cover the compliance fines tied to lost records. 

These are not edge cases. 60 percent of small businesses fold within six months of a major cyberattack. Even for larger enterprises, the reputational cost alone can linger far longer than the balance sheet impact. 

Finance and IT collaboration is critical. IT manages infrastructure and monitoring tools. Finance owns the records and processes those tools are meant to secure. When they align, they create a defense strategy that is both technically sound and operationally practical. 

A Smarter Risk Assessment for 2026 

So how do finance and IT leaders identify weaknesses before they are exposed? A cybersecurity risk assessment is a straightforward way to evaluate gaps, prioritize action, and build a joint defense. Here is how it works in practice: 

Identify and Prioritize Assets 
Not all data is equal. Payroll files, vendor contracts, and financial statements carry higher risk than old marketing drafts. Mapping your most sensitive assets helps finance decide what needs the strongest protection and helps IT allocate resources where they matter most. 

Identify Threats 
Threats range from the obvious such as ransomware, phishing, and insider theft to the less dramatic, like accidental deletions or natural disasters. A risk assessment should include both. 

For example, an employee working remotely saves invoices to a personal desktop. When that laptop is stolen at airport security, sensitive vendor account numbers go with it.  

Identify Vulnerabilities 
Ask where your defenses are thin. Are permissions controlled, or can anyone access payroll records? Are backups encrypted and offsite? Is version history tracked, or are changes untraceable? 

Identify Solutions 
This is where strategy shifts from reactive to proactive. Solutions may include training employees on phishing awareness, automating document retention, or migrating on-premises servers to secure cloud hosting. 

For example, an AP team can set retention rules that automatically delete sensitive billing data after the compliance period. Instead of manually shredding files or risking oversights, the system enforces security automatically. 

Real-World Proof Points 

Data makes the risks clear. Recent research highlights just how urgent the challenge has become: 

  • Cyber insurance premiums can drop by as much as 75 percent when companies implement automated, auditable defenses. 
  • Deloitte finds that 84 percent of CFOs now consider cybersecurity risk part of their core financial oversight 

 

For IT leaders, these numbers confirm what they already see: escalating incidents, mounting recovery costs, and a constant push to do more with limited staff. For CFOs, the data emphasizes why cybersecurity is now a board-level discussion. 

Building Smarter, Automated Defenses 

Automation does not eliminate risk, but it does reduce the likelihood of small mistakes becoming catastrophic breaches. For the office of the CFO and IT partners, automation offers five big advantages: 

  1. Automated Capture and Workflows 
    Smart Capture removes risky manual entry and pulls invoices directly into secure workflows. Approvals, edits, and exceptions are logged automatically, reducing both human error and phishing exposure.  

  2. Role-Based Access and Version Control 
    Permissions can be set by role, ensuring sensitive records are not left open. Built-in version history keeps a transparent trail of edits, which is crucial for audits and for spotting suspicious activity.  

  3. Retention Policies and Compliance Automation 
    Automated retention rules prevent sensitive files from lingering beyond compliance windows. For example, I-9 forms can be scheduled for deletion three years post-hire, eliminating both manual effort and security risk. 

  4. Cloud Hosting and Redundancy 
    Data stored in managed cloud environments is encrypted, backed up, and safeguarded from physical damage. If one server fails, redundancy ensures recovery in minutes, not weeks.  

  5. Cross-Department Visibility
    Finance and IT leaders both gain access to real-time dashboards showing status, risks, and compliance checkpoints. This shared view reduces silos and creates accountability across functions. 

Together, these practices create resilience. Finance leaders gain confidence in the numbers, IT teams reduce vulnerabilities, and employees waste less time chasing missing files or approvals. 

From Reactive to Proactive: September Is Your Moment 

Cyber threats will not wait until October. Why should you? Every week that passes without stronger defenses creates another opening for attackers. For IT leaders, that means fewer resources for innovation and more time tied up in incident response. For finance, it means higher exposure to fines, fraud, and reputational loss. 

A risk assessment paired with automation is more than a best practice. It is a safeguard against breaches that can halt operations, trigger fines, and erode trust. For IT leaders, it is also a way to shift from firefighting to system-level resilience. For finance, it is assurance that critical data is protected by default. Acting now means entering Cybersecurity Awareness Month with confidence instead of scrambling to respond. 

If you want to see how these risks show up in day-to-day AP processes, check out “From Gut Check to Game Plan: Why Manual AP Can’t Keep Up with Fraud in 2025”. It explores how manual processes create openings for fraud and how automation helps AP teams close the gaps before attackers can exploit them. 
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