Cybersecurity in business finance: Protecting your company in 2025
As businesses increasingly rely on digital tools in an ever-evolving business world, cybersecurity is no longer just an IT concern. Cloud storage, digital payments, remote work, SaaS platforms, cryptocurrency, and more all present unique security challenges to modern businesses. For business owners, financial leaders, decision-makers, and even the average consumer in 2025, cybersecurity should be at the forefront of their minds.
The integrity of financial transactions, including payments, payroll, billing, are central to a business’ trust and legal compliance. Gateway Commercial Finance, an invoice factoring company, compiled data from accredited sources such as CrowdStrike, the World Economic Forum, Proofpoint, and more to outline the most prominent cybersecurity threats businesses may encounter in the modern day, the regulatory pressures businesses face to comply, and the practical steps that are needed to secure all financial-related transactions under one umbrella.
The evolving threat landscape in 2025
In a Global Cybersecurity Outlook reportcompleted in early 2025 by the World Economic Forum, 72% of respondents reported an increase in organizational cyber risks. Evolving technologies, including artificial intelligence, pose a unique challenge to businesses trying to combat such threats. There are five cyberattacks and attack strategies in particular that are frustrating modern businesses:
- Ransomware and ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS)
Ransomware remains one of the most destructive threats to businesses. During this kind of attack, malware is deployed onto business servers that encrypts or locks data (though sometimes publication is threatened) and ransom is demanded for its release. Since the malware is deployed by a criminal and that’s all that’s required, it’s a relatively unsophisticated attack that less technically adept criminals can use.
Based on a 2025 IBM report, the global average cost of a data breachin 2025 is $4.4 million. Many companies may be tempted to pay a ransom if it’s less than this potential cost from losing data, which is part of the reason attacks continue.
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- AI-powered and deepfake cyber attacks
For all its benefits, artificial intelligence can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it certainly helps with threat detection and automation, but at the same time, it allows attackers to appear more convincing and be more scalable with their threats. Instances of deepfake audio and video, AI-generated phishing attacks, voice cloning, and impersonation are all on the rise.
To add some real-world perspective, a January 2024 attack on the engineering firm Arupresulted in a $25.5 million loss. A Hong Kong-based employee was duped by a deep-fake AI-generated video call impersonating the U.K.-based CFO and a number of other colleagues. The employee then authorized 15 transfers totaling millions of dollars, demonstrating the dangers of this technology.
- Insider threats
Not all digital threats to a business will come from the outside. Employees, contractors, or partners who have valid access can, either intentionally or accidentally, fracture their company’s financial systems. This often occurs by bringing in malicious software, copying data, misconfiguring access entitlements, or being manipulated by a digital attacker.
In fact, the annual 2024 Proofpoint Voice of the CISO reportfound that three of four Chief Information Security Officers stated human error was their top cybersecurity risk.
- Business email compromise (BEC) and social engineering
Finally, another common path into financial security risk comes from compromised email and the leveraging of employees. A fake email from a vendor or spoofed executive instructing finance teams to transfer funds, change bank data, or send out payments to compromised accounts is a common tactic.
Phishing emails that steal credentials by forcing an emotional response out of an employee are also common. This issue is so common, in fact, that the CrowdStrike 2025 Global Threat Reportindicated that most organizations are actually free of malware, but compromised identities, social engineering, and credential abuse lead to the most data loss.
Real-world case studies: Impact and lessons
For large organizations with substantial budgets, eating the cost of a cyberattack may seem possible. The implications of such attacks can be long-lasting, though, and impact businesses of all sizes. Below are a few examples of how cyberattacks can devastate a company:
An SME can be forced out due to a small breach
Small-to-medium sized businesses are uniquely at risk of cyberattacks. Often having constrained security budgets, a ransomware incident or other similar attack can devastate operations, but not for the reason that’s expected. Even a modest ransomware attack of only tens of thousands can cause significant operational downtime, reputational loss, and legal costs.
For businesses with an already constrained budget, this can be a tipping point. A VikingCloud study found that one in five small-to-medium sized businessesindicate that a cyberattack could force them completely out of business.
AI-enhanced social engineering or identity compromise attack increases
In the CrowdStrike report, it was noted that many attackers are increasing their use of generative AI to create phishing messages, impersonate high-level employees, and generate contact to try to trick multi-factor authentication systems.
Considering that 79% of those reported detections in the report were malware-free, it’s clear attackers are now bypassing traditional anti-malware software. Identity security and human awareness need to be at the center of a business’s cybersecurity strategy.
Compromised hospitality payment systems
A complementary report from VikingCloud found that 82% of North American hotels were hit with a cyberattackin a single summer. This increased risk was due to staff turnover, as well as the prevalence of guest-facing software and technology. Any industry that utilizes payment processing tools, especially if seasonal, needs to be on the watch for cyberattacks.
Secure point-of-sale hardware and software can make a major difference. It is also possible to take things a step further by decoupling any critical payment systems in an effort to isolate them.
Key regulatory demands and compliance
The unique risk businesses face from cyberattacks in 2025 is exactly why regulatory and compliance measures exist. Given that financial data protection is often regulated both by general cybersecurity privacy laws as well as financial-sector-specific mandates, there are a few common compliance measures to follow:
- Data protection and privacy laws: Laws such as the GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), and PIPEDA (Canada) all require protection of personal data for both consumers and employees. Additionally, any breaches in data are required to be reported.
- Financial regulations: Policies such Anti-Money Laundering, Know Your Customer, PCI DSS when payment cards are used, SOX for financial reporting, and more all serve to moderate financial transactions.
- Industry-specific regulations: Many industries have specific data regulation requirements to protect consumers. HIPAA in the healthcare industry in the U.S. is an example.
- Security standard policies: SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001, and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework are all sample security policies that can regulate businesses.
- Emerging artificial intelligence regulations: Given the novelty of AI, regulations regarding compliance are still in the works. However, it is all but certain that regulatory bodies will start to demand transparency, auditability, fairness, and safety with this technology as it continues to evolve.
Actions to secure financial transactions
With security concerns as high as they are, all businesses should place an emphasis on implementing as many security measures as possible to protect financial transactions. A 2024 McKinsey study on the development of emerging technologies and their relation to cybersecurity risks found that attacks have been evolving progressively in sophistication from 2007-2023, meaning risk mitigation needs to be equally as sophisticated. The following seven methods are an excellent starting point:
- Strong encryption is non-negotiable
All data communication that is linked to financial transactions, banking information, customer information, and other similar items should use strong and up-to-date encryption standards. Any backups, offline archives, or storage in third-party systems that may occur should require encryption keys. Access to these encryption keys should then be rotated. Where possible, businesses should think about using end-to-end encryption to further bolster security.
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Multi-factor authentication is a helpful tool for preventing data breaches. This technology, when used over SMS, email, and access to servers, can effectively stop attackers in their tracks. By requiring a secondary source of authentication, typically in the form of a soft or hard token assigned to an employee, the added level of security means that even if a hacker gets a person’s password, they can’t access the system.
- Regular updates, patching, and vulnerability management
Companies should maintain an inventory of any assets they use, including all intangible ones such as servers, endpoints, network devices, and third-party software. If any known vulnerabilities are published affecting those assets, companies should update them immediately.
Additionally, they should use automated vulnerability scanning tools and penetration testing to find weaknesses in their own systems. It’s better found by the company than an attacker. Minor systems shouldn’t be ignored either. Something as simple as a vendor’s tool or an ancillary service can be used as a doorway into a business’s system if they aren’t careful.
- Employee training and culture of security
Employees are a significant cybersecurity risk within any organization, but they can also be the greatest asset if trained. Employers should conduct regular training on the signs of common attacks, such as phishing, social engineering, and other tactics. Additionally, they should discuss best practices such as verifying financial transfers with multiple parties, as well as securing email and text communications.
Depending on the size of an organization, it may also be worth conducting role-based awareness. For example, staff in finance or accounts receivables may need more training than someone in compliance if the employer’s primary concern is around financial transactions. Above all else, the company should foster a culture where its employees feel comfortable asking questions about suspicious requests, rather than agreeing to them without pushback.
- Vendor and third-party risk assessments
Since supply chains and third-party providers are a major vector for attacks, it’s crucial that businesses perform due diligence on any vendors they use. Questions should be asked about security positions, if the vendors are in compliance with technology regulations, how they manage their data, and the identity controls they have in place to keep things secure. All this information will allow businesses to gain a sense of their approach to security.
For long-term contracts, extra steps can be considered, such as adding contractual provisions like language around breach ownership, data ownership, and legal responsibility in the event of an incident.
- Incident response and recovery plans
No business is perfect and that means cyberattacks can, and likely will, still impact an organization. This is why having a documented incident response plan is of paramount importance. This document should outline who is responsible for what in the aftermath, which systems need to be isolated, how communication should be conducted, and the go-forward plan.
- Backups and offline storage
Redundancy can be a lifesaver when a data breach occurs. Companies should maintain frequent backups of all critical data they have, but they should store it offline or in a separate network so that it is protected if the primary server goes down. Testing backups regularly to ensure the data has not been corrupted and that restoration is possible can minimize the impact of a data breach if it happens.
Building a resilient financial future
Financial data and transactions are the foundation of modern businesses. Serving as the most valuable and targeted assets that a business holds, this date is commonly the target of cyberattacks. As these threats loom faster and become more sophisticated with the help of generative AI, the cost of complacency grows quickly. Company leaders should invest in robust controls for their business that place an emphasis on identity security, top-notch encryption, employee training, and incident response plan development so that they’re both prepared and ready for any threat.
This story was produced by Gateway Commercial Financeand reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
