Cybersecurity Firms Push Finance Teams to Formalize First-Day Breach Response

The first 24 hours after discovering a cyber incident determine how badly a company gets hurt, according to new guidance aimed at CFOs and finance leaders who increasingly find themselves in the command center when systems go dark.

Raj Samani, a cybersecurity executive, published recommendations this week outlining what finance and operations teams should prioritize immediately after detecting a breach—a timeline that's become critical as cyber incidents trigger immediate disclosure obligations, insurance claims, and potential trading halts. The guidance, published January 28th in Information Age, focuses on "determining how exposed you are in the aftermath of a cyber incident," a question that falls squarely on finance teams responsible for quantifying losses and meeting regulatory deadlines.

The emphasis on the first day reflects a shift in how breaches unfold in 2026. CFOs can no longer wait for IT to "handle it" before getting involved—SEC rules require materiality assessments within days, and cyber insurance policies often have strict notification windows that finance teams must track. The guidance appears designed for the finance executive who needs to know what questions to ask and what decisions can't wait until Monday morning.

What's interesting here (and what Samani's piece implies without stating directly) is that "determining exposure" in hour one means something very different than it did five years ago. It's not just "what data got stolen"—it's "do we have a disclosure obligation," "does this trigger our credit agreement covenants," and "what's our D&O insurance situation." These are CFO questions, not CISO questions, which explains why cybersecurity vendors are increasingly pitching directly to finance.

The article doesn't provide a detailed checklist, but the framing is telling: cybersecurity incidents are now treated as financial events from minute one. The "first 24 hours" construct suggests there's a playbook finance teams should have ready—presumably covering incident response team activation, preliminary damage assessment, insurance notification, legal counsel engagement, and the ever-fun question of whether you're about to file an 8-K.

For finance leaders, the subtext is clear: if you don't have a first-day protocol that includes finance representation, you're behind. The days of "IT will let us know when they've figured it out" are over, replaced by a world where the CFO needs to be in the room (or on the Zoom) within hours to start the clock on disclosure deadlines and preserve insurance coverage.

The timing of this guidance is notable—it arrives as companies face increasingly aggressive disclosure requirements and as cyber insurance underwriters tighten their terms. Getting the first 24 hours wrong doesn't just mean a worse breach outcome; it can mean voided coverage or regulatory penalties for late disclosure. That's a CFO problem, which is presumably why cybersecurity advisors are now speaking finance's language: hours, exposure, and liability.

What's missing from the published excerpt is the specific operational guidance—the actual "do this, then this" sequence—which may be behind a paywall or in the full article. But the fact that this conversation is happening at all, framed around finance's timeline concerns rather than technical remediation, tells you everything about how cyber incidents have migrated up the org chart. The CISO still runs the technical response, but the CFO now owns the clock.