DORA Compliance for Financial Services: What You Need by 2025
The EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is now enforceable. Financial organisations must demonstrate operational cyber resilience.
What Is DORA?
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is an EU regulation that entered into force on 17 January 2025. It applies to financial entities and their critical ICT service providers operating in the EU.
Who Must Comply?
DORA applies to a broad range of financial entities including:
- Banks and credit institutions
- Insurance and reinsurance companies
- Investment firms and fund managers
- Payment institutions and e-money institutions
- Crypto-asset service providers
- Trading venues and central counterparties
- Audit firms serving financial entities
- Critical ICT third-party service providers
What DORA Requires
DORA has five pillars:
1. ICT Risk Management
Documented framework for identifying, classifying, and managing ICT risks. Includes asset inventories, risk assessments, and treatment plans.
2. ICT Incident Reporting
Major ICT incidents must be reported to regulators within defined timeframes. Requires monitoring capability to detect incidents promptly.
3. Digital Operational Resilience Testing
Regular testing of ICT systems including vulnerability assessments and — for significant entities — threat-led penetration testing (TLPT).
4. ICT Third-Party Risk Management
Due diligence and contractual requirements for ICT service providers. Includes concentration risk monitoring.
5. Information Sharing
Voluntary sharing of cyber threat intelligence and information within the financial sector.
How Managed Security Addresses DORA
| DORA Requirement | CyberOM Service | |---|---| | ICT risk management | vCISO + risk assessment | | Incident detection and reporting | SOC 24/7 + MDR | | Continuous monitoring | SOC & Extended Response | | Backup and recovery | Backup & DR | | Security testing | Included in managed service |
The vCISO Advantage
DORA's risk management pillar requires strategic oversight that many financial firms lack internally. CyberOM's vCISO service provides a senior security leader who understands regulatory requirements and can build the documentation framework DORA demands.
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