Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)
In force from 17 January 2025, Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 unifies ICT-risk rules so every EU bank, insurer, investment firm, and their critical ICT providers, can withstand, respond to & recover from digital disruption.
What is DORA?
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) entered the EU rule-book in January 2023 and becomes fully applicable on 17 January 2025. Covering 20 classes of financial entities plus any critical third-party tech vendor, DORA creates the first single framework for ICT-risk governance, major-incident reporting, threat-led testing, and third-party oversight in European finance.Key deadlines include: initial incident notification within four hours of classification, harmonised reporting templates, and a three-year cycle of threat-led penetration tests (TLPT).
Key Features of DORA
DORA regulatory text covers different aspects of ICT reporting and control:
Comprehensive ICT risk management
DORA mandates financial institutions to adopt a holistic approach towards managing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) risks. Governing boards must embed ICT-risk into policy, assign clear roles, and monitor controls throughout the system lifecycle.
Standardized reporting of ICT incidents
Major ICT incidents are classified and notified to supervisors inside 4 hours, with follow-ups at 24 & 72 hours.
This standardization aims to streamline the process, making it easier for authorities to gather data, analyze trends, and address vulnerabilities across the sector.
Monitoring and control of third-party ICT provider risks
Recognizing the critical role of third-party vendors in the financial ecosystem, DORA emphasizes the need for rigorous oversight of these entities. Financial organizations are required to closely monitor the risks associated with outsourcing ICT services and to ensure that their vendors adhere to high operational resilience standards.
Regular testing for operational stability and security of critical ICT systems
To ensure that financial institutions can withstand and quickly recover from cyber incidents, DORA requires regular testing of critical ICT systems. This includes vulnerability assessments and resilience testing to simulate real-world cyber threats and operational disruptions.
Enhanced protection and preventive measures against ICT threats
Finally, DORA introduces enhanced measures for protecting against, and preventing, ICT-related threats. This includes the implementation of robust cybersecurity policies, the adoption of advanced technologies to detect and counteract cyberattacks, and continuous improvement practices to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats.
Implications of DORA
Firms must map ICT assets, update contracts, rehearse incident playbooks, and evidence board oversight by January 2025. Early projects usually focus on populating the third-party register and aligning incident-response SLAs to the four-hour deadline, areas that supervisors say generate the most findings.
.png)
Grand: Enhancing DORA Compliance
-p-1080.png)
-p-1080.png)
-p-1080.png)
-p-1080.png)
.png)
How Grand Helps
Each module in Grand.io's GRC software suite plays a pivotal role in ensuring comprehensive compliance with the DORA regulation, addressing specific aspect slike ICT risk management, incident reporting, third-party risk management, and continuous adaptation to regulatory changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
An EU regulation (EU 2022/2554) that sets common ICT-risk, incident-reporting and testing rules for financial entities and their tech suppliers.
Banks, insurers, investment firms, payment and e-money institutions, crypto-asset service providers, and any ICT firm deemed critical to them.
Five pillars: ICT-risk governance, major-incident reporting, threat-led testing, third-party risk management, and information-sharing arrangements.
It harmonises and replaces scattered ICT provisions in CRD/CRR, MiFID II, PSD2, Solvency II and others, giving supervisors a single rule-set from Jan 2025.
