The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a landmark EU regulation established to strengthen the IT security and operational resilience of financial entities across Europe. Entering into force on January 16, 2023, with compliance required by January 17, 2025, DORA is recognized as being well-grounded and an effective tool for managing digital risks in the financial sector.
The regulation comes as a reaction of the European Union to the increasing reliance on information and communication technology (ICT) in financial services and the increasing threat of cyber attacks. Therefore, DORA seeks to address critical pain points such as fragmented national regulations, inadequate ICT risk management practices, and insufficient oversight of third-party technology providers.
At Hideez, we are committed to supporting financial institutions in meeting security regulations and increasing workforce productivity with our passwordless authentication solutions. So let’s discover main considerations to help you achieve full DORA compliance!
Understanding the Digital Operational Resilience Act
DORA is an EU initiative aimed at encouraging innovation, ensuring financial stability, and protecting consumers in different financial systems like banks, insurance companies, investment firms, and others.
The act provides uniform requirements for the network security and information systems, backing financial entities' business processes. A striking feature of DORA is that it is designed to ensure that financial institutions can easily respond to and recover from ICT-related both disruptions and threats. Moreover, it aims to strengthen the stability of the European financial system by unifying digital resilience rules across the EU, reducing regulatory inconsistencies.
Who Does DORA Affect?
DORA applies to more than 22,000 financial entities and ICT service providers operating within the EU, along with the ICT infrastructure supporting them outside the EU. It impacts various financial systems, including:
- Banks
- Insurance companies
- Investment firms
- Payment processors
- Exchanges
- Market infrastructure entities
- Credit rating agencies
- Crypto-asset service providers
Moreover, it extends to critical ICT providers serving these financial institutions. As a result, organizations need to map their critical third-party ICT dependencies and diversify suppliers to avoid over-reliance on a single or limited group of providers.
Key Objectives and Scope of DORA
There are two essential objectives of the act. The first one is to comprehensively address ICT risk management in the financial services sector. It includes setting standards for risk assessment, incident reporting, and resilience testing. The second objective is to balance ICT risk management regulations across EU member states, with a goal of creating a level playing field and reducing compliance difficulties for financial systems operating in multiple EU countries.
The main components of DORA include:
- ICT risk management
- Incident reporting
- Digital operational resilience testing
- Third-party risk management
- Oversight framework for critical ICT service providers
ICT Risk Management Framework Under DORA
DORA mandates that financial entities establish a sound, comprehensive, and well-documented ICT risk management framework. It is set to be a vital factor in the entity's overall risk management system and should enable quick, efficient and effective addressing of any possible risks. The five main components of this framework are:
- Risk identification and assessment: entities must regularly assess and document ICT risks, including those arising from third-party dependencies.
- Protection and prevention measures: Implementing security strategies, policies, and tools to safeguard systems and data, such as utilizing passwordless access solutions to mitigate the risks associated with phishing attacks and password-related incidents.
- Detection mechanisms: employing processes and technologies to promptly identify anomalies and potential security incidents.
- Response and recovery planning: developing and maintaining business continuity plans and disaster recovery procedures.
- Learning and evolving: continuously improving the framework based on lessons learned from incidents and tests.
It is also important to mention that DORA requires the assignment of responsibility for managing and overseeing ICT risk to a control function with an appropriate level of independence. This emphasizes the need for clear accountability and governance in managing digital risks.
Incident Reporting and Management Requirements
A major feature of DORA is the focus on incident reporting and management. It is mandatory for financial entities to determine and execute a management process to monitor and classify any ICT-related incidents. The regulation introduces three reporting obligations for important incidents that should be taken into account.
First, the initial notification. It should be submitted within a specified timeframe after classifying an incident as an importance. Secondly, the intermediate report that should be provided when the status of the original incident has changed significantly. Thirdly, the final report which is presented when the root cause analysis is complete and actual impact figures are available.
Besides, the act mandates that financial entities inform their clients without undue delay about major ICT-related incidents that impact their financial interests due to the fact that such an approach enhances trust and enables clients to take appropriate protective measures if necessary as quickly as possible.
Additionally, DORA encourages voluntary reporting of significant cyber threats, promoting a collaborative approach to cybersecurity in the financial sector.
Digital Operational Resilience Testing
To ensure the effectiveness of ICT risk management frameworks, DORA requires financial entities to conduct regular testing of their digital operational resilience. The obligatory stages are:
- Vulnerability assessments and scans: regular evaluations to identify potential weaknesses in systems and applications.
- Network and infrastructure security assessments: tests to ensure the strength of network protections.
- Application security testing: evaluations of software applications used in critical business functions.
- Scenario-based testing: simulations of various cyber attack scenarios to assess response capabilities.
- Threat-led penetration testing: advanced testing for entities deemed critical to the financial system, to be conducted at least every three years.
The results must be documented and reported to the higher levels within the organization. Given that, a strategy for addressing these weak points should be developed and presented along the side with findings. This comprehensive testing approach aims to continuously improve the resilience of financial entities against evolving cyber threats.
Third-Party Risk Management and Oversight
Recognizing the pivotal role the ICT service providers play in the field of financing, DORA introduces severe requirements for managing third-party risks. The central aspects are:
- Due diligence in selection: financial entities must thoroughly assess potential ICT service providers in advance entering into any contractual arrangements.
- Contractual safeguards: agreements with ICT providers must contain specific terms in regard to security, incident reporting as well as audit rights.
- Ongoing monitoring: regular assessment of third-party performance and security measures.
- Exit strategies: development of comprehensive plans to transition away from third-party providers if necessary.
Furthermore, DORA establishes an oversight framework for critical ICT third-party providers. It allows European Supervisory Authorities to directly supervise critical providers and guarantee they meet the standards required to serve the financial sector.
Implementation Timeline and Compliance Considerations
The timeline of the Digital Operational Resilience Act can be represented in the following way.
- January 16, 2023: DORA entered into force.
- January 17, 2025: Deadline for financial entities and ICT providers to achieve compliance.
Impact of DORA on the EU Financial Sector
A successful implementation of the DORA Compliance Framework has significant effects on the EU financial sector. Read below to find out what they are.
- Enhanced cybersecurity: by utilizing several ICT risk management practices, DORA should considerably improve the overall cybersecurity posture of financial entities.
- Harmonized regulations: an integrated approach across various member states will make it easier to comply with regulations for cross-border financial operations and ensure fair competition.
- Improved third-party risk management: the oversight framework for critical ICT providers will help reduce risks linked to outsourcing and cloud services.
- Promoting innovation: a clear plan of regulatory guidelines supports DORA in encouraging the financial field to adopt new technologies effectively and efficiently, ensuring that strong risk management practices are in place.
- Strengthened consumer trust: better resilience and clearer incident reporting can help build consumer confidence and trust in digital financial services.
How Hideez Can Help with DORA Compliance
For financial institutions navigating the Digital Operational Resilience Act, security starts with strong authentication. Article 9 of the DORA legislation makes it clear: protecting access to sensitive systems is non-negotiable. It’s the first line of defense against phishing, unauthorized access, and security incidents that can disrupt business operations.
While implementing Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is critical, not all methods offer the same level of protection. As we explained in our detailed article “How to Choose the Most Secure MFA Method?,” traditional approaches like push notifications or SMS-based one-time passwords are vulnerable to phishing and SIM-swapping attacks.
To meet DORA requirements effectively, financial institutions should adopt solutions based on passwordless MFA. This advanced approach eliminates passwords entirely, replacing them with secure options like biometrics or physical security keys. It also simplifies the user experience, removing the hassle of managing passwords at the workplace.
Ready to try going passwordless? Book a demo of the Hideez Workforce Identity solution or create an account on our cloud portal to set up passwordless SSO for your web services at no cost. Whether you’re a small firm or a large organization, our tools can help you implement truly secure authentication practices and meet DORA’s operational resilience standards.
