Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)

In today’s financial landscape, institutions rely on digital platforms, cloud service, and third-party providers more than ever. However, this growing dependence also brings risks such as cyber threats, supply-chain related risks and vulnerabilities, and market destabilisation.

A single cyberattack or system failure can have a ripple effect across the financial ecosystem. Recognising these risks, the EU introduced the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) as part of the Digital Finance Package (DFP) to strengthen cybersecurity and ensure financial institutions remain resilient against digital disruptions.

What is Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA)?

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a transformative EU regulation (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554) designed to standardise cybersecurity, ICT risk management and operational resilience across the European financial sector.

Taking effect in January 2025, DORA applies to all financial institutions in the EU and their critical IT service providers. It sets clear and enforceable requirements to ensure entities can withstand, respond to, and recover from disruptions – thereby enhancing financial stability and consumer trust.

Why is DORA compliance important?

DORA is not only a prudent risk management move but a legal imperative. Non-compliance can result in significant penalties and remedial orders. Compliance with DORA ensures:

✓ Stronger ICT risk management: Sets a standardised frameworks for cybersecurity, incident reporting, third-party risk management and business continuity across EU.

✓ Financial & market stability: Reduces the risks of systemic IT failures and cyber shocks.

✓ Third-party resilience: Ensures critical ICT providers meet the same security standards.

✓ Consumer & investor confidence: Protects against service outages, data breaches, and financial disruption.

Request a reach out

What are the key aspects of DORA?

DORA aims to ensure the stability and continuity of the European financial sector by introducing a harmonised and enforceable framework. It focuses on five core areas to enhance resilience:

• ICT risk management: Establishes robust frameworks, governance structures, and continuous monitoring to identify, assess and mitigate ICT-related risks effectively.
• Incident reporting: Mandates rapid detection, classification, and internal & external reporting of major ICT-related incidents within strict timeframes.
• Digital operational resilience testing: Requires regular testing to validate resilience of the ICT risk management framework, including penetration testing, stress testing, and threat-led penetration testing (TLPT).
• Third-party risk management: Introduces strict oversight of ICT service providers, ensuring financial institutions conduct thorough risk assessments and due diligence.
• Information sharing: Encourages collaboration between financial entities, regulators, and cybersecurity experts to enhance threat intelligence amongst the EU financial community.

How can businesses prepare for DORA?

With DORA compliance becoming mandatory in January 2025, financial institutions must act now to enhance digital resilience and regulatory alignment. A structured approach ensures compliance while strengthening cybersecurity, minimising risks, and ensuring business continuity.

Key steps to achieve DORA compliance:

1. Assess digital resilience: Conduct a thorough assessment of the current cybersecurity state to evaluate ICT risk management, incident response, and third-party oversight against DORA’s requirements.
2. Develop a compliance roadmap: Create a phased implementation plan with clear governance, security controls, and reporting mechanisms.
3. Train & build awareness: Educate employees on cybersecurity risks & best practices, compliance responsibilities, and incident response protocols.
4. Validate & continuously improve: Regular assessments, audits, and resilience testing ensure ongoing compliance and adaptation to emerging threats.

How Can TÜV SÜD help?

With decades of experience in certification, cybersecurity and risk management, we provide comprehensive DORA compliance solutions to help financial institutions and ICT service providers achieve regulatory compliance, strengthen cybersecurity, and enhance operational resilience.

Our end-to-end DORA compliance solutions:

1. DORA readiness assessment & compliance roadmap

• Conduct compliance audits and gap analyses to assess ICT risk management, incident response, and business continuity readiness.
• Develop a clear roadmap to bridge compliance gaps and align with DORA regulation.

2. Cybersecurity framework & risk management

• Establish a DORA-compliant security strategy, aligned with ISO 27001 or other internationally recognised cybersecurity standards.
• Implement advanced threat detection, continuous monitoring solutions and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems to identify and respond to cyber threats in real-time.
• Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to proactively detect and remediate security risks.

3. Incident detection, reporting & response

• Design and implement incident detection and reporting frameworks that align with DORA’s specific timelines and regulatory obligations.
• Develop structured incident response plans with clear communication protocols, and escalation procedures.
• Set up incident response automation systems to streamline detection, analysis, and reporting.

4. Business continuity & resilience testing

• Develop and test business continuity strategies, ensuring minimal disruption during crises.
• Conduct stress testing, tabletop exercises, and cyberattack simulations to evaluate and enhance resilience.

5. Third-party risk management & vendor oversight

• Perform third-party risk assessments and supply chain audits to ensure vendor compliance with DORA's operational resilience standards.
• Establish continuous monitoring frameworks to manage third-party risks effectively.

6. Employee training & awareness programs

• Offer tailored cybersecurity training and resilience-building workshops for all level staff.
• Provide executive leadership training to align compliance with business strategy.

Contact TÜV SÜD today to discuss your needs and strengthen your digital resilience. Our expert-driven approach ensures financial institutions achieve full DORA compliance while building a future-proof financial cybersecurity.

Get in touch with our experts

FAQs