The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is no longer a future consideration; it’s here, with January 17, 2025, marking the enforcement deadline. For financial institutions across the European Union, this is more than a regulatory milestone—it’s a defining moment that tests operational resilience, challenges cybersecurity readiness, and solidifies their role in a rapidly digitizing financial ecosystem.
Whether you’ve been diligently preparing for months or still scrambling to finalize your compliance strategy, the focus now shifts to practical execution. Compliance with DORA isn’t just about meeting legal requirements—it’s about securing your organization’s future in a sector that’s increasingly under cyber siege.
DORA isn’t just about ticking compliance boxes. It’s about building stronger defenses, improving operational resilience, and protecting your organization in an increasingly complex cyber threat landscape. In this blog, we’ll walk through the critical steps you should focus on now, how to maintain compliance over the long term, and how tools like Jira Service Management ( JSM) can help simplify the process.
Let’s dive in.
Why DORA Matters More Than Ever
DORA addresses a critical gap in financial regulation by emphasizing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) risks and operational resilience. Unlike previous approaches, which often relied on financial buffers to cover potential losses, DORA mandates a proactive strategy to protect, detect, respond to, and recover from ICT-related incidents. This shift recognizes that operational resilience is essential not just for individual entities but for the stability of the entire financial sector.
ICT incidents are no longer hypothetical scenarios; they’re inevitable realities. The rise of sophisticated ransomware attacks, data breaches, and supply chain vulnerabilities underscores the importance of DORA’s comprehensive framework. By ensuring uniformity in ICT risk management, incident reporting, resilience testing, and third-party oversight, DORA aims to create a robust and secure financial ecosystem.
Key Steps to Ensure Compliance
As the deadline takes effect, here are the critical areas to prioritize to ensure your organization meets DORA’s requirements:
1.Implement a robust ICT risk management framework
Your organization must adopt an ICT risk management framework that aligns with DORA’s stringent requirements. This includes:
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Risk assessment: Conducting thorough assessments to identify vulnerabilities across your ICT systems.
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Incident management: Establishing clear protocols for identifying, reporting, and mitigating ICT-related incidents.
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Resilience measures: Ensuring your systems can withstand disruptions and recover swiftly.
Management accountability is a cornerstone of DORA. Senior leadership must actively oversee and approve ICT risk strategies, ensuring they align with organizational goals and regulatory standards.
2. Streamline incident reporting
DORA mandates standardized reporting for significant ICT-related incidents. Organizations must:
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Notify competent authorities within tight timeframes.
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Provide detailed reports on the nature, impact, and resolution of incidents.
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Voluntarily report emerging cyber threats to foster sector-wide intelligence sharing.
Automating incident reporting processes can streamline compliance and reduce the administrative burden.
3. Conduct digital operational resilience testing
Regular testing is crucial to validate the effectiveness of your ICT risk management framework. DORA emphasizes:
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Penetration testing: To identify and address potential vulnerabilities.
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Scenario-based testing: To evaluate preparedness against diverse threat vectors.
Engage qualified third-party testers and ensure the results feed directly into your risk management updates.
4. Manage ICT third-party risks
Third-party ICT service providers are integral to financial operations but also introduce significant risks. DORA’s oversight framework requires:
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Comprehensive vetting and risk assessments of third-party providers.
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Detailed contractual agreements outlining ICT service expectations and subcontracting conditions.
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Ongoing monitoring of provider compliance and performance.
Collaboration with critical third-party providers and aligning their operations with your compliance strategy will be essential.
5. Foster information sharing
DORA encourages financial entities to share threat intelligence and vulnerabilities within the sector. This collaborative approach strengthens collective resilience and accelerates the detection and response to emerging threats.
Transforming Compliance with the Valiantys GRC Solution
The Valiantys Governance Risk & Compliance Solution is purpose-built to help organizations navigate the complexities of DORA compliance while enhancing operational resilience. By integrating disaster recovery, IT asset management, and compliance tracking into a single unified framework, the solution empowers financial institutions to:
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Streamline compliance efforts: Automate regulatory tracking and reporting processes, reducing manual effort and ensuring audit readiness.
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Enhance resilience: Utilize HYCU for disaster recovery and Lansweeper for real-time IT asset tracking to safeguard operations against disruptions.
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Mitigate risks: Proactively identify and address vulnerabilities across ICT systems, leveraging predictive analytics and automated workflows.
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Simplify management: Centralize all compliance and risk management activities within a user-friendly interface integrated with Jira Service Management and Confluence.
This integrated approach not only ensures alignment with DORA requirements but also delivers significant efficiency gains, enabling organizations to focus on their core objectives.
Beyond Compliance: Building a Resilient Future
While achieving compliance with DORA is essential, forward-thinking organizations will view this regulation as an opportunity to enhance their operational resilience and competitive edge. A strong ICT risk management framework not only protects against disruptions but also builds trust with customers, regulators, and stakeholders.
Leverage technology: Organizations can leverage the Valiantys Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Solution—an integrated framework powered by HYCU, Lansweeper, and Appfire —to enhance their compliance framework. This solution centralizes incident management, automates compliance tracking, and supports maintaining audit-ready documentation, providing a streamlined approach to meet DORA requirements effectively.
Regularly update frameworks: Align ICT risk strategies with evolving regulatory standards and emerging threats.
Train employees: Build a culture of cyber security awareness and operational resilience through regular training programs.
Final thoughts
With DORA compliance now in effect, financial institutions have a unique opportunity to not only meet regulatory requirements but to transform their operations and build a stronger foundation for the future. Now is the time to take decisive action:
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Assess your readiness: Conduct a thorough review of your ICT risk management and compliance frameworks.
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Leverage proven solutions: Integrate tools like the Valiantys GRC Solution to streamline compliance and enhance resilience.
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Drive a culture of resilience: Engage leadership and train employees to embed operational resilience across your organization.
