‍Enhancing Your Digital Operational Resilience: The 9 Key Requirements of the DORA Regulation

The EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) represents a pivotal regulation aimed at strengthening the resilience and security of financial institutions in an increasingly digital world. The regulation is comprehensive, spanning 106 preamble items, 64 articles, and over 79 pages of legislative text, making compliance a demanding task for even the most diligent Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) and C-level executives.

For leaders responsible for ensuring their organisation’s digital and operational security, understanding and implementing the key provisions of DORA is crucial. The nine core requirements outlined below provide an essential roadmap, while automated compliance solutions like Regulativ.ai's DORA Compliance Platform can significantly reduce the complexity and operational burden of staying compliant.

1. Detailed ICT Risk Management Requirements

DORA's ICT risk management provisions are both extensive and highly detailed, as outlined in Chapter II and the related Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) CDR 2024/1774. Financial institutions are required to implement a robust ICT risk management framework covering governance, identification, prevention, detection, response, and recovery from cyber threats.

Given the exhaustive nature of these requirements, many organisations struggle to keep up manually. Regulativ’s DORA Compliance Platform automates much of the risk management process, offering pre-built frameworks, real-time risk monitoring, and compliance reporting that align with DORA’s stringent demands. This enables you to ensure full adherence to DORA while significantly reducing operational overhead.

2. Simplified ICT Risk Management for Smaller Entities

Understanding the unique challenges smaller financial entities face, DORA offers a simplified version of its ICT risk management framework (Article 16). Although less detailed, this framework still ensures essential protections against digital threats, while alleviating some of the resource pressures on smaller institutions.

For both large and smaller institutions, Regulativ’s platform provides scalable solutions tailored to the size and complexity of your operations, ensuring you are compliant without being overwhelmed by unnecessary detail.

3. Incident & Threat Classification and Reporting

DORA places great emphasis on proactive incident management, requiring financial entities to classify and report ICT-related incidents to competent authorities, such as the European Central Bank (ECB) or local regulators. Reporting must include an initial notification, intermediate updates, and a final report, alongside client notifications when necessary.

Regulativ’s DORA Compliance Platform automates the entire reporting process, ensuring timely, accurate, and consistent communication with regulatory bodies. Built-in incident management workflows guide you through DORA-compliant responses, from classification to resolution.

4. Digital Resilience Testing, Including Penetration Testing

In Chapter IV, DORA mandates regular testing of digital operational resilience, with requirements for annual vulnerability assessments, scenario-based testing, and penetration tests. Every three years, financial institutions must also conduct Threat-Led Penetration Testing (TLPT) under strict guidelines.

Regulativ.ai’s platform simplifies this process by integrating resilience testing into your compliance workflows, enabling automated scheduling, tracking, and reporting of resilience assessments. Our platform ensures that your tests are aligned with DORA standards, saving time and reducing the risks associated with non-compliance.

5. Managing Risks with ICT Third-Party Providers

DORA introduces stringent rules for managing third-party ICT providers, including regular risk assessments, exit strategies, and the incorporation of minimum contractual clauses. As third-party relationships increasingly become a point of vulnerability, ensuring their compliance with DORA is crucial.

Regulativ’s platform offers automated third-party risk management, providing continuous monitoring and detailed assessments of your ICT service providers to ensure they meet DORA’s security and contractual requirements. Our platform also supports the seamless incorporation of exit strategies to mitigate vendor risk.

6. ICT Service Providers Oversight by Government Bodies

Critical ICT service providers, as designated by European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), must undergo even stricter oversight. Lead Overseers are appointed to ensure these providers comply with security and risk management obligations, with the authority to access information, conduct investigations, and issue fines.

With Regulativ.ai, you can track and manage your service providers’ compliance with government oversight requirements. Our platform’s real-time dashboards give you visibility into their status, helping you mitigate risks before they become regulatory issues.

7. Cyber Threat Information Sharing

DORA encourages the exchange of threat intelligence, which plays a critical role in improving collective resilience across the financial sector. Sharing cyber threat information with competent authorities, third-party providers, and other financial entities is vital to mitigating future risks.

Regulativ’s platform provides secure channels for threat intelligence sharing, ensuring your organisation complies with DORA’s information-sharing requirements while safeguarding sensitive data.

8. Supervision by Competent Authorities

DORA mandates that each EU Member State designates a competent authority to supervise compliance for most financial institutions. The European Central Bank (ECB) directly supervises significant credit institutions, while ESMA oversees securitisation repositories.

Through Regulativ.ai’s DORA Compliance Platform, you can maintain seamless, audit-ready compliance, reducing the risk of fines or sanctions from supervisory bodies. Our platform helps ensure your organisation is always prepared for external audits or regulatory checks.

9. Penalties for Non-Compliance

DORA outlines severe consequences for non-compliance, including potential fines for critical ICT providers of up to 1% of global turnover. Financial organisations may face operational restrictions, penalties, or public notices for failing to meet DORA requirements.

By automating compliance management with Regulativ.ai’s DORA Platform, you can mitigate the risks of penalties. Our solution provides continuous compliance monitoring, ensuring that both your organisation and your ICT providers adhere to DORA’s evolving regulations.

Conclusion: Simplifying DORA Compliance with Regulativ.ai

While the DORA regulation may appear overwhelming due to its detailed requirements, automated solutions like Regulativ.ai's DORA Compliance Platform are designed to help financial institutions manage compliance efficiently. By leveraging advanced automation, integrated testing, and real-time risk management, CCOs and C-level executives can ensure that their organisations remain compliant while reducing operational strain and costs.

Explore how Regulativ.ai can help you automate your DORA compliance journey at www.regulativ.ai/dora.

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