Navigating DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act)

For digital transformation leaders, DORA represents a significant shift, requiring the deep integration of cybersecurity into business strategies to ensure resilience against cyber threats.

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The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a regulation by the European Union designed to fortify the cybersecurity and operational resilience of financial institutions. Effective from January 2025, DORA mandates that EU banks, insurance companies, and investment firms implement robust measures to protect against digital disruptions.
This includes establishing comprehensive risk management frameworks, rigorously testing Information and Communication Technology (ICT), ensuring third-party service providers adhere to stringent security standards, and promptly reporting major cyber incidents to authorities.
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Why DORA Matters Globally

While DORA primarily targets EU-based institutions, its implications extend worldwide. Foreign companies, including those in the US, Asia, and other regions, that provide services to or conduct business with EU financial institutions must comply with DORA to maintain operations in the European market. This regulation is setting a high standard that may influence future global cybersecurity standards, making it essential for all firms to align their digital resilience strategies accordingly. Adhering to DORA not only ensures market access in Europe but also strengthens overall cybersecurity, a growing necessity in the interconnected digital landscape.

DORA's Relevance Across Sectors

DORA’s impact isn't confined to just the financial sector. US companies across various industries must be aware of DORA due to its broad implications for operational resilience, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance.

  • Finance: US financial companies operating in Europe must comply with DORA to avoid fines, protect their reputation, and ensure continued access to the European market. It mandates robust ICT risk management, incident reporting, and resilience testing, which are crucial to maintaining financial stability and customer trust in a highly interconnected global market.
  • Insurance: Compliance with DORA helps US insurers prevent costly breaches and maintain compliance with EU regulations, which is vital for operating in or with European markets.
  • Hi-Tech: US tech firms that align with DORA can enhance their marketability in Europe, gain a competitive edge, and build stronger, more resilient products that meet global standards.
  • Pharma: DORA’s focus on cybersecurity and risk management helps US pharma companies mitigate risks such as data breaches or disruptions that could affect drug safety, regulatory compliance, and patient trust.Healthcare: Compliance helps US companies safeguard patient information, comply with EU regulations, and maintain the trust of patients and regulators.
  • General Business: US companies that interact with the EU market or have significant digital operations will benefit from aligning with DORA’s standards.

Compliance with DORA strengthens overall cybersecurity and operational resilience, which are increasingly critical in a globally interconnected digital economy.

DORA Cybersecurity Facts

38%

Increase in Cyberattacks

The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) reported a 38% increase in cyberattacks targeting financial institutions in 2023.

1.5B€

Financial Losses

The European Central Bank (ECB) reported that cyber incidents cost European banks approximately €1.5 billion in 2022.

2€

Regulatory Compliance Costs

Deloitte estimated that European financial institutions would collectively invest over €2 billion between 2023 and 2025 to comply with DORA’s requirements.

Key Components of a DORA Program

Building a DORA-compliant program involves several critical areas:

  • ICT Risk Management: Develop and implement robust ICT risk management frameworks to identify, assess, and mitigate risks related to digital infrastructure. This includes managing risks associated with cyberattacks, system failures, and data breaches.
  • Incident Reporting: Establish protocols for reporting significant ICT-related incidents to regulatory authorities within specified timeframes.
  • Digital Operational Resilience Testing: Develop comprehensive test programs that evaluate the resilience of ICT systems through simulations, stress tests, and scenario analyses.
  • Third-Party Risk Management: Manage risks associated with third-party ICT service providers by ensuring they adhere to high security standards.
  • Information Sharing: Promote the sharing of information related to cyber threats and incidents among financial institutions to enhance the sector’s collective defense.
  • Governance and Policy Management: Implement automated policies and controls to manage ICT risks effectively.

TrustedStack: Your Solution for DORA Readiness

TrustedStack is designed to help organizations manage the complexities of modern digital environments and prepare for DORA compliance. Here’s how TrustedStack can assist:

  • Comprehensive ICT Risk Management: TrustedStack provides a centralized hub where various tools and tech-stacks include Business Criticality attributes, helping maintain a complete inventory of ICT assets, their purpose and calculate the associated risk based on business-context. This comprehensive view is essential for identifying, assessing, and mitigating ICT risks in line with DORA requirements.
  • ICT-related Incident Reporting: TrustedStack offers detailed security and operational insights, including monitoring of security events in technologies used and broken workflows. This supports timely incident detection and reporting, with automated response capabilities to manage incidents quickly and efficiently.
  • Digital Operational Resilience Testing: TrustedStack facilitates continuous monitoring of business-application stacks, architectures, and business purposes, allowing organizations to identify potential disruptions and assess their impact on ICT systems.
  • ICT Third-Party Risk Management: TrustedStack’s vendor and tool risk management features offer insights into third-party risks, including supply-chain threats, vendor vulnerabilities, breaches, and service disruptions.
  • Information Sharing and Cross-Team Collaboration: TrustedStack fosters collaboration across IT, SecOps, DevOps, and other teams, enabling seamless sharing of security and operational insights. Business Operations teams such as RevOps, MarketingOps, FinOps, and LegalOps can manage their technology-stacks on by themselves for operations efficiency, and in doing so facilitate visibility for the IT and Security teams.
  • Governance and Policy Management: TrustedStack offers attribution-based governance policies built on application criticality, data context, team dynamics, and exposure levels, ensuring continuous compliance with DORA’s stringent governance requirements, as well as evidence records for auditors.

TrustedStack aligns closely with DORA’s requirements by managing a wide array of tools and technologies, providing real-time security insights, and fostering cross-team collaboration. It offers deep contextual analysis of business applications, robust governance frameworks, and continuous monitoring and testing capabilities.

Recap

For US companies across various industries, DORA is more than just a European regulation; it is a framework that sets a new standard for digital operational resilience and cybersecurity. By aligning with DORA, US companies can mitigate risks, ensure compliance, protect their reputation, and maintain competitive access to the European market. This alignment also strengthens their global cybersecurity posture, which is essential in today’s increasingly digital and interconnected business environment.

‍TrustedStack can help technology teams map and align business architectures, tech stacks, and AI capabilities for better collaboration, governance, and operations.

DORA Requirements and TrustedStack Solutions

Building a DORA-compliant program involves several critical areas:

DORA Requirement
Description
How to Achieve
TrustedStack Solution
Comprehensive ICT Risk Management

Implement robust ICT risk management frameworks for all tools, technologies, and integrations used within operations.

Implement robust ICT risk management frameworks for all tools, technologies, and integrations used within operations.

Implement robust ICT risk management frameworks for all tools, technologies, and integrations used within operations.

ICT-related Incident Reporting

Report significant ICT-related incidents promptly to regulatory authorities, ensuring disruptions are managed transparently and effectively.

Develop an Incident Response Plan (IRP). Implement continuous monitoring and detection. Conduct regular incident reporting drills.

Detailed security and operational insights, including monitoring of security events and broken workflows. Automated response capabilities for quick and efficient incident management.

Digital Operational Resilience Testing

Regularly test the resilience of ICT systems to ensure they can withstand and recover from disruptions.

Document systems and ownership. Map technologies to systems, workflows, and business solutions. Establish a recovery plan and define risk-based disaster scenarios.

Continuous monitoring of business-application stacks. Clear understanding of architectures and business purpose. Helps identify vulnerabilities and test the resilience of the entire ICT ecosystem.

ICT Third-Party Risk Management

Manage risks associated with third-party ICT service providers, ensuring they meet high security and compliance standards.

Conduct due diligence and risk assessments of third-party providers. Ensure third-party providers adhere to high standards of data protection and security.

Vendor and tool risk management features offer detailed insights into third-party risks. Tracks validated vendor compliance across frameworks and standards.

Information Sharing and Cross-Team Collaboration

Encourage information sharing on cyber threats and incidents among financial institutions, promoting collective resilience.

Foster cross-team collaboration. Participate in industry forums or information-sharing networks to stay updated on best practices and emerging threats.

Designed to foster collaboration across IT, SecOps, DevOps, and more. Enables seamless sharing of security and operational insights.

Governance and Policy Management

Have robust governance frameworks that include automated policies and controls to manage ICT risks.

Create and enforce security guidelines for various technologies. Implement automated responses and remediation.

Offers attribution-based governance policies built on application criticality, data context, team dynamics, and exposure levels. Ensures continuous compliance with DORA.