With the introduction of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), the European Union is setting an important milestone for digital resilience in the financial sector. The directive, which comes into force in January 2025, aims to strengthen the operational resilience of financial companies in the face of growing digital risks and cyber threats. But what does this mean for companies in concrete terms?
What is the aim of DORA?
DORA aims to create a robust and consistent foundation for digital resilience within the financial sector. This applies not only to banks and insurance companies, but also to IT service providers that work for these companies. The directive is intended to ensure that all relevant players are prepared for digital disruptions or cyber-attacks and can react quickly.
The four pillars of DORA:
- Risk management
Companies must implement effective IT risk management that covers all IT processes and systems. This includes identifying risks, assessing the potential impact and defining risk mitigation measures.
- Information security
Protecting sensitive data is a top priority. DORA requires companies to implement cybersecurity measures to prevent, detect and respond to attacks. This includes incident handling, reporting obligations and the protection of data in all IT systems.
- Crisis management and reporting obligations
In the event of a serious IT security incident, companies must be able to report it quickly and accurately. This will improve transparency across the industry and enable companies to respond appropriately to threats.
- Requirements for third-party providers
A particularly interesting element of the DORA directive concerns IT service providers. Companies must ensure that their third-party providers meet the same high security requirements as they do themselves. This increases the pressure on everyone working in the financial sector, including cloud providers and software developers.
What does this mean for your business?
The DORA directive is an important step towards making Europe's digital infrastructure more resilient to disruption and threats. For companies in the financial sector, this means that they need to review their existing IT processes and security protocols and, if necessary, adapt them to meet the requirements. They should also develop a clear strategy for dealing with IT risks and ensure that their IT service providers are also DORA-compliant.
Why act now?
The countdown is on: By January 2025, companies must implement all the requirements of the DORA directive. For many, this will mean a considerable organizational and technical effort. But the benefits are clear: greater digital resilience not only means greater security, but also better preparation for future challenges in an increasingly digitalized world.
Conclusion:
The DORA directive is a wake-up call for the financial sector and its partners. Companies should use the remaining time to make their systems and processes future-proof. Those who act early will not only ensure their own resilience, but also create trust among customers and partners.