DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act)
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is an EU regulation ensuring financial entities can withstand, respond to, and recover from ICT-related disruptions and cyber threats.
What is DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act)?
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is an EU regulation to oversee the security functions of financial entities across the European Union. It establishes a unified regulatory framework requiring firms to manage ICT risks, report major incidents, and ensure business continuity. DORA applies to banks, insurers, investment firms, credit institutions, and critical third-party providers offering ICT services such as cloud or data analytics.
Effective as of January 2025, DORA complements broader EU initiatives like the NIS2 Directive and aims to harmonize cybersecurity and resilience standards across the financial sector.
Why DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) matters
DORA represents a major shift in how financial institutions approach operational resilience and cyber risk management. It moves beyond compliance to ensure institutions can continue operating even during major ICT disruptions.
The regulation introduces mandatory testing, risk classification, and third-party monitoring to improve resilience across complex financial ecosystems. It also standardizes how incidents are reported and mitigated, enabling EU-wide coordination and transparency.
Complying with DORA helps organizations strengthen their digital infrastructure, reduce downtime risks, and build trust with regulators, customers, and partners.
How DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) is used in practice
- Establishing governance frameworks for ICT and cybersecurity risk management
- Performing regular resilience testing and scenario-based simulations
- Implementing third-party risk management (TPRM) programs for ICT service providers
- Developing incident response and recovery plans aligned with DORA’s reporting standards
- Coordinating oversight between risk, compliance, and IT security teams
- Documenting evidence of operational resilience for regulatory audits
Related laws & standards
- NIS2 Directive
- EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- ISO 27001 (Information Security Management)
How OneTrust helps with DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act)
OneTrust helps organizations prepare for DORA compliance by centralizing ICT risk management, third-party monitoring, and incident reporting. The platform enables automation of assessments, evidence tracking, and documentation to maintain readiness for audits and cross-border regulatory obligations.
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FAQs about DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act)
DORA focuses specifically on the financial sector and its ICT ecosystem, while NIS2 applies to essential and digital service providers across all industries. Both promote resilience and cybersecurity, but DORA imposes stricter governance and testing requirements.
DORA applies to financial institutions such as banks, insurers, and investment firms, as well as ICT service providers critical to financial operations, including cloud providers and data analytics vendors.
DORA applies to financial institutions such as banks, insurers, and investment firms, as well as ICT service providers critical to financial operations, including cloud providers and data analytics vendors.
