How to prepare for DORA compliance
As the Digital Operational Resilience Act approaches its enforcement deadline in January 2025, financial institutions must take proactive steps to ensure they are prepared to meet the regulation’s requirements. Here are some helpful tips to proactively prepare for DORA compliance:
Thoroughly familiarise yourself with the DORA regulation, its specific requirements, and how it applies to your organisation.
Consider taking specialised training, such as becoming a DORA Certified Compliance Specialist, to deepen your knowledge of the regulation.
Conduct a comprehensive assessment of cyber risks across your organisation and extended supply chain.
Utilise risk assessment solutions to help identify and evaluate potential vulnerabilities.
Ensure your approach to DORA compliance considers the scale, complexity, and importance of your ICT-related dependencies and risks.
Make informed decisions on risk management that align with the regulation’s requirements.
Engage multiple teams, including IT security, legal, compliance, risk management, and senior leadership, in the DORA compliance process.
Ensure a holistic, organisation-wide approach to addressing DORA requirements.
Ensure senior management leads DORA implementation and receives adequate training, such as becoming a Certified Cyber Risk Officer.
Secure buy-in and support from the board of directors for necessary DORA-related changes.
Continuously review and update your digital operational resilience strategy and ICT third-party risk management policies to stay aligned with DORA.
Stay agile to make necessary changes as regulations and threats evolve.
Develop a straightforward process for prioritising and addressing operational vulnerabilities identified through DORA-related assessments.
Focus on the most critical areas first to mitigate the highest-priority risks.
Be able to provide regulatory officials with evidence that your organisation is resilient to both firm-specific and broader sectoral threats.
Maintain comprehensive documentation to showcase your DORA compliance efforts.
Regularly monitor the external threat landscape and incorporate this information into your overall operational resilience strategy.
Stay informed about potential risks and take proactive steps to mitigate them.
Clearly identify the critical or important functions (CIFs) within your organisation as per DORA requirements.
Ensure these CIFs are the focal point for building robust operational resilience.
By following these comprehensive tips, financial institutions can better prepare for the upcoming DORA compliance requirements and strengthen their overall digital operational resilience.
Proactively preparing for DORA compliance is crucial as financial institutions must thoroughly understand the regulation, assess cyber risks, adopt a principle of proportionality, involve cross-functional teams, empower leadership, and regularly review and update plans.