SCRIP News

DORA: Cyber Resilience for the Financial Sector

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) represents a major regulatory shift for Europe’s financial sector. Coming into force in January 2023, with full applicability from January 2025, DORA sets out a unified framework for how banks, insurers, investment firms, and their ICT providers must withstand and recover from cyber threats.

Unlike previous fragmented regulations, DORA takes a holistic approach. It does not only target large financial institutions but also extends requirements to third-party ICT service providers, including cloud services, data centers, and cybersecurity firms that support the financial ecosystem.

What DORA requires

For financial entities and their partners, DORA introduces:

ICT Risk Management: Comprehensive frameworks to identify, assess, and mitigate risks in technology and operations.
Incident Reporting: A harmonized process for reporting significant ICT-related incidents to supervisors.
Operational Resilience Testing: Regular penetration testing, red-teaming, and scenario-based resilience exercises.
Third-Party Risk Oversight: Stricter contracts, monitoring, and accountability for ICT service providers.

How SmarTech helps

At SmarTech, we recognize that DORA compliance is not just a regulatory checkbox—it is a critical part of financial stability. Our Wazuh-based SOC services deliver continuous monitoring, threat detection, and incident response aligned with DORA’s technical requirements. Meanwhile, our Drata compliance automation platform enables financial institutions and their vendors to streamline evidence collection, maintain real-time control monitoring, and simplify supervisory reporting.

The bigger picture

Cyber incidents in the financial sector have cross-border consequences. DORA’s aim is to ensure resilience, not just recovery. By adopting best practices early, financial institutions and ICT providers can reduce regulatory risk, protect customer trust, and safeguard Europe’s digital economy.

SmarTech stands ready to support the financial sector on its journey to full DORA compliance—bringing together technology, governance, and operational resilience.