Meet DORA requirements for digital resilience in the financial sector
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) came into force in January 2025 and imposes new requirements on financial companies' digital resilience, ICT risk management, and supplier monitoring.
ICT risk management
DORA requires financial companies to implement a comprehensive ICT risk management framework with documented processes to systematically identify, classify, monitor, and manage digital risks throughout the organization.
Incident reporting
The regulation imposes strict requirements for rapid reporting of serious ICT-related security incidents to relevant supervisory authorities with clearly specified timeframes, content requirements, and follow-up procedures.
Supplier monitoring
DORA introduces comprehensive requirements for managing, evaluating, and continuously monitoring critical third-party ICT providers, including special supervisory oversight for providers classified as systemically important.
Digital recovery
Financial companies must conduct regular and comprehensive stress tests and crisis management exercises to verify the organization's ability to quickly restore business-critical functions after serious cyber disruptions.
DORA represents a paradigm shift for financial companies' management of digital risks. With ChainSec, you get a systematic approach to supplier monitoring and ICT risk management that supports your work with both current and future requirements for digital resilience.
What is DORA and who is covered?
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is an EU regulation that came into force in January 2025 and aims to strengthen digital resilience within the financial sector. The regulation covers banks, insurance companies, securities firms, payment institutions, pension funds, and other financial actors, as well as their critical ICT service providers.
To meet DORA requirements, financial companies need to implement comprehensive measures:
Robust ICT risk management with focus on digital risks and security in information and communication technology.
Systematic monitoring and verification of critical ICT providers' security level and performance.
Mandatory stress tests and crisis management processes to verify digital resilience and recovery capability.
How ChainSec supports your DORA compliance
ChainSec's platform helps financial organizations meet DORA's requirements for managing third-party ICT providers. The system simplifies identification of critical providers, risk assessments, and continuous monitoring of the supply chain.
Register of third-party ICT providers
Create and maintain a complete register of all ICT providers according to DORA requirements. The platform helps you document provider information, classify critical ICT service providers, and get complete overview of supplier relationships, contract information, and dependencies in your operations.
Risk assessments of ICT providers
Conduct systematic security assessments of your ICT providers. Create DORA-adapted assessments to evaluate providers' security level, resilience, and crisis management capability. The system documents all assessments and follows up on improvement work structured over time.
Continuous supplier monitoring
Monitor your ICT providers continuously according to DORA requirements. The platform helps you follow up on providers' performance and security level, identify risks in the supply chain, and document non-conformities and manage actions to ensure providers meet your security requirements.
Documentation of supplier management
Document your work with third-party ICT providers systematically. The system consolidates contract information, exit strategies, risk assessments, and follow-ups in one place. Generate reports demonstrating systematic supplier monitoring according to DORA requirements for supervisory authorities.
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- When does DORA take effect and who is covered?
DORA came into force on January 17, 2025 and applies to all financial companies in the EU: banks, insurance companies, securities firms, payment institutions, fund managers, pension funds, and crypto companies. There are no size exemptions - even small companies must comply.
- What must we include in our ICT provider register?
You must document all ICT providers with: provider name and contact details, which services they provide, whether they are critical or not, contract information and contract periods, and location where data is stored and processed. The register must be continuously updated.
- How do we classify critical ICT providers?
An ICT provider is critical if: the service is difficult to replace in the short term, disruption would significantly impact operations, the provider handles sensitive or business-critical data, or you have significant dependency on the provider. Document the classification and risk assessment.
- What clauses are required in ICT provider contracts?
Contracts must include: right to audit the provider's security and processes, requirements for incident reporting to you, documented exit strategies and transition plans, security requirements and SLAs, and information about any sub-processors.
- How often should we assess our ICT providers?
Critical providers must be assessed at least annually. Conduct security assessments, review their incident management and recovery capability, verify that contract requirements are met, and document all assessments and identified risks.
- What is an exit strategy and why is it required?
An exit strategy describes how you can terminate cooperation with an ICT provider without disrupting operations. It should include: alternative providers, transition timeline, how data is transferred, and how continuity is ensured during the switch. This is mandatory for critical providers.
- Must we report provider incidents?
Yes, if an ICT provider has an incident that affects your operations, you must report according to DORA's timelines: Initial notification within 4 hours, incident report within 72 hours, and final report within one month. Also document minor incidents for annual reporting.
- How does ChainSec help with DORA provider requirements?
ChainSec provides a central register for all ICT providers, tools to classify critical providers, templates for DORA-adapted security assessments, structured follow-up of provider performance, and reports demonstrating compliance for supervisory authorities.