Lina Imbrusaite
Recently, DataBee hosted a webinar focused on the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), a pivotal piece of EU legislation that is set to reshape the cybersecurity landscape for financial institutions. The talk featured experts Tom Schneider, Cybersecurity GRC Professional Services Consultant at DataBee and Annick O'Brien, General Counsel at CybSafe, who delved into the intricacies of DORA, its implications, and actionable strategies for compliance.
5 Key Takeaways for mastering DORA compliance and enhancing resilience:
In an effort to open dialogue and help organisations that need to comply with the DORA compliance legislations, we are sharing the takeaways from our webinar.
- The Essence of DORA: DORA is not just another cybersecurity regulation; it addresses the broader scope of operational risk in the financial sector. Unlike frameworks that focus solely on specific cybersecurity threats or data protection, DORA aims to ensure that organisations can maintain operational resilience, even in the face of significant disruptions. This resilience means not just preventing breaches but also being able to recover swiftly when they occur.
- Broad Applicability: DORA's reach extends beyond traditional banks, capturing a wide array of entities within the financial ecosystem, including insurance companies, reinsurance firms, and even crowdfunding platforms. The act emphasizes that any organisation handling financial data needs to be vigilant, especially as DORA becomes fully enforceable in January 2025.
- Third-Party Risks: A significant portion of the webinar focused on the risks associated with third-party service providers, particularly cloud service providers. DORA places the onus on financial institutions to ensure that their third-party vendors are compliant with the same rigorous standards. This includes having robust technical and operational measures, conducting regular due diligence, and ensuring these providers can maintain operational resilience.
- Concentration of Risk: DORA introduces the concept of concentration risk, which refers to the potential danger when an entire industry relies heavily on a single service provider. The webinar highlighted recent incidents, such as the CrowdStrike and Windows issues, underscoring the importance of not only identifying these risks but also diversifying to mitigate them.
- Principles-Based Approach: Unlike prescriptive regulations, DORA is principles-based, focusing on the outcomes rather than the specific methods organisations must use. This approach requires financial institutions to continuously assess and update their operational practices to ensure resilience in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
Moving Forward:
As the January 2025 deadline approaches, organisations are urged to review their existing compliance frameworks and identify how they can integrate DORA's requirements without reinventing the wheel. Many of the principles within DORA overlap with other frameworks like GDPR and NIST, providing a foundation that organisations can build upon.
For those grappling with the complexities of DORA, the webinar emphasized the importance of preparation, regular testing, and continuous improvement. By leveraging existing policies and procedures, financial institutions can align with DORA's objectives and ensure they are not only compliant but also resilient in the face of future challenges.
Databee can significantly enhance compliance with DORA by streamlining the management of information and communication technology (ICT) assets. DataBee for Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM) offering weaves together data across multiple sources, enabling organisations to automate the creation of a reliable asset inventory. By providing enriched datasets and clear entity resolution, Databee reduces complexity of managing and monitoring ICT assets, improves auditability, and ensures that compliance and security measures are consistently met across the enterprise, ultimately supporting the resilience and security of critical business operations.
Watch the recording of the webinar here or request a demo today to discover how DataBee can help you become DORA compliant.
