Do Companies Providing Services to the Financial Sector Need to Be DORA Compliant?

Serving Banks or Insurers DORA Deadline is January 17 – You Need to Act Now!

If your company provides services to the financial sector, you may be wondering: Do I need to be DORA compliant? The short answer is yes, especially if you provide IT services or technology solutions that are critical to financial institutions in the European Union.

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is a new EU regulation that focuses on ensuring the operational resilience of financial institutions. But it doesn’t stop at banks and insurance companies—it also applies to their third-party service providers, particularly ICT (Information and Communication Technology) providers.

Do You Serve Banks or Insurers? You Need DORA Compliance – Secure Your Future Now!

What is DORA and Why Does It Matter?

DORA is designed to strengthen the operational resilience of the financial sector in the EU, making sure that institutions can withstand cyberattacks, system failures, or any type of disruption. It applies to financial institutions like banks, investment firms, and insurance companies, but also extends to third-party service providers. This includes companies offering cloud services, software solutions, IT infrastructure, and data analytics.

If your business is involved in delivering these kinds of services to financial institutions, DORA will likely impact you. The regulation requires strict compliance in areas like risk management, incident reporting, and security testing.

Providing Services to Financial Institutions? You Must Be DORA Compliant – Let’s Get You Ready

Are ICT Service Providers Required to Be DORA Compliant?

One of the key points of DORA is that it directly involves third-party service providers. According to the European Commission’s DORA proposal, critical ICT service providers are subject to direct oversight. This means that if your company provides crucial services to banks or other financial institutions, you’ll need to meet the compliance requirements.

Key Factors for DORA Compliance:

  • If you offer cloud hosting, data processing, or any other ICT services to financial institutions in the EU, DORA applies.
  • Even if your services are outsourced or subcontracted, you still need to ensure they meet DORA’s operational resilience standards.
  • DORA requires companies to have strong incident response plans, regular testing of systems, and robust cybersecurity measures.

Failure to comply with DORA can result in penalties or even restrictions on your ability to serve financial institutions. The full implementation deadline is January 17, 2025, which means businesses need to start preparing now to ensure they meet the compliance requirements in time.

What Are the Penalties for Not Being DORA Compliant?

Non-compliance with DORA can have serious consequences. These range from fines to restrictions on offering services to financial institutions. If your company is identified as a critical service provider, regulators can impose strict oversight, ensuring that you meet the required operational resilience standards.

Exceptions to DORA Compliance: Are There Any?

There may be exceptions for smaller service providers or those whose services are not considered critical to the financial system. However, these cases are rare, and most companies involved in ICT services for financial entities will need to comply.

For businesses that provide non-technical or administrative services, DORA compliance may not be necessary. But if you’re unsure, it’s best to review the regulation in detail or speak to an expert.

How to Ensure Your Company is DORA Compliant

Start by reviewing your company’s operational resilience procedures, including risk management, incident response, and cybersecurity measures. If you’re an ICT service provider, pay special attention to the criticality of your services and the extent to which financial institutions rely on your infrastructure.

Steps to Take:

  1. Evaluate Your Risk Exposure: Identify the critical services you offer to financial institutions.
  2. Update Your Security Measures: Ensure that your security practices are in line with DORA’s requirements.
  3. Prepare Incident Response Plans: Make sure you have a clear process for responding to operational disruptions or cyberattacks.
  4. Conduct Regular Testing: Implement regular security testing to identify vulnerabilities in your systems.
  5. Collaborate with Financial Institutions: Ensure clear communication and alignment with your clients regarding DORA requirements.

For a more detailed look at how DORA affects your business, check out our special DORA and NIS2 report.

Need Help With DORA Compliance?

If you’re unsure whether your business needs to comply with DORA or how to get started with compliance, it’s a good idea to speak with an expert. Kasper, our DORA specialist, can help you assess your needs and develop a clear path to compliance.

Need Help with DORA Compliance Schedule a Call with Kasper Today and Get Ready Before the January 17 Deadline

Schedule a call with Kasper today to ensure your company is ready for DORA and stays compliant before the January 2025 deadline.

With the upcoming regulatory changes, now is the time to take action. By ensuring compliance with DORA, your company will not only avoid potential penalties but also build trust with financial institutions, showing that your services are reliable and resilient in the face of operational risks.

Antoni takes care of all the marketing content that comes from Secfense. Read More

Featured Articles

Keep In Touch

Read More

CISA recommends Signal and FIDO authentication after attacks on U.S. telecoms

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has called on senior officials and public figures to transition to secure, encrypted messaging applications like Signal. This…
Avatar of Antoni Sikora Antoni Sikora

READ TIME 2 MIN

Your account may be attacked up to 700 times a second: Microsoft’s move to passkeys

Microsoft recently announced a major shift in its approach to account security: a move away from passwords and toward passkeys. This decision comes as the…
Avatar of Antoni Sikora Antoni Sikora

READ TIME 4 MIN

How to solve VPN security challenges and protect your organization

Introduction: The Hidden Risks of VPNs For years, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have been a cornerstone of corporate security, enabling employees to securely access company…
Avatar of Antoni Sikora Antoni Sikora

READ TIME 3 MIN

Testimonials

We are faced with new challenges every day. We must always be one step ahead of the attackers and know what they are going to do before they do it. We are convinced that the User Access Security Broker will bring security to a new level, both for those working at the office and from home. For us, working with Secfense is an opportunity to exchange experience with developers who put great value on out-of-the-box thinking.

Krzysztof Słotwiński

Business Continuity and Computer Security Officer

BNP Paribas Bank Poland

As part of the pre-implementation analysis, we verified that users utilize a wide range of client platforms: desktop computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and traditional mobile phones. Each of these devices differs in technological advancement, features, and level of security. Because of this, and also due to the recommendation of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (UKNF), we decided to introduce additional protection in the form of multi-factor authentication mechanisms based on FIDO. As a result, users of our applications can log in safely, avoiding common cyber threats such as phishing, account takeover, and theft of their own and their clients’ data.

Marcin Bobruk

CEO

Sandis

We are excited to partner with Secfense to enhance our user access security for our web apps. By integrating their User Access Security Broker, we ensure seamless and secure protection for our applications and systems, delivering superior security and convenience to our customers.

Charm Abeywardana

IT & Infrastructure

Visium Networks

Before investing in Secfense, we had the opportunity to talk to its existing clients. Their reactions were unanimous: wow, it’s so easy to use. We were particularly impressed by the fact that implementing their solution does not require the involvement of IT developers. It gives Secfense a huge advantage over the competition, and at the same time opens the door to potential customers who so far were afraid of changes related to the implementation of multi-factor authentication solutions.

Mateusz Bodio

Managing Director

RKKVC

Even when the network and infrastructure are secured enough, social engineering and passwords can be used to gain control of the system by attackers. Multifactor authentication is the current trend. Secfense addresses this and allows you to build zero trust security and upgrade your current systems to passwordless applications within minutes, solving this problem right away,” said Eduard Kučera, Partner at Presto Ventures and cybersecurity expert – former Director in hugely successful Czech multinational cyber security firm Avast.

Eduard Kučera

Partner

Presto Ventures

One of the biggest challenges the world is facing today is securing our identity online. That’s why we were so keen to have Secfense in our portfolio. They make it possible to introduce strong authentication in an automated way. Until now, organizations had to selectively protect applications because the deployment of new technology was very hard, or even impossible. With Secfense, the implementation of multi-factor authentication is no longer a problem, and all organizations can use the highest standards of authentication security.

Stanislav Ivanov

Founding Partner

Tera Ventures

Two-factor authentication is known to be one of the best ways to protect against phishing; however, its implementation has always been difficult. Secfense helped us solve that problem. With their security broker, we were able to introduce various 2FA methods on our web applications at once.

Dariusz Pitala

Head of IT

MPEC S.A.