DORA Regulation (Digital Operational Resilience Act)
The DORA Regulation establishes a unified EU framework to strengthen the digital operational resilience of financial entities against information and communication technology (ICT) disruptions.
What is the DORA Regulation (Digital Operational Resilience Act)?
The DORA Regulation, formally known as the Digital Operational Resilience Act, is an EU law that ensures financial institutions can withstand, respond to, and recover from ICT-related incidents. Adopted in 2022 and effective as of January 2025, DORA applies to banks, insurers, investment firms, and critical third-party ICT providers.
The regulation harmonizes existing EU cybersecurity and risk management requirements under a single framework. It focuses on ICT risk governance, incident reporting, resilience testing, and third-party risk oversight, aligning closely with broader initiatives such as the NIS2 Directive.
Why DORA matters
DORA transforms how the financial sector manages technology and cyber risk by creating consistent standards across the EU. It reduces regulatory fragmentation and ensures all covered entities maintain robust digital resilience.
The regulation mandates that organizations identify critical assets, conduct ICT risk assessments, and establish incident response and recovery processes. It also requires testing of operational resilience and monitoring of ICT third-party dependencies.
Complying with DORA enhances business continuity, improves regulatory confidence, and helps safeguard the stability of the EU financial system.
How DORA is used in practice
- Developing ICT risk management frameworks aligned with DORA requirements
- Performing regular digital operational resilience testing and incident simulations
- Establishing reporting protocols for significant ICT-related incidents
- Implementing third-party risk management (TPRM) for all ICT service providers
- Creating business continuity and disaster recovery plans tied to regulatory expectations
- Documenting evidence of compliance for regulatory reviews and audits
Related laws & standards
- NIS2 Directive
- ISO 27001 (Information Security Management)
- EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
How OneTrust helps with DORA
OneTrust supports organizations in meeting DORA requirements by centralizing ICT risk management, third-party oversight, and incident reporting. The platform streamlines compliance through automated workflows, audit-ready documentation, and cross-functional governance to maintain operational resilience.
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FAQs about DORA
DORA targets financial institutions and their ICT service providers, while NIS2 applies to essential entities across multiple sectors. Both focus on resilience and cybersecurity, but DORA introduces stricter financial sector controls.
DORA applies to financial entities such as banks, insurers, investment firms, and ICT providers supporting the financial sector. It also covers third-party vendors offering critical technology services like cloud computing and data hosting.
DORA requires organizations to assess and monitor all ICT-related third-party risks, establish contractual obligations, and ensure resilience testing and oversight for critical providers.
