Over the past several years, government bodies and regulatory agencies have shown an increased interest in preserving data privacy and combating cybercriminals. As bad actors deploy more sophisticated methods for stealing sensitive data, it’s necessary for businesses to improve their risk posture and protect their customers against these modern threats.
Cyara helps businesses mitigate potential risks with automated and continuous testing solutions.
Now, financial institutions must prepare for new regulations under the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). Under this policy, businesses are required to enhance their resilience against cyberthreats and operational disruptions by executing continuous testing, monitoring, and reporting.
As DORA’s deadline marches closer with each passing day, it’s critical that your business understands the various requirements and how you can prepare. Businesses in the financial industry that fail to meet DORA’s requirements may be subject to hefty fines, damaging their bottom line and brand reputation. But by adopting a proactive approach and leveraging automated testing solutions, you can verify your business’ preparedness.
What is DORA?
DORA isn’t just another regulatory requirement—it’s a comprehensive framework designed to reinforce the operational resilience of financial institutions. The regulation impacts a wide array of organizations, including:
- Banks and Credit Unions
- Insurance Companies (both life and non-life)
- Investment Firms
- Payment Service Providers
- Stock Exchanges and Market Infrastructures
- Asset Management Firms
- ICT Service Providers, such as cloud services and fintech companies
It’s important to know that DORA extends beyond the European Union. Any global institution that interacts with the EU financial market (including the EEA) will be impacted by the regulations and will face the same financial penalties for non-compliance. This wide-reaching scope means that DORA’s impact is much broader than many first assume, affecting a vast range of sectors and geographies.
So, what steps should you take to prepare for DORA?
The Importance of Continuous Testing for DORA Compliance
A key requirement of DORA is robust, ongoing testing of ICT systems. This isn’t about occasional audits, but rather a commitment to continuous, automated testing to ensure your systems can withstand potential cyber threats and operational disruptions.
Testing your infrastructure once simply isn’t enough to meet DORA requirements, nor is it a general best practice for robust cybersecurity. There’s no telling when an error may emerge, and even the smallest defect can cause damage to your reputation and bottom line.
With an automated and continuous testing solution, you can:
- Adopt Proactive Threat Management: Continuous testing helps you identify and address vulnerabilities before they escalate into serious issues.
- Maintaining Compliance: Regular testing ensures you meet DORA’s requirements consistently, helping you avoid penalties for non-compliance.
- Enhancing Resilience: Ongoing assessments prepare you to better handle and mitigate disruptions.
Real-Time Monitoring: Staying Ahead of Issues
In addition to continuous testing, real-time monitoring is crucial for effective DORA compliance. The regulation requires businesses to detect and respond to issues as they arise, minimising their impact on operations and customer experience.
Without a monitoring solution, it can take a long time before defects are identified. When it comes to cybersecurity vulnerabilities, there’s no time to waste, and failing to remediate these risks can expose your business to compliance penalties.
Real-time monitoring empowers you to:
- Quickly identify and address performance issues or threats, preventing minor problems from becoming major disruptions.
- Improve response times with real-time data, so you can accelerate your Real- decision-making and enhance operational efficiency.
- Gain a comprehensive view of your system’s health, enabling more strategic management.
The Role of Detailed Reporting
DORA imposes strict requirements for incident reporting. Businesses must provide detailed and timely reports on significant incidents, demonstrating transparency and readiness. Failure to comply can result in substantial financial penalties.
Automated reporting systems can help streamline this process with:
- Efficient Documentation: Simplify the documentation of incidents, making compliance with DORA’s reporting requirements easier.
- Comprehensive Records: Ensure that all necessary details are accurately captured and reported.
- Transparent Communication: Build trust with regulators and stakeholders through clear, detailed reporting.
How Cyara Can Support Your DORA Compliance
DORA compliance isn’t something that your business can afford to take lightly. That’s why it’s critical to leverage real-time testing and monitoring solutions, so you can prepare for the upcoming deadline and remain compliant.
Preparing for DORA’s strict requirements requires specialized expertise when it comes to ICT risk management, resilience testing, and more, and it is virtually impossible to do on your own.
Our team at Cyara includes experts that understand DORA’s complexities, and we’re committed to helping you through every step. When you choose our automated testing and monitoring solutions, you can ensure your business aligns with DORA with:
- Automated Continuous Testing: Our platform offers ongoing testing to identify and address vulnerabilities, ensuring resilience and compliance.
- Real-Time Monitoring: Stay informed with real-time insights into system performance, enabling proactive management of potential issues.
- Automated Incident Reporting: Streamline the reporting process, making it easier to document and report incidents according to DORA’s standards.
- Third-Party Risk Management: Monitor and assess the compliance of third-party providers, ensuring they meet regulatory requirements and don’t introduce additional risks.
- Comprehensive Risk Management: Develop and maintain robust risk management strategies with our support.
- Customizable Testing: Tailor testing scenarios to meet specific regulatory and business needs, ensuring thorough coverage.
- Continuous Improvement: Use our analytics to refine strategies and enhance resilience over time.
You don’t have to face DORA on your own. With Cyara, you can confirm your readiness, avoid penalties, and forge stronger customer relationships.
Prepare for DORA Today
DORA marks a significant shift in regulatory expectations, pushing businesses to adopt more proactive, comprehensive approaches to operational resilience. By leveraging continuous testing, real-time monitoring, and automated reporting, you can achieve DORA compliance and strengthen your overall operational resilience.
Don’t ask yourself: can you afford to invest in automated testing and monitoring?
Ask yourself: can you afford not to?
Don’t wait for the deadline to pass before adopting a strategy to assure compliance. Contact us today to learn how Cyara can assist with your DORA compliance strategy.
