What is DORA?
DORA stands for Digital Operational Resilience Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554), a European Union cybersecurity regulation designed to enhance the digital resilience of financial organizations. Published on December 14, 2022, it applies to all financial entities operating within the EU.
Why is DORA important?
DORA standardizes cybersecurity and operational resilience across financial institutions, ensuring that banks, insurance companies, and other financial service providers maintain continuity and security regardless of location. Compliance is mandatory, requiring organizations to adopt stringent ICT risk management frameworks and disaster recovery measures to safeguard against cyber threats, system failures, and operational disruptions.
Who Needs to Comply?
DORA applies to financial institutions and their IT service providers, including:
- Banks and Credit Institutions
- Payment and E-Money Institutions
- Investment Firms and Crypto-Asset Service Providers
- Insurance and Reinsurance Companies
- Trading Venues and Central Counterparties
- Crowdfunding Service Providers
- Third-Party ICT Service Providers (including cloud services, software vendors, and IT infrastructure providers)
Organizations providing critical ICT services to financial entities must meet strict security and contractual obligations under DORA.
Key DORA Requirements for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Risk Management
DORA’s ICT risk management framework (Chapter II) is structured across 10 key articles, covering governance, security controls, detection, response, and recovery:
- Article 5 – Governance and organization
- Article 6 – ICT risk management framework
- Article 7 – ICT systems, protocols, and tools
- Article 8 – Identification of risks
- Article 9 – Protection and prevention
- Article 10 – Detection of incidents
- Article 11 – Response and recovery
- Article 12 – Backup policies, restoration, and recovery procedures
- Article 13 – Learning and evolving
- Article 14 – Communication
How Does Acsense Help Financial Entities Comply with DORA?
At Acsense, we recognize that IAM (Identity and Access Management) is mission-critical, and DORA compliance demands a resilient IAM strategy. Our IAM Resilience Platform eliminates IAM as a single point of failure, protecting financial organizations against:
- Ransomware attacks
- Insider threats
- Misconfigurations and human errors
By ensuring continuous IAM security and operational continuity, Acsense directly supports Article 3 of Chapter I, which defines critical functions as those that, if disrupted, would materially impair financial performance, compliance, or service continuity.
DORA Compliance: Acsense’s Key Capabilities
Acsense enables financial entities to simplify DORA compliance through:
✅ Zero Trust Security & IAM Resilience:
- One-click recovery & automated posture management
- Continuous data integrity verification
- Detection of unauthorized IAM changes in real-time
- Fully air-gapped standby tenant for instant operational recovery
✅ Regulatory Compliance & Audit Readiness:
- Automated compliance reporting
- Full event logging & change tracking
- IAM risk assessments & security posture insights
✅ Backup & Recovery (Article 12 – Backup Policies & Recovery):
- Immutable, air-gapped IAM backups
- 1-click recovery for instant restoration
- Point-in-time recovery to undo changes after cyber incidents
✅ Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery (Article 11 – Response & Recovery):
- Integrated IAM business continuity solutions
- Pre-configured disaster recovery workflows
- Seamless failover during IAM outages
✅ ICT System Security & Resilience (Article 7 – ICT Risk Management):
- Scalable IAM security architecture
- Continuous monitoring & automated testing
- Meets ISO 27001, ISO 27017, and ISO 27018 security standards
Why Choose Acsense for DORA Compliance?
DORA requires financial entities to work only with ICT providers that meet strict cybersecurity standards (Article 28). Acsense is fully ISO-certified and offers a comprehensive IAM resilience solution that aligns with DORA’s:
🔹 Risk Management Framework (Chapter II)
🔹 Third-Party ICT Service Requirements (Chapter V, Article 31)
🔹 Backup and Recovery Mandates (Article 12)
By integrating Acsense’s IAM resilience platform, your organization can proactively address DORA’s cybersecurity mandates, minimize operational disruptions, and ensure regulatory compliance with confidence.
Final Thoughts
DORA compliance is not just about meeting regulatory requirements—it’s about ensuring operational resilience in an era of increasing cyber threats. With Acsense, financial organizations can safeguard IAM systems, strengthen cybersecurity posture, and eliminate IAM as a single point of failure.
Secure your IAM. Achieve DORA compliance. Ensure business continuity with Acsense.
