DORA Compliance Made Easy: Key Steps for Financial Businesses
If you’ve been hearing the term ‘DORA’ more often lately – don’t be surprised. As of early 2025, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is fully enforced across the European Union, now serving as a vital part of cybersecurity in the financial sector. In this article, we explain what DORA is, what it requires, and share practical tips on what businesses should focus on.
What is DORA?
The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) was adopted in early 2023 and came into force across the EU on 17 January 2025. Its goal is to strengthen the digital resilience of the financial sector and manage potential risks more effectively. DORA aims to establish a unified and consistent supervisory approach throughout the EU financial system by harmonising cybersecurity and operational resilience practices.
The act seeks to enhance digital operational resilience within the EU’s financial sector by strengthening the risk management and incident reporting systems of three key groups: 1. Financial institutions, including banks, electronic money and payment providers, insurance companies, investment firms, and others; 2.ICT (information and communications technology) providers; 3.Third-party service providers.
It’s important to emphasise that compliance with DORA is required not only from financial entities but also from the IT vendors that support them.
Key Areas of DORA Requirements:
- ICT Risk Management – Organisations must have a clear, documented, and tested ICT risk management strategy.
- Incident Reporting – Businesses must report significant ICT-related incidents to supervisory authorities.
- Digital Resilience Testing – Companies are required to regularly conduct security tests, such as ethical hacking.
- Third-Party Risk Management – Companies must assess and control risks associated with external service providers.
- Information Sharing – DORA encourages financial sector participants to share information on cyber threats to strengthen sector-wide security.
Practical Tips for DORA Compliance:
- Know if DORA applies to you: Make sure you know whether your business needs to comply with DORA. Consult the Bank of Lithuania (Lietuvos Bankas) or the National Cyber Security Centre (NKSC) for clarification.
- Keiskite požiūrį: įmonių vidiniai procesai dažnai būna suskaldyti, taikomos skirtingos rizikų valdymo ir net IT sistemos. Vadovaukitės ES iniciatyva harmonizuoti kibernetinio saugumo ir atsparumo praktikas savo versle.
- Change your habits: Traditional methods of evaluating financial or operational risk often fail to address all digital threats. It’s time to replace outdated approaches with modern frameworks like DORA, both internally and externally.
- Don’t forget the legalities: Review agreements with current third-party service providers. Update them if needed to ensure full DORA compliance. peržvelkite susitarimus su esamais išoriniais paslaugų tiekėjais ir, esant reikalui, juos atnaujinkite, kad viskas atitiktų DORA.
- Invest in security: Cyber threats are growing every day. Investing in staff training, automated monitoring tools, or cybersecurity experts is well worth it.
- Don’t ignore it: Failing to comply with DORA requirements puts your business at risk – not only in terms of security but also financially. Penalties can reach up to 2% of your annual turnover or up to 1% of average daily turnover for each day of non-compliance. Responsible individuals may face fines of up to €1 million.
- Ask for help if needed: If implementing DORA or other regulatory requirements feels overwhelming, consult professionals who can ensure your compliance and maximise cybersecurity.
Whether you’re a financial sector company or an external provider working with one – cybersecurity must be your priority, both from a legal and general business standpoint. If you’re unsure where to begin, the AuraGroup team is ready to help – from your first audit to full DORA compliance. Plus, we offer your first consultation and business process audit entirely free of charge ,so you’ve got nothing to lose.
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