What Is DORA?
DORA, the Digital Operational Resilience Act, is European Union legislation that sets requirements for how financial entities manage information and communication technology risk. It applies to banks, insurers, investment firms, and a wide range of other financial sector organizations, as well as the critical third-party technology providers they rely on.
DORA's core focus is operational resilience: the ability of a financial organization to prevent, withstand, respond to, and recover from disruptions to its digital systems. This covers everything from cyberattacks and system outages to failures originating with outsourced technology suppliers.
A key requirement under DORA is regular resilience testing, including scenario-based exercises that simulate real disruptions. Organizations are also expected to maintain clear incident reporting processes and to manage third-party technology risk closely, since a failure at a critical supplier can have the same impact as an internal failure.
Like NIS2, DORA places real weight on the human element of resilience. Staff training, clear escalation paths, and a culture where reporting concerns is encouraged all factor into how prepared an organization genuinely is, regardless of how strong its technical controls appear on paper.