Basically, DORA Compliance means meeting the standards set by the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). This is a European Union regulation designed to enhance digital resilience and cybersecurity of financial institutions and also of their technology providers. It was enforced on January 17, 2025: DORA creates clear and standard rules to help organizations manage risks tied to their information and communication technologies (ICT from now on). Take a look at the DORA compliance checklist below!
Unlike older regulations, mainly focused on financial risks, DORA brings ICT security to the forefront. It also applies to a broad range of businesses: from banks and insurance companies to software companies, cloud service providers, and IT consultancies working with the financial sector. To sum up, achieving DORA Compliance means that you can prove that your organization is able to spot digital risks early, respond to cyber threats effectively, and keep services running during disruptions.
Core Requirements of DORA Compliance #
In order to meet DORA compliance, companies need to focus on five essential areas:
You’ll need a clear process for:
- Identification & classification of key technology assets
- Continuous monitoring of your systems to check for vulnerabilities
- The creation of detailed response and recovery plans for incidents that may happen
- Regular assessments of your cybersecurity measures
2. ICT-Related Incident Reporting
ICT incidents, especially the serious ones, must be reported to regulators, taking into account strict deadlines. This promotes transparency and allows authorities to oversee and guide recovery efforts.
3. Digital Operational Resilience Testing (DORT)
Your organization must regularly test how well your systems can withstand cyber threats. This includes:
- Running vulnerability scans
- Conducting penetration tests
- Performing more advanced, real-world simulated attacks (TLPT)
4. ICT Third-Party Risk Management
Since many services depend on external providers, DORA demands rigorous oversight of third-party risks. This means:
- Carefully evaluating providers before signing contracts.
- Defining security obligations in contracts.
- Continuously monitoring providers for risks.
- Preparing exit plans in case services need to be replaced quickly.
5. Information Sharing Arrangements
DORA always encourages sharing cyber threat information with peers in order to build collective resilience across the financial sector.
DORA Compliance Checklist #
If you have a step-by-step DORA compliance checklist, it can help you simplify the process. Here you have everything your DORA compliance checklist should include:
Crisis Communication and Recovery: You must have a plan on how to communicate and recover during possible ICT incidents
Asset and Service Mapping: You have to keep an up-to-date inventory of critical ICT systems and services
Risk Assessment Framework: The implementation of clear methods to assess and manage ICT risks is highly recommended
Continuous Monitoring: In order to detect vulnerabilities and incidents you can use real-time monitoring
Incident Reporting Protocols: Define how to classify incidents and report them to regulators
Security Testing: Schedule periodic vulnerability scans, penetration testing, and resilience assessments
Third-Party Risk Checks: And last but not least, audit your providers regularly and set clear cybersecurity expectations
Vulnerability Scanning and DORA Compliance: What You Need to Know #
Vulnerability scanning plays a central role in meeting DORA compliance and requirements. As part of your operational resilience testing, you need to:
- Define Scope: Ensure all critical systems and applications are covered by scans.
- Automate Scans: Automate as much as possible to ensure consistent and regular assessments.
- Prioritize Fixes: Feed results into your security workflows and prioritize fixes based on severity.
- Include Third-Party Systems: Scan systems managed by key vendors, too.
- Keep Records: Document your scans, findings, and actions for audits and compliance reporting.
Neglecting this area could lead to compliance failures and leave your organization vulnerable to attacks.
Why Compliance Matters to Security Managers & DevSecOps Teams? #
For security managers, DORA offers more than a compliance framework: it provides a structured and a strategic approach that can help them strengthen their cybersecurity resilience.
And for DevSecOps teams, DORA aligns with modern development practices like:
- Embedding security testing early (shift-left).
- Using secure software development processes (SDLC).
- Automating vulnerability scans and remediation workflows.
- Monitoring infrastructure and applications in real time.
Adopting DORA principles makes your development and operations more secure and efficient. Take a look at our non-gated SafeDev Talk on DORA – Understanding What’s at Stake from a Cybersecurity Point of View to learn more from cybersecurity experts!
Strengthening Digital Resilience with DORA #
DORA Compliance is meant to become a must-have for financial firms and their providers across Europe, as it pushes organizations to improve cybersecurity, manage third-party risks, and build resilience against ICT disruptions. If you want to simplify your compliance efforts, take a quick look at Xygeni, the all-in-one AppSec tool that will help you secure your software supply chain, automate vulnerability scanning, and streamline reporting. Your security team will be always of threats and regulatory requirements! Take a Product Tour or Get a Free Trial!
Meeting the EU’s DORA requirements for managing ICT risks, reporting incidents, performing security testing, and monitoring third-party providers.
Financial entities like banks and insurers, as well as ICT providers supporting them.
It’s a practical list covering risk assessments, asset inventories, continuous monitoring, vulnerability scanning, and more.
Yes. Regular vulnerability scans are explicitly required.
By building security checks and monitoring into software delivery pipelines and infrastructure management.
