OUR DORA COMPLIANCE CONSULTANCY SERVICES

Digital Operational Resilience legislation in the European Union, like the GDPR, applies on a broad, cross-border basis — covering any financial entity operating within or providing services to the EU market.

The EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) establishes a unified framework for managing ICT-related risks across the financial sector, ensuring that all firms can withstand, respond to, and recover from digital disruptions.

We provide expert consultancy to help your organisation meet the compliance and resilience requirements of the EU DORA Regulation, using international best practices. We conduct DORA gap analysis, ICT risk assessments, resilience audits, and help you embed DORA-aligned governance, ensuring your operational risk and ICT management framework meet EU standards.

DORA Summary

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554) entered into force in January 2023 and will apply from 17 January 2025. It creates a harmonised regulatory framework for ICT risk management across the EU financial sector.

DORA applies to a wide range of entities, including:

  • Banks, payment and e-money institutions
  • Investment firms and trading venues
  • Insurance and reinsurance companies
  • Crypto-asset service providers (CASPs)
  • Credit rating agencies and data reporting service providers
  • ICT third-party service providers

Key DORA compliance obligations include:

  • Establishing a robust ICT risk management framework.
  • Implementing incident detection, classification, and reporting mechanisms.
  • Conducting digital operational resilience testing (including threat-led penetration testing).
  • Managing ICT third-party risks and maintaining a register of ICT providers.
  • Ensuring business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities.
  • Maintaining comprehensive governance and oversight at board level.
  • Reporting major ICT incidents and cyber threats to competent authorities within defined timelines.

Non-compliance can lead to supervisory sanctions, including administrative fines, restrictions on operations, and reputational impact.

Our DORA Compliance Framework

ICT Risk & Business Impact Assessment

  • Identify your organisation’s critical ICT systems and interdependencies.
  • Conduct Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to assess resilience needs and recovery priorities.
  • Evaluate ICT-related risks, including cyber threats, system failures, and third-party dependencies.
  • Develop a DORA-compliant ICT risk management framework aligned with ISO27001 and NIST.
  • Establish ongoing monitoring, testing, and reporting of ICT resilience metrics.

Governance & Oversight Development

  • Define roles and responsibilities for ICT risk and operational resilience governance.
  • Create cross-functional collaboration between risk, IT, compliance, and management functions.
  • Develop entity-specific policies and procedures covering:
    • ICT risk management strategy
    • Change management and configuration control
    • Business continuity and recovery planning
    • Threat intelligence sharing and coordination
    • Third-party oversight and subcontracting control
    • ICT incident handling and escalation
    • Staff awareness and operational resilience training
  • Integrate DORA governance into enterprise risk management and reporting frameworks.

Third-Party & Supply Chain Management

  • Assess and classify all ICT third-party service providers.
  • Create and maintain a register of ICT contracts as required by DORA.
  • Evaluate contractual clauses for compliance with DORA’s oversight and audit provisions.
  • Develop strategies to manage concentration and systemic outsourcing risks.

Testing & Assurance

  • Design and implement resilience testing programs, including scenario-based and penetration testing.
  • Conduct Threat-Led Penetration Testing (TLPT) where applicable to critical systems.
  • Validate recovery times, backup strategies, and failover mechanisms.
  • Provide continuous improvement recommendations based on test outcomes.

Incident Response & Reporting

  • Implement an incident management plan that meets DORA reporting timelines.
  • Establish classification criteria and escalation paths for major ICT incidents.
  • Support communication with competent authorities and oversight bodies.
  • Maintain detailed post-incident documentation and root-cause analysis reports.

How We Do It

Step 1 – Initial Consultation
We start by identifying your DORA scope, sector classification, and digital resilience maturity.

Step 2 – Gap Analysis & Statement of Works
We deliver a DORA gap analysis with a tailored Statement of Works, using both DSDM Agile and Prince2 methodologies to ensure flexible project delivery.

Step 3 – DORA Compliance Review
We conduct a detailed audit of your ICT risk and resilience framework, benchmarking against ISO27001, NIST CSF, and EBA/EIOPA/ESMA guidelines.

Step 4 – Implementation & Policy Integration
We assist in developing and embedding governance, policies, reporting structures, and monitoring controls across all DORA compliance domains.

Step 5 – Continuous Oversight & Support
We offer ongoing monitoring, board reporting, and periodic reviews to maintain compliance and adapt to regulatory updates or supervisory feedback.

Our Expertise

Our consultants bring over 25 years of experience across cybersecurity, IT risk management, data protection, and regulatory compliance, working with both financial institutions and service providers at international scale.

Our skill set includes:

  • ICT and cyber risk expertise
  • Operational resilience & continuity management
  • Regulatory & legal compliance knowledge
  • Risk & control framework development
  • Third-party and outsourcing risk management
  • Audit, assurance, and governance implementation
  • Agile & Prince2 project management expertise

Frameworks & Standards We Use

To ensure comprehensive compliance and resilience, we align our services with:

  • ISO27001 / ISO22301 (Information Security & Business Continuity)
  • NIST Cybersecurity & Resilience Frameworks
  • EBA / EIOPA / ESMA DORA Guidelines
  • ENISA Recommendations
  • SCF (Secure Controls Framework)
  • CIS Critical Security Controls
  • CSA CCM (cloud controls matrix)

Our Objective

Our goal is to help your organisation achieve and maintain full DORA compliance, enhancing your operational resilience, regulatory alignment, and digital trust — ensuring your financial services can withstand and recover from any ICT-related disruption.

For assistance in managing your European Regulatory operating environment; whether NIS2, DORA, EU AI Act, contact our team.

info@quantar.tech

Main: +44 (0) 203 286 7624

UK:     +44 (0) 745 9264240

EU:     +32 ()) 477 30.66.38