Question 1

What is DORA and which financial services firms must comply?

Accepted Answer

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) came into force on 17 January 2025 and applies to financial entities regulated in the EU, including banks, insurance companies, investment firms, payment institutions, crypto-asset service providers, and their critical ICT third-party providers. DORA requires firms to demonstrate operational resilience through ICT risk management frameworks, digital operational resilience testing, incident classification and reporting, and third-party ICT risk management.

Question 2

How long does DORA compliance take to implement?

Accepted Answer

A DORA gap assessment typically takes two to four weeks. Full implementation for a mid-sized financial firm depends on existing maturity: organisations with established ISO 27001 or NIST frameworks in place can typically close remaining gaps in three to six months. Firms starting from a lower baseline should allow nine to twelve months. The most time-consuming elements are usually third-party risk management programmes and resilience testing requirements.

Question 3

What cybersecurity regulations apply to financial services firms in the EU?

Accepted Answer

Financial services firms in the EU operate under multiple overlapping frameworks. DORA applies to operational resilience and ICT risk. GDPR applies to customer data processing. PCI DSS applies to card payment processing. NIS2 applies to firms designated as essential or important entities. The EBA, ESMA, and EIOPA each issue additional guidance for banks, investment firms, and insurers respectively. Cyvra helps financial services clients build compliance frameworks that address these obligations without duplicating effort.

Question 4

What is PCI DSS and how does it affect payment processors and banks?

Accepted Answer

PCI DSS, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, applies to any organisation that stores, processes, or transmits payment card data. Banks, payment processors, and financial institutions processing card transactions must validate compliance annually, either through a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) audit or a Self-Assessment Questionnaire depending on transaction volume. Non-compliance can result in fines from card schemes and loss of card processing rights.

Question 5

What does a cybersecurity framework for financial services look like?

Accepted Answer

A cybersecurity framework for a regulated financial firm typically covers six areas: governance and risk management, asset and data protection, access control, threat detection and monitoring, incident response, and supplier security. It should map to applicable regulatory requirements (DORA, PCI DSS, GDPR) and be reviewed at least annually. The framework should produce measurable outputs such as risk registers, control testing results, and incident metrics rather than existing only as policy documents.

Gebouwd voor gereguleerde omgevingen. Waar IT, security en compliance moeten samenwerken.

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Compliance- en beveiligingsdiensten afgestemd op financiële regelgeving

Expertise op het gebied van financiële compliance die bestand is tegen kritisch onderzoek

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