In cybersecurity, DORA stands for the Digital Operational Resilience Act. It is a European Union (EU) regulation that aims to enhance the security and resilience of the financial sector against cyber threats and operational disruptions.

DORA Framework:

The DORA framework is built on five key pillars:

1. ICT Risk Management: Financial entities must establish robust ICT risk management frameworks to identify, assess, and mitigate risks, ensuring they can withstand and recover from disruptions.

2. Incident Reporting: Mandates timely and comprehensive reporting of significant ICT-related incidents to relevant authorities, fostering better threat intelligence sharing and coordinated response.

3. Digital Operational Resilience Testing: Organizations must regularly test their ICT systems and processes to identify vulnerabilities and ensure they can maintain essential services during disruptions.

4. Third-Party Risk Management: This approach emphasizes managing risks associated with third-party ICT service providers, ensuring they meet security standards and have adequate resilience measures.

5. Information Sharing: Encourages collaboration and information sharing between financial entities and relevant authorities to enhance the overall resilience of the financial sector.

Applicability of DORA:

DORA applies to a wide range of financial entities operating within the EU, including:

• Credit institutions (banks)

• Payment institutions

• Electronic money institutions

• Investment firms

• Crypto-asset service providers

• Insurance and reinsurance undertakings

• Intermediaries (insurance brokers, agents)

• Management companies

• Data reporting service providers

• Credit rating agencies

• Securities depositories

• Central counterparties

• Central securities depositories

• Trade repositories

In addition, DORA applies to ICT third-party service providers that provide critical services to financial entities, such as cloud service providers, data analytics firms, and cybersecurity service providers.

DORA aims to strengthen the European financial sector's digital operational resilience by establishing a comprehensive and harmonized framework. This framework includes measures to ensure financial entities can withstand, respond to, and recover from various ICT-related disruptions and threats.

ThreatNG can significantly enhance an organization's compliance with the DORA framework's five pillars by proactively identifying and mitigating risks across the organization's external digital footprint.

ICT Risk Management and Governance:

• Cyber Risk Exposure & Security Ratings: ThreatNG provides a comprehensive assessment of an organization's external cyber risk posture, identifying vulnerabilities like exposed APIs, misconfigured cloud services, leaked credentials, and vulnerabilities in third-party systems. This thorough assessment helps organizations prioritize remediation efforts, enhancing their overall risk management strategy and fostering a sense of security.

• Data Leak Susceptibility: ThreatNG identifies potential data leaks from various sources, including misconfigured cloud storage, exposed databases, and code repositories. Organizations can then take preventative measures to secure sensitive data and mitigate the risk of breaches.

ICT-Related Incident Reporting:

• Dark Web Presence: By monitoring the dark web, ThreatNG can detect early signs of data breaches or cyberattacks, guiding organizations to report incidents promptly and accurately to relevant authorities. This support in incident reporting provides a sense of guidance and assurance.

• Social Media Monitoring: ThreatNG identifies discussions related to the organization on social media, which may include mentions of potential security incidents, providing valuable information for incident reporting.

Digital Operational Resilience Testing:

• Domain Intelligence: ThreatNG's domain intelligence module can discover look-alike domains or fraudulent websites that could be used in phishing campaigns. This knowledge aids in simulating real-world attack scenarios to test the organization's resilience and response capabilities.

• Web Application Hijack & Subdomain Takeover Susceptibility: Identifying vulnerabilities in web applications and subdomains allows for targeted testing to ensure the organization can recover quickly from potential exploits.

• Search Engine Exploitation: ThreatNG helps assess the exposure of sensitive information through search engines, simulating a potential attacker's reconnaissance and aiding in developing mitigation strategies.

ICT Third-Party Risk Management:

• Supply Chain & Third-Party Exposure: ThreatNG assesses the security posture of third-party vendors and suppliers, identifying potential vulnerabilities that could impact the organization's ICT systems. This information enables organizations to enforce stricter contract security requirements and monitor ongoing compliance.

Information Sharing:

• Intelligence Repositories: ThreatNG's intelligence repositories, containing information on dark web activity, compromised credentials, and ransomware events, can be shared with relevant authorities or industry groups to enhance collective security and threat intelligence.

By leveraging ThreatNG's external attack surface management capabilities, organizations can:

• Gain a comprehensive understanding of their external digital footprint.

• Proactively identify and address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

• Strengthen their incident response capabilities.

• Mitigate third-party risks.

• Contribute to the collective security of the financial sector by sharing threat intelligence.

This comprehensive approach significantly enhances an organization's ability to comply with the DORA framework, ensuring the resilience and security of its ICT systems and services.