DORA Consulting

Practical DORA consulting with A1 Digital

The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has been mandatory for banks, insurance companies, payment service providers, and other financial institutions in the EU since January 17th, 2025. DORA requires that affected companies be able to withstand a cyberattack or IT outage. However, many companies are unsure whether their processes would function in an emergency and where their greatest risks lie. As part of our DORA consulting services, we work with you to analyze all five areas of DORA requirements, identify gaps, and implement measures together with you.

Which companies benefit from DORA consulting?

Banks & credit institutions

Credit institutions, payment institutions, and e-money institutions are directly subject to DORA and must fully comply with all requirements. Of particular relevance are ICT risk management and the reporting requirements for security incidents. The 24-hour deadline for the initial report requires effective processes that can be activated immediately in the event of an incident.

Insurance & reinsurance

Insurance companies, reinsurers, and insurance brokers are also directly affected by DORA. They typically work with many external systems and service providers, making third-party risk management a key area of focus.

Capital markets & financial services providers

Investment firms, trading venues, credit rating agencies, and related institutions are subject to the full scope of DORA requirements. For these entities, regular resilience tests and robust crisis management are essential. Systems must remain stable and available even during an attack or disruption.

Crypto and digital financial service providers

Licensed crypto service providers, crowdfunding service providers, and data provision services are also directly subject to DORA. Many of these companies are still in the early stages of implementing DORA, an area where the need for consulting is particularly high.

Third-party ICT service providers

Technology providers, cloud providers, and software providers that serve financial institutions are not directly subject to DORA. However, financial institutions are required to actively monitor their service providers and to include DORA-compliant requirements in their contracts. Any entity that provides services to financial institutions must meet these requirements.

How A1 Digital supports you across the 5 DORA pillars

ICT risk management

DORA makes IT security a management priority. We establish your ICT risk management framework, train your management team, and actively support you with our CISO-as-a-Service.

Reporting ICT incidents

We set up the necessary processes, responsibilities, and escalation procedures to ensure rapid reporting so that you don't lose any time in the event of an emergency. We can also monitor your infrastructure from our Security Operations Center.

Assessing digital resilience

DORA requires regular testing of your systems. We conduct penetration tests and red-team exercises, as well as preparing systemically important institutions for the mandatory TLPT tests and crisis drills.

Third-party risk management

We help you identify and evaluate all external technology providers. For Germany, we offer the BSI Cyber Risk Check in accordance with DIN SPEC 27076; for Austria, we offer the Cyber Risk Rating A+ with an independent audit.

Sharing of threat information

Using our Offensity solution, we automatically scan your web-based systems and monitor whether your company’s login credentials have appeared online. You’ll receive customized security reports that continuously improve your threat awareness.