The financial services sector is facing a new challenge: the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), a European regulation that aims to strengthen the cyber security of financial institutions. Entering into force on January 16, 2023, DORA will become fully applicable from January 17, 2025, imposing rigorous new standards for digital operational resilience.
DORA introduces a series of requirements aimed at ensuring that financial institutions are able to prevent, detect, respond and recover from cyber incidents. Among the main obligations under the regulation are:
More frequent risk assessments: Companies will need to conduct regular analyzes to identify and evaluate potential cyber threats.
Clearer incident reporting processes: it will be necessary to define precise procedures for the timely reporting of incidents to the competent authorities.
More rigorous monitoring of third-party vendors: Companies will also need to extend their security assessments to cloud providers and other external partners.
Regular resilience testing: periodic tests will be mandatory to verify the effectiveness of the safety measures adopted.
Responsibilities of top management: Boards of directors and management teams will be required to ensure compliance with the new regulations.
To meet these requirements, financial institutions will need to invest in highly secure and resilient IT infrastructures. Data centers, in particular, will play a crucial role in ensuring business continuity and data protection.
What do data centers offer for DORA compliance?
Robust and safe infrastructure: Modern data centers are designed to offer very high levels of security, with multi-layered protection systems and rigorous access controls.
High performance network connectivity: Robust and reliable network connectivity is essential to ensure operational continuity and communication between different systems.
Colocation services: Data centers offer the possibility of hosting your IT infrastructures in a secure and expertly managed environment.
Cloud computing services: Cloud computing can help businesses scale their IT resources flexibly and respond quickly to workload changes.
Managed security services: Data center service providers can offer a wide range of managed security services, such as threat protection, incident management, and regulatory compliance.
Equinix, as a global leader in digital infrastructure, is well positioned to support companies on their journey to DORA compliance. Thanks to its extensive experience in the cybersecurity sector and its global network of data centers, Equinix can offer its customers the solutions necessary to meet the challenges posed by the new regulation.
“Equinix plays a critical role in supporting its financial customers in meeting DORA requirements“, he says Adrian Mountstephens, Business Development Senior Manager at Equinix. “Our years of experience in resilience allow us to guide companies towards a more secure and compliant future.”
