DORA: What the New Digital Resilience Law Means for Banks and Insurers (And Their Providers)

Digital Fragility Is Over

The financial and insurance sector operates today in an environment where technological disruptions are no longer a remote possibility, but a permanent risk. Cybersecurity incidents, provider outages, or failures in external services can paralyze critical operations in minutes. To respond to this reality, the European Union has approved the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), in force since January 17, 2025.

DORA introduces a profound shift in approach. It is no longer just about preventing attacks or failures, but about demonstrating operational resilience: the ability to resist, respond, and recover from technological incidents without interrupting essential services. This requirement directly affects banks, insurers, and investment firms, but also, very relevantly, their technology providers.

The Achilles’ Heel: Third-Party Risk Management

One of the pillars of DORA is ICT third-party risk management (Third Party Risk Management). The regulation is based on a clear principle: a financial entity is responsible for the operational failures of its critical providers. If a key external service fails, regulatory responsibility does not disappear, it is transferred.

This obliges entities to:

• Rigorously evaluate their technology providers.
• Ensure they meet high standards of security, availability, and business continuity.
• Have objective evidence that certifies these guarantees to auditors and supervisors.

In this context, working with trust services designed with security and availability by default directly reduces operational risk. A robust infrastructure, with auditable processes and external evidence, simplifies DORA compliance and facilitates periodic provider evaluations.

Forensic Traceability and Audits: The Value of Audit Trail

DORA explicitly reinforces obligations for recording, traceability, and incident investigation. When a relevant failure occurs, the regulator not only wants to know that it has been resolved, but what exactly happened, when, and with what impact.

Here, the difference between a simple internal record and certified evidence is critical. Evidence receipts (audit trail) allow reconstructing a complete process objectively: sending communications, document acceptance, exact moments of signature or delivery, and associated technical data.

This level of traceability facilitates:

• Forensic analyses following incidents.
• Quick and documented responses to regulatory requirements.
• More agile audits, by having immutable proof generated by a trusted third party.

Compared to systems that only store the final document, certifying the complete process provides an additional layer of legal and operational security aligned with the spirit of DORA.

Business Continuity: Secure Alternative Channels

Resilience is not limited to protecting systems, it also implies having alternative channels when primary ones fail. If an internal platform, customer portal, or mobile application goes out of service, the entity must still be able to communicate with customers and counterparties in a legal and verifiable way.

In this scenario, having an external and certified channel is key. Using certified electronic communications allows:

• Notifying contractual changes, incidents, or regulatory notices.
• Maintaining the legal validity of communications even in crisis situations.
• Reducing dependence on complex internal systems in critical moments.

This approach fully aligns with business continuity and disaster recovery plans required by DORA.

Data Integrity and Long-Term Preservation

Another central aspect of the regulation is data protection and integrity. It is not enough to generate documents or evidence; it is necessary to guarantee that they are stored securely, intact, and accessible during required periods.

Prolonged custody of digital evidence serves a dual function. On one hand, it ensures compliance with information retention requirements. On the other, it protects the entity against internal technological changes, system migrations, or provider substitutions. Key evidence remains available, verifiable, and protected, regardless of the evolution of internal infrastructure.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Who exactly does DORA Law apply to?
DORA applies to banks, insurers, investment firms, and other financial entities, as well as ICT providers that provide critical services to these organizations.

Why are technology providers key in DORA?
Because the regulation considers that third-party failures directly affect the financial entity’s resilience. Providers must meet high standards and be auditable.

What does external evidence provide compared to internal logs?
Evidence generated by a trusted third party offers greater objectivity and probative force in audits and regulatory requirements than the entity’s own internal records.

Does DORA replace other regulations like eIDAS or GDPR?
No. DORA complements the existing framework, focusing on digital operational resilience. It coexists with eIDAS, GDPR, and other sectoral regulations.

Conclusion

DORA Law is not just another procedure, but a filter that raises the level of technological requirements in the financial sector. It obliges entities to review not only their internal systems, but also the solidity and transparency of their providers.

Ensuring that signature and notification processes have external evidence, complete traceability, and reliable alternative channels reduces operational risk and facilitates regulatory compliance. In an environment where resilience is mandatory, digital evidence ceases to be a technical detail to become a strategic asset.