How To Streamline Compliance With NIS2 & DORA

Uploaded on 2025-01-09 in TECHNOLOGY--Resilience, FREE TO VIEW

In today’s regulatory landscape, European organisations face heightened pressures to comply with stringent cybersecurity requirements. The NIS2 Directive and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) are two key regulations that impose robust security measures to ensure operational resilience and risk management.

Navigating these complex regulations can be daunting for many businesses, especially given the continuous evolution of cyber threats.

Enter Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services, particularly when integrated with Governance Risk & Compliance (GRC), which becomes essential in streamlining compliance efforts while strengthening security. MDR is no longer just an enhancement to existing security; it is a vital, proactive approach that enables organisations to meet the demands of both NIS2 and DORA effectively.

The NIS2 Directive, which applies to essential service operators such as healthcare, energy, and transport, builds upon its predecessor to introduce more comprehensive cybersecurity requirements. It obligates organisations to implement risk management measures and promptly report incidents that significantly impact their operations. Meanwhile, DORA (learn more), which targets the financial sector, aims to ensure financial entities have robust resilience against ICT-related disruptions. It includes stringent incident reporting, risk management, and governance requirements.

Managed Detection and Response services offer a crucial solution for organisations seeking to comply with these regulations. Unlike traditional security measures that focus solely on prevention, MDR combines real-time monitoring, expert human intervention and advanced technology to detect and respond to threats as they arise.

This continuous surveillance is particularly valuable for meeting the reporting and risk management requirements of NIS2 and DORA. MDR shifts the focus from reactive to proactive cybersecurity, ensuring organisations are equipped to anticipate threats before they can cause significant damage.

For organisations covered by NIS2, MDR is essential in meeting the directive’s requirements for incident reporting. NIS2 mandates that incidents with significant operational impacts must be reported within specific timeframes. By using MDR services, organisations benefit from real-time monitoring and rapid responses, reducing the likelihood of a major incident occurring.

If an incident does need to be reported, detailed logs and forensic data provided by MDR ensure businesses can supply regulators with the necessary information, streamlining the reporting process. MDR simplifies the complex steps involved in compliance, providing the required accuracy and timeliness in reporting that regulators demand.

Similarly, under DORA, financial entities must be able to withstand and recover from ICT-related incidents. MDR services help prevent incidents from escalating by detecting them early and mitigating the damage. With continuous monitoring and immediate response, businesses are able to stay compliant with DORA’s resilience and reporting requirements, while strengthening their overall security posture. In this way, MDR not only enhances security but also ensures that businesses can easily fulfil DORA’s stringent operational resilience mandates.

Comprehensive Risk Management

Another core aspect of both NIS2 and DORA is the need for comprehensive risk management. Obrela’s MDR, in conjunction with its Managed Risk Capability (MRC), provides an integrated approach to identifying and mitigating risks. NIS2 and DORA require organisations to assess their risks regularly and maintain robust measures to address them. MRC delivers a proactive risk management framework, ensuring continuous evaluation of vulnerabilities and threats, aligning perfectly with the regulatory mandates of both frameworks. This enables organisations to foresee and address risks before they develop into incidents that could disrupt operations or violate compliance.

MRC adds an extra layer of protection by offering a comprehensive risk management strategy that extends beyond mere detection. While MDR focuses on responding to immediate threats, MRC enables organisations to understand their risk landscape and take proactive steps to mitigate those risks before they become incidents.

This is invaluable for compliance with NIS2’s requirement for risk management measures and DORA’s emphasis on operational resilience. MRC also alleviates the burden of compliance by offering a structured, long-term approach to risk mitigation, which satisfies regulatory requirements and reduces operational vulnerabilities.

Governance is another critical area covered by NIS2 and DORA. Both regulations require organisations to demonstrate that they have established appropriate governance frameworks to oversee their cybersecurity operations. Organisations should maintain a clear view of their cybersecurity posture and ensure they remain compliant with the governance aspects of both regulations.

Transparency in cybersecurity efforts also helps organisations during audits, minimising administrative burdens while ensuring they meet regulatory expectations.

As businesses face increasing scrutiny under NIS2 and DORA, merely having security measures in place is no longer enough. Organisations must demonstrate that they can detect, respond to, and recover from threats in real time. Obrela’s combination of MDR and MRC offers a comprehensive solution for organisations seeking to streamline their compliance efforts while enhancing their overall security capabilities.

By automating threat detection, simplifying the reporting process and maintaining robust risk management, MDR and MRC are instrumental in reducing the complexities associated with regulatory compliance.

MDR and MRC services together not only address the immediate needs for incident detection, reporting and response, but also play a crucial role in supporting the long-term goals of operational resilience and comprehensive risk management.

By integrating real-time threat detection through MDR with proactive risk mitigation strategies offered by MRC, organisations can confidently meet the stringent requirements of both NIS2 and DORA.

This combined approach ensures businesses and organisations remain compliant with current regulations while being equipped to adapt and protect themselves against an ever evolving and increasingly sophisticated threat landscape.

Notis Iliopoulos is VP of MRC at Obrela

Image: Ideogram

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