Suade's CEO and founder shares insights on DORA implementation during panel discussion at EUROFI

Ethan Donnelly -

Balancing compliance and innovation: operational resilience challenges for SMEs

Diana Paredes , Founder, CEO of Suade and a contributor to Eurofi Magazine, recently shared her insights during a panel on cybersecurity and digital operational resilience: EU and global level challenges (DORA implementation, EU and global cyber frameworks). This regulation marks a significant shift in how financial institutions manage ICT risks, aiming to fortify the sector against cyber threats and technology failures.

DORA mandates firm-wide standards for ICT risk management, compelling financial entities to proactively address vulnerabilities and ensure operational continuity. This impacts various aspects of their operations, including data management, incident response, and third-party vendor relationships.

Key takeaways:

  • Enhanced Security: DORA establishes a robust framework to mitigate cyber threats and technology disruptions, like the recent CrowdStrike outage that affected millions of systems. By requiring financial entities to take direct responsibility for their ICT risk, DORA fosters a more secure and trustworthy market environment.
  • Balancing Act: While DORA presents challenges for SMEs due to increased compliance costs, its proportionality principle ensures that security measures are tailored to each entity's size and complexity. This strives to balance the demands of enhanced security with the need for innovation and agility.
  • Future-Proofing the Financial Sector: Ultimately, DORA seeks to bolster the resilience of the EU's financial sector against future disruptions. This requires a careful and continuous balancing act between robust security measures and fostering innovation.

Diana Paredes ' insights provide valuable context for understanding DORA's implications and the evolving landscape of digital operational resilience in the financial industry.

Panel:

  • Chair: G. Cross(Central Bank of Ireland) 
  • Public authority speakers: EBA (F-L. Michaud), Bank of England (D. Bailey), ESRB (F. Mazzaferro)
  • Industry speakers: Mastercard (T. Narayan), Google (T. Meyer),Suade (D. Paredes)

Read the full report from Views The EUROFI Magazine here