The Role of Trust Services in Ensuring DORA Compliance

From this article, you will learn:

• What DORA is and what ICT risk management requirements it introduces for the financial sector.
• How trust services support DORA compliance and the security of digital processes.
• How qualified trust services help organizations verify identity, protect data integrity and build an audit trail.
• Why it is worth deploying qualified trust services in an organization subject to DORA requirements.
• Which Certum solutions help organizations covered by DORA build secure, resilient digital processes.

Trust Services and DORA – The Foundation of Secure Digital Transformation in the Financial Sector

As the financial sector goes digital, data security, business continuity and resilience to ICT incidents are becoming central to the way organizations operate. The DORA Regulation (Digital Operational Resilience Act) addresses these challenges by setting out uniform technology risk management requirements for financial institutions operating in the European Union. Qualified trust services compliant with the eIDAS Regulation play an increasingly important role in meeting these requirements.

DORA focuses on making organizations operationally resilient, while trust services provide mechanisms for secure authentication, verifying data integrity and building trustworthy digital processes. The two areas therefore complement each other, helping organizations build a secure digital environment.

What is DORA?

The DORA Regulation introduces uniform ICT risk management requirements for the financial sector. Its purpose is to make organizations more resilient to cyberattacks, system failures and operational disruption.

In practice, organizations covered by DORA must, among other things:

• identify and manage ICT risk,
• secure their data and IT systems,
• monitor and report incidents,
• ensure the continuity of critical processes,
• manage the risk associated with ICT service providers,
• carry out regular operational resilience testing.

How do trust services support DORA compliance?

Trust services can be one of the building blocks for meeting requirements relating to information security, process control and risk management.

Verifying user identity

Qualified certificates make it possible to unambiguously identify the people who make decisions and perform operations in an organization’s systems. This helps reduce the risk of unauthorized activity and improve accountability.

Protecting data integrity and identifying the origin of documents

Qualified electronic signatures and electronic seals make it possible to demonstrate that a document has not been altered after it was approved or generated. This is important in processes that require a high level of control and security.

Building an audit trail

Time stamps, electronic signatures and electronic seals make it possible to document the actions carried out in an organization’s systems. This makes audits easier to conduct and regulatory compliance easier to demonstrate.

Supporting cooperation with ICT service providers

Qualified trust services make cooperation with ICT service providers both safer and more transparent. They make it possible to unambiguously identify the parties exchanging documents and data, confirm the integrity of that data and create a reliable audit trail. This is particularly important in the context of DORA requirements for managing third-party risk.

Confirming the authenticity and validity of electronic signatures and seals

A qualified validation service makes it possible to reliably confirm the validity of an electronic signature or seal, both when it is affixed and at a later date. A qualified preservation service for electronic signatures and seals, in turn, keeps their evidentiary value intact for many years, which is particularly important once the certificates used have expired or the underlying technology has changed.

Secure document workflow

Trust services support digital business processes, making it possible to eliminate paper documentation while preserving security, data integrity and legal effect.

Greater control over data

The organization retains full control over documents and data, which remain within its infrastructure. This is especially important for entities subject to strict regulatory requirements.

Why is it worth deploying qualified trust services?

Combining DORA requirements with the use of trust services allows organizations to:

• make their digital processes more secure,
• reduce the risk of documents and data being tampered with,
• improve the traceability and accountability of actions taken,
• make audits and inspections easier to conduct,
• support operational resilience,
• speed up the digitalization of processes while remaining compliant with regulatory requirements.

Certum solutions for organizations covered by DORA

Certum offers qualified trust services that support secure digital processes:

• qualified electronic signature,
• qualified electronic seal,
• qualified time stamp,
• qualified e-Delivery (electronic registered delivery),
• qualified validation and qualified preservation,
• certificates for authenticating users, devices and systems.

Using these services helps organizations build processes that meet security requirements and achieve their operational resilience goals.

Summary

DORA and trust services serve the same goal: making organizations operating in a digital environment more secure and resilient. DORA sets out requirements for ICT risk management and business continuity, while trust services provide practical tools for verifying identity, protecting data integrity and creating reliable electronic evidence. Together, they help organizations build digital processes that are both secure and compliant with regulatory requirements.