The 5 Pillars of DORA Explained

Supervisors, boards, and vendors all talk about DORA’s five pillars. Use this map to structure programmes — not as a substitute for the Regulation text and RTS/ITS.

Related: DORA hub · What is DORA? · CSA.

Count that matters: Programme narratives should cover five pillars — ICT risk management; ICT-related incident reporting; digital operational resilience testing; managing ICT third-party risk; and information sharing on cyber threats.

1. ICT Risk Management

Governance, identification, protection, detection, response/recovery, backup, learning, and communication themes across Articles 5–16. Detail: ICT risk framework and Article 10 detection/logging.

2. ICT-Related Incident Management & Reporting

Classify ICT-related incidents and report major ones on the Regulation’s clocks (initial / intermediate / final). Detail: incident reporting deadlines.

3. Digital Operational Resilience Testing

Risk-based testing programmes, with Threat-Led Penetration Testing (TLPT) for significant entities, commonly aligned to TIBER-EU practice. Detail: TLPT guide.

4. ICT Third-Party Risk

Strategy, register of information, contractual key terms (including Article 30 themes), concentration risk, and Critical ICT Third-Party Provider (CTPP) oversight. Detail: Article 30 / third-party risk and register template.

5. Information Sharing

Voluntary arrangements to share cyber threat intelligence and information among financial entities within trusted communities — supporting collective resilience without replacing mandatory reporting to authorities.

How CyberSilo Helps

Pillar-by-pillar evidence maps in CSA for DORA
Detection and major-incident timelines with ThreatHawk SIEM
Advisory scoping — contact CyberSilo

Evidence All Five Pillars

Use CSA to track pillar status and ThreatHawk for detection and major-incident timelines.

Talk to CyberSilo DORA Hub

Frequently Asked Questions

How many DORA pillars are there?

Five: ICT risk management; incident reporting; digital operational resilience testing; ICT third-party risk; and information sharing.

Is information sharing mandatory?

Information-sharing arrangements are framed as voluntary under DORA’s information-sharing chapter — unlike major-incident reporting to competent authorities, which is mandatory when thresholds are met.

Where do RTS/ITS fit?

Regulatory and implementing technical standards detail how pillars operate in practice — see our RTS/ITS list.

Hub · Checklist · RTS/ITS · CSA