Why Identity Security Is Essential for Achieving DORA Compliance

Most security incidents start with a single point of failure: a compromised identity. With 44.7% of breaches involving stolen credentials, securing the identity layer is now essential for meeting the requirements of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), in force since 17 January 2025. For organizations using Specops Software, this begins with strengthening Active Directory and the user access lifecycle, which sit at the core of your Information and Communications Technology (ICT) environment.

Strengthening this foundation is where Specops Software delivers immediate value. Specops’ solutions are designed to meet DORA’s core requirements by turning identity management into a continuous, data-driven operational resilience program.

Meeting DORA’s core pillars with identity security

1. ICT risk management: Mitigating the #1 attack vector

DORA requires a strong framework for identifying, assessing, and mitigating ICT risks. Because weak credentials are a leading cause of breaches, managing password and access risk is key to achieving proper DORA compliance.

• Specops Password Policy  blocks over 4 billion known compromised passwords, prevents end users creating weak passwords, and continuously scans Active Directory for passwords currently in breach lists.
• DORA requirement met: risk mitigation. This dramatically reduces the risk surface tied to credentials, ensuring a strong preventive control layer against unauthorized access as required by DORA’s risk management principles. The built-in compliance templates (including standards like NIST and PCI) help map your password framework directly to regulatory expectations.

2. ICT third-party risk management: Hardening the supply chain

DORA is hyper-focused on the risks introduced by third-party ICT service providers. However, internal third parties, such as helpdesk staff or administrators with privileged access, also represent a significant risk.

• Specops Secure Service Desk enforces multi-factor identity verification when service desk agents handle password resets or account unlocks. This eliminates the risk of social engineering (vishing) attacks that bypass technical security.
• DORA requirement met: access control and auditing. By securing the administrative process, Specops  helps ensure that core Active Directory controls are not easily circumvented, providing a layer of verifiable resilience that must be maintained across all critical functions.

Help your service desk verify user identities, enforce user authentication, securely unlock accounts, and reset passwords

3. Digital operational resilience testing: Validating access controls

DORA mandates regular testing, including advanced Threat-Led Penetration Testing (TLPT), to validate your systems can withstand attacks. Attackers and offensive security teams always target access points like Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Virtual Private Network (VPN).

• Specops Secure Access enforces Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for Windows logon, VPN, and RDP sessions.
• DORA requirement met: resilience testing. When your systems are subjected to TLPT, MFA for critical access points is a non-negotiable control. Specops provides the mechanism to validate that unauthorized access attempts, even those using legitimate or leaked credentials, will fail, thereby proving that your defense controls are resilient and effective against real-world attack scenarios.

Secure your Active Directory access with MFA for Windows logon, VPN & RDP.

4. Incident management and information sharing: Intelligence-driven defense

DORA requires prompt classification and reporting of major ICT-related incidents. Early detection relies on actionable threat intelligence.

• Credential threat intelligence: Specops solutions continuously monitor live brute force attacks and incorporate data from human-led threat intelligence teams. This intelligence on exposed passwords and user accounts is immediately weaponized.
• DORA requirement met: detection and prevention. By blocking the use of compromised credentials in real-time Specops acts as an automated, intelligence-driven defense system that prevents a vulnerability from escalating into a reportable major incident, fulfilling the spirit of DORA’s requirement to anticipate and prevent threats.

Your journey from data to confidence for DORA

DORA demands a shift from passive security to one that is proactive, measurable, and continuous. Specops delivers a unified workflow for identity risk that drives your journey from data to confidence.

Foundational discovery and visibility

The first step toward DORA compliance is to understand the precise risk of your user population. Specops helps you establish this crucial data foundation:

• Data insight: Tools like Specops Password Auditor scan your Active Directory in minutes, flagging user accounts with breached passwords, weak policies, or security vulnerabilities like orphaned accounts.
• DORA connection: This foundational insight provides the essential security risk data needed to inform your mandatory ICT Risk Management framework.

Prioritization

You cannot fix every issue, but DORA requires you to fix what matters most. Specops simplifies this process:

• Compliance alignment: By using ready-made compliance templates and reporting tools, Specops allows security teams to instantly align identity risks with specific regulatory requirements, such as the need for strong authentication or complexity.
• Actionable context: This unified context ensures you prioritize remediation on the highest-risk credential issues that would directly lead to a DORA compliance failure or a major incident.

Verified assurance: Full platform and control validation

The ultimate DORA outcome is being able to confidently declare your resilience under audit and demonstrate full DORA compliance. Specops provides the verifiable assurance to back up this claim:

• Validation: Through the integrated use of Specops Secure Access and Specops Secure Service Desk, you implement hardened access controls on systems attackers frequently aim to exploit (RDP, VPN, helpdesk).
• Confidence: This provides a closed-loop validation process, ensuring that the identity component of your ICT framework can withstand testing. It gives your organization the evidence needed to demonstrate DORA compliance and maintain continuous operational resilience.

To learn more about how Specops can strengthen your DORA compliance and protect your organisation’s data, or to speak directly with an expert, please contact us here. For more insights and access to our research, please visit the Specops’ blog.