The Role of Incident Reporting Risk Management in DORA Compliance

The financial industry is highly regulated due to its key role in maintaining economic stability, protecting consumers, and preventing systemic risks. While compliance has been non-negotiable already, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) has raised the bar, especially with its strict requirements for incident reporting risk management. 

Meeting these new standards can be difficult at first, but when approached strategically, incident reporting becomes a powerful tool for managing risks and staying ahead of disruptions. In this blog, we’ll review how incident reporting risk management supports DORA compliance and outline a framework for achieving both accuracy and reliability.

The importance of incident reporting under DORA

When done as directed under DORA, Incident reporting helps protect your business or organization by identifying weak points and keeping disruptions from spiraling into bigger issues. Once you have a system in place, you can better manage risk and handle the unexpected. To learn more, check out our guide on understanding DORA for your business. 

What is incident reporting?

When things go wrong (like a cyberattack or a system outage) you need a clear way to document the situation. That’s what incident reporting is all about. It’s the process of recording any events that disrupt your operations, create security risks, or fall short of compliance standards.

Think of it as a playbook for tackling challenges. Every report gives you valuable insights to uncover problems, fix vulnerabilities, and improve your defenses. Without a solid incident reporting framework, you risk overlooking key details that could prevent the same issues from happening again. Over time, you’ll build a stronger foundation for your operations.

Why is incident reporting important?

Incident reporting goes beyond filling out forms; it’s how you protect your business from ever-evolving threats. By tracking disruptions that do occur, you can spot patterns, address weak points, and stay prepared for whatever comes next.

If your business falls under DORA, reporting is a core part of staying compliant. When you report incidents promptly and accurately, you protect your customers, show accountability, and keep their trust intact. Regulators also rely on this data to monitor industry risks and prevent threats from spreading across the financial sector.

Why does DORA necessitate an incident reporting procedure?

Cyberattacks are getting smarter, more frequent, and harder to predict. That’s why DORA was created to help financial institutions stay resilient under pressure. It lays out clear rules to make your defenses stronger and keep your operations running, even during a crisis.

Incident reporting is a big part of this goal. It gives regulators a way to track the impact of disruptions and spot trends that could threaten the industry. By following DORA’s guidelines, you don’t just respond to risks; you get ahead of them. This approach keeps small issues from snowballing into full-blown crises that affect you, your customers, and the entire sector.

When should incident reports be completed?

When it comes to incident reporting, speed is everything. DORA sets strict deadlines, and missing them can cost you. The faster you act, the better your chances of staying in control and showing regulators that you’re transparent and accountable.

The problem? Reporting can be a time drain, especially if you’re stuck using outdated tools or manual processes. That’s where Graphite Connect makes a difference. It’s built to save you time and eliminate headaches by automating your entire incident reporting workflow.

With Graphite Connect, you can:get:

• Request answers to new questions for suppliers in bulk – making response time and data collection quick and well-organized
• View supplier responses and pull data easily in aggregate or by supplier to generate reports for risk, legal and compliance teams
• Flag risky suppliers and create new remediation plans to monitor progress and ensure compliance for suppliers who were identified as risky in an incident response report.

Instead of wasting hours pulling reports together, your team can focus on fixing issues and keeping things on track. It’s a faster, smarter way to handle DORA compliance without stretching your resources too thin.

Follow this incident reporting guide to perfect your process

Review DORA’s incident reporting guidelines

DORA’s incident reporting guidelines are detailed for a good reason. They spell out exactly what counts as a reportable event, the details you need to include, and the deadlines you can’t miss. It’s all about making sure regulators get the right information to keep risks under control.

If you want to avoid compliance issues, start by understanding what’s required for incident reporting risk management. Break down the criteria for reportable incidents and include it in your team’s training materials. Make sure it’s easy for everyone to access—because the last thing you want during a disruption is confusion about what to report and which suppliers need to be in close communication due to known, residual risks.

You don’t want to stop there, though. DORA’s rules can change, and staying current is key to keeping your reports accurate. Review updates regularly and adjust your approach as needed. It’s a simple step that can save you from big problems later.

Develop a clear procedure for incident reporting

If your reporting process feels disorganized, it’s going to lead to mistakes and missed deadlines, and that’s the last thing you need during a high-stakes situation. The good news is that you can avoid all that hassle by creating a clear plan that everyone on your team can follow.

Start by defining the basics: how to identify incidents, who’s responsible for documenting them, and how reports should be escalated. Then create a checklist that covers everything regulators expect, like the nature of the incident, its impact, and the actions you’ve taken to fix it. With a structured approach, you’ll save time, reduce stress, and keep your reports accurate and ready when you need them.

Follow the five rules of incident reporting

When it comes to incident reporting risk management, following a few key rules can help you stay accurate as well as on track. Here’s what to keep in mind:

• Timeliness: Don’t wait to submit your report. Acting fast helps you meet DORA’s deadlines and keeps issues from snowballing.
• Accuracy: Double-check your facts. Even a small mistake can lead to pushback from regulators as well as fines or extra audits you don’t want to deal with.
• Completeness: Cover all the bases. Include everything regulators need, from the root cause of the incident to its impact and how you’re fixing it.
• Confidentiality: Keep sensitive data secure. Encrypt your reports and limit access to the right people. It shows you value trust and can help you avoid legal trouble.
• Objectivity: Stick to the facts. Avoid guesses or assumptions, as they can misrepresent what happened and create unnecessary confusion.

By sticking to these rules, you’ll create reports that are clear, compliant, and ready to stand up to scrutiny.

Have third-party vendors include you in their reporting process

Third-party vendors play a big role in your operations, so their compliance matters as much as yours. If a vendor has an incident, it can spill over and impact your business, sometimes in ways you don’t see coming. That’s why their reporting process needs to sync with yours.

The best approach is to work with your vendors to make sure they notify you immediately when something goes wrong on their end. Tools like Graphite Connect can help you connect the dots by pulling vendor data into your reporting system. This way, you’re not left in the dark, and you can act quickly when you need to.

Invest in security with incident reporting software

Manual reporting can be extremely difficult, especially when you’re dealing with tight deadlines or high-pressure situations. It slows you down, increases the chances of mistakes, and leaves you scrambling to keep everything on track.

Modern incident reporting software can prevent these problems. With automated workflows and real-time updates, it cuts through the chaos and keeps things running smoothly. Imagine having: 

• Customizable templates to standardize reports
• Automated notifications to keep your team in the loop
• Analytics dashboards to track everything in one place 

These tools don’t just save time, they also help you stay organized and tackle compliance requirements without undue stress. By making the switch, you’ll avoid common pitfalls and focus on what really matters: resolving incidents quickly and keeping your business secure.

Graphite is the third-party risk management software to support DORA compliance

DORA compliance doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Graphite Connect transforms how you approach incident reporting and risk management. By automating repetitive tasks, giving you a quick way to engage and collect data from risky suppliers, and providing instant access to DORA-relevant, industry-standard risk questions. Graphite empowers your team to respond faster and with greater accuracy.

Ready to simplify your compliance process? Learn more about Graphite Connect by scheduling a demo today.