Ep. 69 - Trust, Verify, Repeat: Surviving the DORA Era

DORA may be a financial services regulation, but don’t let the name fool you, it’s rapidly becoming everyone’s problem. 

In this episode of The STEMINISTS Podcast, Phoebe Goh sits down with Katy Rankin, Cybersecurity Counsel at NetApp, to unpack the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and why technology vendors are suddenly finding themselves at the center of some very detailed and very urgent customer conversations.  

From supply chain risk and subcontractor transparency to regulatory scrutiny and personal liability, Katy explains why the days of simply pointing to a compliance certificate and calling it a day are long gone. As financial institutions race to meet DORA requirements, they're asking tougher questions of their vendors and expecting far more specific answers. The catch? Those answers aren't always easy to find.  

Phoebe and Katy explore what DORA is really trying to achieve, why regulators are worried about a single cyber incident taking down multiple financial institutions at once, and how organizations can move beyond box-ticking exercises toward meaningful operational resilience. They also discuss the growing role of cybersecurity counsel, the challenges of managing third-party risk at scale, and why asking better questions is often the key to getting better answers.  

In this episode: 

• Why DORA is much more than "just another compliance requirement" 
• The rising importance of cybersecurity counsel in modern organizations 
• How third-party and supply chain risk have become board-level concerns 
• What financial institutions should be asking their technology providers 
• The balance between transparency, security, and practical risk management 
• Why operational resilience is ultimately about keeping critical services running when things go wrong  

And because no STEMINISTS episode is complete without an unexpected twist, Katy shares a fascinating archaeological discovery. History, it turns out, may have had its own STEMINISTS.  

As always, make sure to like, follow and share with your inner circle.  

 

Learn More:

https://www.netapp.com/industries/financial-services/dora/

 

Connect with us! 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katyrankin/  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mekkacodes/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/phoebegoh/