1. As part of the ICT risk management framework referred to in Article 6(1) and based on the identification requirements set out in Article 8, financial entities shall put in place a comprehensive ICT business continuity policy, which may be adopted as a dedicated specific policy, forming an integral part of the overall business continuity policy of the financial entity.
2. Financial entities shall implement the ICT business continuity policy through dedicated, appropriate and documented arrangements, plans, procedures and mechanisms aiming to:
(a) ensure the continuity of the financial entity’s critical or important functions;
(b) quickly, appropriately and effectively respond to, and resolve, all ICT-related incidents in a way that limits damage and prioritises the resumption of activities and recovery actions;
(c) activate, without delay, dedicated plans that enable containment measures, processes and technologies suited to each type of ICT-related incident and prevent further damage, as well as tailored response and recovery procedures established in accordance with Article 12;
(d) estimate preliminary impacts, damages and losses;
(e) set out communication and crisis management actions that ensure that updated information is transmitted to all relevant internal staff and external stakeholders in accordance with Article 14, and report to the competent authorities in accordance with Article 19.
3. As part of the ICT risk management framework referred to in Article 6(1), financial entities shall implement associated ICT response and recovery plans which, in the case of financial entities other than microenterprises, shall be subject to independent internal audit reviews.
4. Financial entities shall put in place, maintain and periodically test appropriate ICT business continuity plans, notably with regard to critical or important functions outsourced or contracted through arrangements with ICT third-party service providers.
5. As part of the overall business continuity policy, financial entities shall conduct a business impact analysis (BIA) of their exposures to severe business disruptions. Under the BIA, financial entities shall assess the potential impact of severe business disruptions by means of quantitative and qualitative criteria, using internal and external data and scenario analysis, as appropriate. The BIA shall consider the criticality of identified and mapped business functions, support processes, third-party dependencies and information assets, and their interdependencies. Financial entities shall ensure that ICT assets and ICT services are designed and used in full alignment with the BIA, in particular with regard to adequately ensuring the redundancy of all critical components.
6. As part of their comprehensive ICT risk management, financial entities shall:
(a) test the ICT business continuity plans and the ICT response and recovery plans in relation to ICT systems supporting all functions at least yearly, as well as in the event of any substantive changes to ICT systems supporting critical or important functions;
(b) test the crisis communication plans established in accordance with Article 14. For the purposes of the first subparagraph, point (a), financial entities, other than microenterprises, shall include in the testing plans scenarios of cyber-attacks and switchovers between the primary ICT infrastructure and the redundant capacity, backups and redundant facilities necessary to meet the obligations set out in Article 12. Financial entities shall regularly review their ICT business continuity policy and ICT response and recovery plans, taking into account the results of tests carried out in accordance with the first subparagraph and recommendations stemming from audit checks or supervisory reviews. L 333/34 EN Official Journal of the European Union 27.12.2022
7. Financial entities, other than microenterprises, shall have a crisis management function, which, in the event of activation of their ICT business continuity plans or ICT response and recovery plans, shall, inter alia, set out clear procedures to manage internal and external crisis communications in accordance with Article 14.
8. Financial entities shall keep readily accessible records of activities before and during disruption events when their ICT business continuity plans and ICT response and recovery plans are activated.
9. Central securities depositories shall provide the competent authorities with copies of the results of the ICT business continuity tests, or of similar exercises.
10. Financial entities, other than microenterprises, shall report to the competent authorities, upon their request, an estimation of aggregated annual costs and losses caused by major ICT-related incidents.
11. In accordance with Article 16 of Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010, (EU) No 1094/2010 and (EU) No 1095/2010, the ESAs, through the Joint Committee, shall by 17 July 2024 develop common guidelines on the estimation of aggregated annual costs and losses referred to in paragraph 10.
Sometimes an unexpected event, such as a fire, flood, or equipment failure, can cause downtime. In order to be able to continue operations as quickly and smoothly as possible, continuity planning is carried out, i.e. planning the operations in advance for these exceptional situations.
Each continuity plan shall contain at least the following information:
Continuity requirements for ICT services are derived from continuity plans that are created for core processes (e.g. related to the provision of organization's products and services) and the recovery time goals included in them.
Organization must identify what recovery times and recovery points different ICT services must be able to achieve, taking into account the defined recovery goals for related processes, and ensure the ability to achieve them.
The planning must take into account in particular:
The organisation has identified the tasks that are critical for the continuity of its operations. Alternative courses of action for specific exceptional situations and staff availability and contingency arrangements have been planned and prepared for the continuation of critical tasks.
To implement the continuation plans, the plan owners, their alternates and other persons required to implement the plan have been identified. In addition, their ability to carry out their tasks under normal circumstances has been ensured.
The organization must test and update its response to the security breach at scheduled intervals or after significant changes. For critical parts of the organization, operational plans should be tested at least annually. Test results should be documented and communicated to improve the plan.
The organization has to include disaster recovery in their continuity planning. Relevant disasters for the planning are natural disasters (e.g floods, earthquake, hurricanes) and human caused disasters (e.g terror attack, chemical attack/incident, insider attack).
In disaster planning there is greater emphasis on the returning operations to normal levels safely than in continuity planning. After this focus moves to resuming normal operations.
The continuity plans must be updated at least annually or after significant changes.
The organisation should regularly, at least annually, test and review its information security continuity plans to ensure that they are valid and effective in adverse situations.
Testing of continuity plans shall involve, as appropriate, stakeholders critical to each plan. The organisation should identify and document the necessary contacts with suppliers and partners
In addition, the adequacy of continuity plans and associated management mechanisms should be reassessed in the event of significant changes in operations.
The organisation regularly develops its continuity plans by analyzing the testing of the plans, training and their actual use in real situations.
The organization shall have procedures in place to communicate effectively with stakeholders and other participants during continuity plans and survival procedures.
Communication plans related to continuity plans shall include:
The organization must maintain a top-level strategy for continuity planning. The strategy should include at least:
In order to develop a strategy, it may be necessary to make use of general good practices, such as ISO 22300.
In Cyberday, all frameworks’ requirements are mapped into universal tasks, so you achieve multi-framework compliance effortlessly.
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