What to Look for When Buying a NIS2 Compliance Solution

Introduction

Across Europe, organisations are preparing for one of the most impactful cybersecurity regulations of the decade: the NIS2 Directive. Designed to strengthen Europe’s digital resilience, NIS2 will soon be fully transposed into national laws across all EU Member States. That means that although the regulation is European by nature, its implementation – and therefore enforcement – will vary per country.

This creates both opportunities and challenges for organisations operating across borders. While the directive’s high-level principles are clear, many of the specific national requirements are still being defined. For this reason, choosing the right NIS2 compliance solution is not just about ticking boxes. It’s about adopting a flexible, risk-based system that can evolve with changing interpretations and local implementations of the law.

In this article, we’ll explore what to look for when buying a NIS2 compliance solution – and how platforms like 3rdRisk help organisations navigate this evolving landscape efficiently and confidently.

Understanding the NIS2 Directive: One Regulation, Many Transpositions

The Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) builds on its predecessor, NIS1, and significantly expands the scope of organisations that must comply. It applies to both essential and important entities across sectors such as energy, transport, healthcare, digital infrastructure, and financial services.

As of now, the European Union has set the baseline requirements, but each Member State must transpose the directive into national law. This process, currently underway, means that although the objectives are harmonised, local details can differ – from reporting thresholds to supervisory expectations and enforcement mechanisms.

For multinational organisations, this creates a compliance puzzle: one overarching regulation, but multiple national interpretations. Therefore, any effective NIS2 compliance solution must help organisations manage both the common European baseline and the specific local variations that will emerge.

The Core of NIS2: A Risk-Based Approach

At the heart of NIS2 lies a simple but powerful principle: a risk-based approach to cybersecurity and resilience.

Rather than prescribing specific technologies or rigid checklists, NIS2 expects organisations to assess their unique risks and implement controls accordingly. This means compliance is not achieved by merely deploying tools – it is about demonstrating that your organisation has identified, assessed, mitigated, and monitored its cybersecurity risks in a structured, evidence-based way.

Key obligations include:

• Implementing technical, operational, and organisational measures to manage risks to network and information systems.
• Conducting periodic risk assessments.
• Establishing incident response and crisis management processes.
• Ensuring supply chain and third-party risk management.
• Reporting significant incidents to the relevant national authority.
• Demonstrating board-level accountability for cybersecurity governance.

To meet these expectations, you need a compliance solution that combines predefined content, flexibility, and verification – a platform that operationalises the risk-based approach rather than turning it into a bureaucratic exercise.

What to Look for in a NIS2 Compliance Solution

1. Predefined Content Aligned with Regulatory Expectations

A key challenge of NIS2 is translating abstract requirements into actionable controls. The directive outlines what needs to be achieved, but not exactly how.

A good NIS2 compliance solution should therefore come with:

• Pre-defined frameworks that are aligned with NIS2 and related standards (such as ISO 27001, DORA, and NIST).
• A structured control library that covers all NIS2 security domains, including governance, risk management, incident handling, business continuity, and supply chain security.
• Pre-defined risk catalogues and threat categories that help organisations quickly identify relevant risks without starting from scratch.
• Best-practice questionnaires to assess third-party compliance to NIS2.

This predefined content acts as your baseline for compliance, helping you to start fast and demonstrate alignment with regulatory expectations. But more importantly, it must remain customisable, allowing you to adapt it to your organisation’s specific risk context and business environment.

At 3rdRisk, we believe predefined content is the foundation of efficiency. Our platform provides ready-to-use frameworks, risk domains, and control libraries designed in line with NIS2 principles – allowing you to operationalise compliance in days, not months.

2. Multi-Jurisdictional Flexibility

If your organisation operates in multiple European countries, you will face a fragmented compliance landscape. Each national authority will publish additional guidance or sector-specific requirements.

Your compliance solution should therefore make it easy to:

• Map specific NIS2 obligations to each entity, subsidiary, or business unit.
• Differentiate between countries – for example, applying stricter controls where local regulators require more.
• Visualise compliance gaps per country or entity, so you know where to focus your efforts.

Without such functionality, organisations risk getting lost in spreadsheets or duplicating efforts.

3rdRisk enables this kind of flexibility by allowing users to pinpoint and assign NIS2 requirements to different business entities. Whether you operate in the Netherlands, Germany, or France, you can manage everything from one central environment, while maintaining local accountability.

3. Built-In Control Verification and Testing

NIS2 does not stop at defining what controls you need. Regulators will expect you to prove that these controls are effectively implemented and working.

This is where many organisations struggle: collecting evidence, coordinating with internal stakeholders, and verifying implementation without overwhelming the business.

An effective NIS2 compliance solution should include:

• A control testing module with pre-defined controls and automated workflows for assigning, testing, and reviewing them.
• The ability to document test results and track remediation actions.
• A lightweight user experience that allows control owners to respond easily, without needing to learn complex tools.

3rdRisk’s Internal Control module was built precisely for this purpose. It enables teams to test, document, and evidence the effectiveness of their NIS2 controls in a few clicks. It’s collaborative, intuitive, and designed to reduce administrative burden.

4. Integrated Third-Party Risk Management

Under NIS2, supply chain and third-party risks are not an afterthought, they are explicitly part of the regulatory expectations. The directive emphasises that organisations must manage the risks posed by suppliers and service providers that have access to critical systems or data.

That means organisations must:

• Maintain an inventory of third-party relationships.
• Assess inherent risks (e.g., country, sector, dependency).
• Conduct due diligence to verify that suppliers meet security expectations.
• Implement remediation plans when risks are identified.
• Continuously monitor and reassess suppliers.

Therefore, your NIS2 solution should integrate third-party risk management (TPRM) capabilities rather than treating them as a separate process.

With 3rdRisk, organisations can easily:

• Identify and classify suppliers based on their criticality and risk exposure.
• Automate due diligence questionnaires and evidence collection.
• Monitor suppliers continuously using external data feeds and AI-powered insights.
• Document remediation efforts and track progress over time.

This integrated approach not only meets the NIS2 requirement for supply chain security but also provides a single source of truth for all third-party relationships.

5. Automated and Board-Ready Reporting

NIS2 introduces a new level of board accountability. Senior management can now be personally held liable for non-compliance. As a result, boards will demand clear, data-driven insights into cybersecurity and resilience performance.

An effective compliance solution must therefore:

• Provide automated dashboards and reports showing the organisation’s risk posture, control effectiveness, and outstanding actions.
• Translate technical findings into management-friendly language.
• Enable on-demand reporting to demonstrate compliance during audits or regulatory inspections.

Manual reporting through spreadsheets or slide decks is no longer sustainable. Boards need to see, at a glance, where the organisation stands – and what needs attention.

3rdRisk supports this through automated reporting features that visualise risks, controls, and compliance progress across the organisation. Dashboards can be tailored for executives, risk owners, or compliance managers, ensuring that each stakeholder gets the insights they need.

3rdRisk: Simplifying NIS2 Compliance for European Organisations

At 3rdRisk, we recognise that NIS2 compliance can feel overwhelming – especially for organisations operating in multiple jurisdictions. That’s why our platform is designed to help you operationalise compliance through an integrated, risk-based approach.

Here’s how we support your NIS2 journey:

1. Start with Confidence

Get immediate access to predefined NIS2-aligned frameworks, risks, and controls, so you can begin assessing and implementing without delay.

2. Stay Flexible

Easily map requirements per entity or country, ensuring local compliance while maintaining central oversight.

3. Verify and Improve

Use our Internal Control module to test control effectiveness and demonstrate compliance – efficiently and transparently.

4. Manage Your Third Parties

Gain a complete view of your supply chain, assess inherent and residual risks, and track remediation actions through one platform.

5. Report with Ease

Leverage automated dashboards and board-ready reports to inform management and regulators with confidence.

‍

Do you want to see 3rdRisk in action? Contact us or request a demo.