How to Ensure Compliance With NIS2 (Best 2026 Guide, Checklist)

Cybersecurity compliance has grown into a law for businesses. With the enforcement of the NIS2 Directive, organizations across the EU, for instance, must meet stricter cybersecurity standards or face severe penalties: fines of up to €10 million or 2% of global annual revenue, and even personal liability for executives. For businesses operating in or serving customers within the EU, the question isn’t if NIS2 applies; it’s how fast you can prove compliance.

Understanding how to ensure compliance with NIS2 is critical because NIS2 significantly expands the scope of regulated organizations. It affects more industries, introduces mandatory incident reporting deadlines, and requires leadership accountability for cybersecurity decisions. 

Whether you’re part of an essential sector (energy, healthcare, finance, transport) or an important sector (digital infrastructure, manufacturing, postal services), you are expected to adopt stronger cybersecurity controls, document your processes, and be audit-ready at any time.

This guide walks you through a clear, practical approach to NIS2 compliance. Step by step, you’ll learn how to determine if your organization is in scope, what controls must be implemented, and how to use a NIS2 compliance checklist to prepare for audits, with real examples to guide you.

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RELATED ARTICLE: Compliance vs Security​: A Comprehensive Analysis

What is the NIS2 Directive?

The NIS2 Directive is the European Union’s strengthened cybersecurity law designed to protect critical infrastructure, digital services, and supply chains from rising cyber threats. It replaces the original NIS1 Directive from 2016 and introduces stricter, more enforceable requirements that organizations must follow.

Unlike NIS1, which focused mainly on a small group of critical sectors, NIS2 broadens the scope, imposes tougher penalties, and places direct accountability on executives for cybersecurity decisions.

The directive focuses on three main goals:

• Reduce cyber risk exposure through mandatory security controls
  
• Increase resilience with business continuity and incident response requirements
  
• Improve transparency & reporting with strict incident notification timelines

Why NIS2 matters for organizations in 2025

Cyberattacks in Europe have surged; ransomware alone rose by 37% in 2024 across industrial and public sectors. NIS2 exists because security maturity varies dramatically across industries, and attackers often target the weakest link in the supply chain.

NIS2 matters because:

• It applies to a wider range of organizations, including vendors and suppliers.
  
• It introduces mandatory cybersecurity measures, not “best practices.”
  
• Executives can be held personally liable for non-compliance.

NIS2 compliance deadline

• Directive was enforced October 17, 2024.
  
• EU member states are now finalizing national laws (rolling into 2025).
  
• Organizations must be audit-ready before regulators conduct assessments.

In simple terms: Compliance started. Enforcement is accelerating. Waiting is not an option.

Who Must Comply With NIS2? (Are You in Scope?)

NIS2 dramatically expands the number of organizations that fall under mandatory cybersecurity regulation. Unlike the original NIS Directive (NIS1), which focused mainly on critical infrastructure like energy and healthcare, NIS2 now applies to a far wider range of industries, including third-party vendors and suppliers.

If your organization provides essential digital or physical services in the EU, or plays a key role in the supply chain, there is a high chance that NIS2 applies to you.

Essential vs. Important Entities

NIS2 introduces two regulated categories:

Classification	What it means	Examples
Essential Entities	Critical to society, economy, or national security. Subject to strictest oversight.	Energy, healthcare, finance, transport, water supply, digital infrastructure, public administration, space industry
Important Entities	Still critical, but with slightly less supervisory enforcement.	Manufacturing, digital services, food production, postal/courier services, chemical industry, waste management, research institutions

Both categories must meet the same NIS2 compliance requirements; the only difference is how closely regulators monitor them.

Size Thresholds (Automatic Inclusion Rule)

Organizations are automatically in scope if they meet both criteria:

• Medium or large organization:
  
  • 50+ employees, or
    
  • €10M+ annual revenue/balance sheet
    
• Operate in a NIS2-regulated sector

Even if you are smaller than the threshold, you can still be classified as in scope if your services are critical to the supply chain of an essential entity.

How to ensure compliance with NIS2 example (simple scenario)

If a software company with 80 employees provides authentication services to a hospital (an essential entity), then:

• The hospital is classified as essential
• The software provider becomes important and must comply with NIS2

If you’re unsure whether your company is covered: If your service going offline could disrupt healthcare, finance, energy, or public administration, you are likely in scope.

READ MORE: Cybersecurity Resume Examples: Templates, Tips & Samples for Every Level

What Are the NIS2 Compliance Requirements?

To comply with NIS2, organizations must meet a set of mandatory cybersecurity measures. These are no longer “best practices”; they are legal requirements. The goal is to ensure organizations can prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity incidents efficiently.

NIS2 focuses on four major obligation areas:

• Risk management and security controls
  
• Corporate accountability and governance
  
• Mandatory incident reporting
  
• Business continuity and resilience

These requirements are enforceable, auditable, and tied to penalties for non-compliance.

NIS2 Mandatory Controls List (Core Security Measures)

Under NIS2, organizations must implement the following controls:

1. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and strict access control
   
2. Encryption of sensitive data (at rest and in transit)
   
3. Regular security risk assessments and corrective actions
   
4. Incident response procedures, including tabletop exercises
   
5. Business continuity and secure backups
   
6. Supply chain and vendor security assessments
   
7. Logging, monitoring, and intrusion detection systems (IDS/IPS)
   
8. Vulnerability management and timely patching

These are required, not optional.

Leadership Accountability (Executives are liable)

NIS2 makes cybersecurity a board-level responsibility. Senior management must:

• Approve cybersecurity strategy and policies
  
• Receive cybersecurity training
  
• Be personally accountable for non-compliance: This can lead to temporary management bans in severe cases

Strict Incident Reporting Obligations

If a significant cyber incident occurs, organizations must:

• Notify authorities within 24 hours (early warning)
  
• Submit a detailed report within 72 hours
  
• Provide a final remediation report within one month

Failure to report on time can trigger penalties, even if you handled the incident well.

NIS2 raises the bar: you must prove compliance, not just claim it.

SEE ALSO: Can Vulnerability Scanning Ensure NIS2 Compliance?

How to Ensure Compliance With NIS2 (7-Step Action Framework)

Knowing the requirements isn’t enough, regulators will ask for proof. The following framework shows how to ensure compliance with NIS2 using a practical, step-by-step approach that any organization can apply.

Step 1: Confirm Whether Your Organization Is in Scope

Start by determining if you are classified as an Essential or Important entity. Use these triggers:

• Operate in a regulated sector (healthcare, finance, transport, etc.)
  
• Have 50+ employees or €10M+ turnover
  
• Provide services to any NIS2-regulated entity (as a vendor or supplier)

If any of the above apply, you fall under NIS2.

How to ensure compliance with NIS2 example:

A manufacturing company supplying components to an energy provider automatically becomes an Important Entity, even if it is not critical on its own.

Step 2: Conduct a NIS2 Gap Analysis

Compare your current cybersecurity maturity against NIS2 requirements. Identify weaknesses such as:

• Lack of MFA
  
• No encrypted backups
  
• No documented vendor risk process

A gap analysis helps prioritize risks and shows regulators that compliance work has started.

Step 3: Develop a Cybersecurity Risk-Management Strategy

Risk management is the backbone of NIS2 compliance. Implement policies that cover:

• Access control & MFA
  
• Data encryption (at rest + in transit)
  
• Patch management and vulnerability scanning
  
• Change management

Document everything; regulators need evidence that these controls exist.

Step 4: Establish Incident Response & Reporting Rules

NIS2 enforces strict notification timelines:

Timeframe	What’s required
24 hours	Early warning notification
72 hours	Full incident report
1 month	Final remediation report

Create an incident response plan (IRP) and test it with tabletop exercises.

Step 5: Secure the Supply Chain (Vendor Risk Management)

Third-party weaknesses = your liability.

Under NIS2, you must:

• Vet vendors’ cybersecurity posture
  
• Include cybersecurity clauses in contracts
  
• Ensure suppliers follow NIS2-aligned practices

If a vendor causes a breach, regulators will still come to you.

Step 6: Strengthen Governance & Executive Accountability

Executives must now:

• Approve cybersecurity strategies
  
• Receive cybersecurity training
  
• Be accountable for failures (including penalties)

Cybersecurity is officially a leadership responsibility, not just an IT function.

Step 7: Maintain Compliance Documentation & Audit Readiness

NIS2 requires proof, not trust.

Maintain:

• Policy documentation
  
• Audit trails
  
• Reports of risk assessments and vendor evaluations
  
• Evidence of MFA, backups, and incident testing

Regulators may perform proactive audits, especially for Essential entities.

When these seven steps are executed, an organization becomes both NIS2 compliant and cyber-resilient.

MORE: Conformity Vs Compliance: A Complete Analysis

NIS2 Compliance Checklist (10 Essential Actions)

Use this checklist as your quick reference to verify that your organization meets the core NIS2 compliance requirements. Each item represents a mandatory control under the directive; if any item is missing, your organization is not yet compliant.

NIS2 Compliance Checklist

	Requirement	What auditors will look for
1	Risk assessment process	Documented cybersecurity risk reviews conducted regularly
2	Security policies + governance	Board-approved cybersecurity policy with defined ownership
3	Encryption (at rest and in transit)	Sensitive data must be encrypted and key management documented
4	Access control + MFA	MFA applied to critical systems; clear user provisioning/removal process
5	Incident response framework	IRP document + evidence of tabletop exercises
6	Secure backups and business continuity	Offline backups, restoration testing logs, continuity playbooks
7	Vulnerability and patch management	Inventory of assets + patch timelines with evidence of execution
8	Vendor/third-party risk management (TPRM)	Due diligence checks, risk scoring, and cybersecurity clauses in contracts
9	Cybersecurity awareness training	Proof that executives and employees receive ongoing training
10	Audit and log management	Logging, monitoring, and evidence retention for audit readiness

If you can’t prove these controls exist (with documentation and logs), regulators will assume they don’t.

This checklist can be attached to:

• Internal audit preparation,
  
• Vendor onboarding requirements,
  
• Board reporting on compliance status.

Organizations that use a platform to automate documentation and evidence collection reach compliance faster and avoid audit fatigue.

How Automation & Platforms Simplify NIS2 Compliance

NIS2 requires continuous monitoring, evidence tracking, vendor risk assessments, incident reporting, and documentation. Trying to manage all of this manually, using spreadsheets and scattered tools, creates gaps, delays, and audit risk.

To stay compliant, organizations need centralized visibility and automated evidence collection, not fragmented processes.

Automation platforms streamline compliance by:

1. Centralizing all NIS2 requirements in one place

A security platform maps every NIS2 requirement to corresponding controls, helping you track progress and assign ownership across departments.

Instead of asking:

“Do we have MFA? Where is the proof?”
You get a real-time dashboard showing compliance status.

2. Automating vendor and third-party security evaluations

NIS2 requires organizations to assess the cybersecurity posture of vendors. Platforms automate that by:

• Sending security questionnaires
  
• Scoring vendor risk
  
• Tracking compliance documentation

This transforms vendor management from reactive to proactive.

3. Incident reporting automation

With NIS2’s strict reporting deadlines (24h, 72h, 1 month), automation enables:

• Instant detection of incidents
  
• Automatic generation of incident reports
  
• Escalation workflows to notify the right stakeholders

You avoid regulatory penalties because no report is missed or delayed.

4. Built-in training and accountability tracking

Platforms can deliver cybersecurity training to all employees, including executives, and keep a record of completion as proof for regulators.

NIS2 requires that leadership receives cybersecurity training, and platforms can register, track, and document that automatically.

5. Always audit-ready

Every control, report, document, test, and training record stays archived, ready to show regulators at any time.

• No scrambling.
• No missing proof.
• No manual evidence chasing.

Automation transforms compliance from a drain on resources into a repeatable, scalable system.

Conclusion

NIS2 is not just another cybersecurity recommendation; it is a legally enforceable directive with real penalties. Organizations must prove they are taking cybersecurity seriously through documented policies, technical controls, vendor oversight, and executive accountability.

If you take only three things from this guide, let it be these:

1. Compliance has already started.

The NIS2 compliance deadline has passed, enforcement is active across Europe.

2. Evidence matters more than policy.

Regulators don’t want statements; they want documentation and proof.

3. Automation accelerates compliance.

Companies that rely on manual processes fall behind. Those that automate stay audit-ready.

By following the seven-step framework and using the NIS2 compliance checklist, you’ll not only reduce regulatory risk, you’ll strengthen your entire cybersecurity posture and protect your business, customers, and reputation.

The organizations that win under NIS2 are the ones that start now, not later.

FAQ