Regulation guide

Saudi NCA Cloud Cybersecurity Controls

Operationalize the Saudi NCA Cloud Cybersecurity Controls requirements—from regulatory obligations and evidence collection to vendor assessments, continuous monitoring, governance, and remediation workflows.

Overview

NCA Cloud Cybersecurity Controls focus on cloud service providers and cloud service tenants in scope.

Cloud creates shared responsibility. The organization needs to know what the cloud provider controls, what the tenant controls, where data is hosted, who has access, how logging and incident response work, and which subcontractors support the service.

Rather than prescribing identical controls for every relationship, the regulation emphasizes a risk-based approach, requiring organizations to apply governance, oversight, controls, monitoring, and due diligence according to the criticality and risk of each relationship.

This implementation guide explains what the regulation requires, how those requirements translate into operational controls and evidence, and how Halbarad helps organizations operationalize compliance through assessments, continuous monitoring, governance workflows, and supply chain risk intelligence.

Official Sources

Intent of the Guide

Cloud creates shared responsibility. The organization needs to know what the cloud provider controls, what the tenant controls, where data is hosted, who has access, how logging and incident response work, and which subcontractors support the service.

Operationalization Requirements

  • Confirm cloud provider or tenant scope.
  • Map cloud services, data, locations, identities, administrative access, and subcontractors.
  • Review provider controls, tenant controls, logging, monitoring, vulnerability, incident, and

recovery evidence.

  • Track cloud changes, outages, advisories, and remediation.

Evidence Requirements

  • Cloud inventory and shared-responsibility analysis.
  • Provider assurance and tenant control evidence.
  • Data location, access, logging, incident, and recovery records.
  • Subcontractor and monitoring evidence.

Common Gaps

  • Shared responsibility is described but not mapped to actual controls.
  • Data locations and subcontractors are not refreshed.
  • Cloud incidents do not update the risk record.

How Halbarad Helps

Halbarad helps map cloud providers, services, data, locations, downstream parties, evidence, incidents, monitoring, and remediation.

Disclaimer

This guide is for general information only and is not legal advice. Review the official regulation, guidance, and supervisory materials, and consult qualified counsel or compliance advisors for your organization's specific obligations.