A dedicated practice for financial firms answering to the DFSA and FSRA — building the cyber risk management frameworks, evidence, and regulator dialogue that GEN 5.5 and GEN 3.5 expect, with working awareness of CBUAE, VARA, and the UAE IAR.
Cyber risk in the UAE's financial free zones has moved from IT concern to supervisory priority. Both regulators now expect a governed, documented, board-owned cyber risk management framework — and increasingly test for one.
The DFSA requires authorised firms to establish and maintain a cyber risk management framework proportionate to the nature, scale, and complexity of the business — covering governance, identification, protection, detection, response, and recovery, with senior management accountability and testing that produces evidence, not assumptions.
The FSRA's expectations run parallel: an established cyber risk framework, defined roles and escalation paths, incident response and recovery capability, and management information that lets the governing body actually supervise cyber risk rather than receive it as an annual slide.
Many DIFC and ADGM firms also touch onshore and virtual-asset regimes: CBUAE expectations for payment and banking counterparties, VARA's technology and information requirements for virtual-asset firms, and the UAE Information Assurance Regulation for critical sectors. We keep engagements aware of the full perimeter, so one framework serves every supervisor who may ask.
A cyber risk management framework mapped clause-by-clause to GEN 5.5 or GEN 3.5 — proportionate to your firm, owned by named executives, and written to be operated.
The policy and standards set beneath the framework — access, third parties, data, operations — coherent with each other and with what your firm actually does.
IR plans with regulator notification obligations built into the timeline, executive playbooks, and tabletop exercises that produce documented lessons.
Cyber scenarios integrated into BCP and recovery arrangements — so continuity plans survive contact with a ransomware event, not just a power cut.
Preparation for thematic reviews, supervisory meetings, and post-incident correspondence — the position assembled and rehearsed before the meeting, not during it.
Point-in-time readiness assessments before authorisation or inspection, and annual framework reviews that keep documents aligned with a moving business.
DIFC and ADGM investment firms where lean operating teams meet full supervisory expectations — and outsourced IT still needs governed oversight.
Innovation-licence and scaling fintechs moving from sandbox to full authorisation, where the cyber framework is part of the application itself.
Money services and payments businesses balancing DFSA or FSRA obligations with PCI DSS scope and banking-partner due diligence.
Virtual-asset businesses navigating VARA's technology requirements alongside free-zone expectations — often under investor and exchange scrutiny at once.
Engagements run either as a defined readiness project or as a standing retainer — commonly paired with our Fractional CISO practice, so the framework we build is also the framework someone senior continues to operate.
One boundary, stated plainly: we are an advisory practice — not a law firm, and not an external auditor. We build and strengthen your compliance position and stand beside you in regulator dialogue; formal legal opinions and statutory audits remain with your counsel and auditors, with whom we work readily.
Which rulebooks apply, what your licence category requires, and where your current arrangements stand against them.
A documented readiness assessment against GEN 5.5 / GEN 3.5, with a remediation plan sequenced around supervisory deadlines.
Framework, policies, IR plans, and continuity alignment built with your team — then exercised, so the paper matches practice.
Annual reviews, board reporting, and standing support for regulator interactions — on a month-to-month retainer, scaled to your supervisory calendar.
A 30-minute call, including a first read on your DFSA or FSRA exposure. No obligation.
30 min · Video · No obligation