What is Cybersecurity & Technology Risk Management
Cybersecurity & Technology Risk refers to the structured identification, assessment, and management of risks arising from an organisation’s use of technology. It covers cyber threats, system failures, data integrity, access management, incident response, and operational resilience. Regulators do not assess these in isolation.
Technology risk extends beyond malicious attacks. It includes system outages, poor access controls, weak logging, untested business continuity plans, and third-party dependencies that quietly become single points of failure. In regulated environments, especially those subject to the UAE AML Law, Federal Decree Law No. 10 of 2025, and Cabinet Resolution No. 134 of 2025, these weaknesses can directly undermine AML controls, transaction monitoring, and regulatory reporting.
Mature organisations accept that incidents are inevitable. What distinguishes them is preparation. Risks are identified early. Controls are proportionate. Escalation paths are known. Evidence is maintained.
Rooted in the UAE
Our approach to Cybersecurity & Technology Risk reflects how regulation is written, applied, and enforced across the Emirates. It is grounded in UAE law, attentive to supervisory practice, and designed with the understanding that every control may one day be examined.
Under Federal Decree Law No. 10 of 2025 and Cabinet Resolution No. 134 of 2025, technology is no longer a supporting function. Systems that enable AML controls, regulatory reporting, or client asset protection are expected to be secure, resilient, and governed. At GRC Advisory, we treat cybersecurity risk and technology risk as matters of compliance and accountability.
Our work is built around how UAE regulators think.
We design cybersecurity risk management and technology risk management frameworks that anticipate scrutiny from authorities such as the Central Bank of the UAE, VARA, SCA, ADGM FSRA and DIFC DFSA.
In practice, this means:
Cybersecurity and technology risks are clearly identified and documented
Baseline controls are defined in line with UAE expectations
Incident response and escalation paths are unambiguous
Business continuity and disaster recovery are tested, not assumed
Senior management receives clear, meaningful risk reporting
For virtual asset firms, our work reflects the realities of VARA Rulebooks, the FSRA Virtual Asset Framework, and the DFSA Crypto Token Regime. We understand how cybersecurity, custody safeguards, access controls, and operational resilience are examined during licensing and supervision.
This is why our services feel familiar to regulators. They are written in the language of the UAE’s supervisory culture. Structured for local inspections. Calm, precise, and evidence-led.
At GRC Advisors, Cybersecurity & Technology Risk is not a global framework with local labels. It is a UAE discipline, delivered with care, clarity, and conviction. Get in touch with us to avail GRC Services in UAE.
Why Cybersecurity & Technology Risk Management Are Important?
Cybersecurity and technology risk have assumed a central place in the governance of modern organisations, not because technology has suddenly become unpredictable, but because its failure now carries consequences that reach far beyond operational inconvenience. In the UAE, where regulatory expectations are articulated through law, supervision, and enforcement, these risks are increasingly understood as questions of oversight, responsibility, and preparedness.
Technology today underpins the very functions that regulators regard as critical. AML controls, transaction monitoring, market surveillance, custody arrangements, and regulatory reporting all depend on systems that must be well governed. In practical terms, this means senior management is expected to understand:
The organisation’s critical systems and technology dependencies
How cybersecurity and technology risks are identified and assessed
Whether baseline controls are appropriate for the business model
How incidents are escalated, managed, and reported
Whether business continuity and disaster recovery plans have been tested
Our Cybersecurity & Technology Risk Management Services
Cybersecurity and technology risk tend to surface in predictable places.
Our services are designed to address those pressure points directly.
IT Risk Assessment
An IT risk assessment is an act of attention. It is where technology is considered carefully, not for what it promises, but for how it behaves under scrutiny.
At GRC Advisory, we approach IT risk assessment as a governance exercise. We examine how systems support the business, how risks are identified and owned, and whether controls are designed with intention rather than habit. The result is a view of technology risk that is measured, defensible, and fit for regulatory review.
This includes:
- Identifying technology and cybersecurity risks across systems and processes
- Defining baseline controls proportionate to the firm’s activities and risk profile
- Assessing governance arrangements, ownership, and accountability
Establishing clear and meaningful risk reporting to management and the board
Incident Response
An incident does not reward brilliance. It rewards preparation.
Our incident response services are designed to ensure that when something goes wrong, the organisation does not lose its composure. We help firms replace uncertainty with structure, and urgency with order.
This work centres on:
- Clarifying who takes charge, and at what moment
- Ensuring decisions, actions, and evidence are recorded as events unfold
- Making regulatory communication deliberate rather than reactive
- Turning incidents into learning, not lingering weakness
Access and Logging
Access is permission. Logging is memory.
We support firms in designing access and logging arrangements that balance control with practicality. The emphasis is on ensuring that access is granted deliberately, changes are governed, and activity can be traced when questions are asked.
This includes:
- Access management frameworks, including privileged access oversight
- Logging and monitoring across critical systems
- Change management and change control assurance
- Periodic reviews to confirm that access remains appropriate
BCP and DR Testing
We help firms move beyond comfort documents and into lived preparedness, treating business continuity and disaster recovery as disciplines that must be exercised, observed, and refined.
Our focus includes:
- How continuity and recovery responsibilities are governed
- Whether scenarios reflect plausible disruption rather than polite hypotheticals
- What testing reveals about decision-making under pressure
- How outcomes are reported, challenged, and improved
Operational Resilience
Our approach begins with the identification of important business services, then traces the quiet dependencies that support them. From there, we test strain.
This work typically involves:
- Defining which services must endure, regardless of circumstance
- Mapping the systems, people, and third parties that sustain them
- Applying stress through scenario-based exercises
- Tracking remedial actions until resilience becomes demonstrable
Before the Incident, Not After
Prepare Your Cybersecurity and Technology Risk Framework before It Is Tested under Pressure
Sectors Where Governance, Risk, and Compliance Lives or Dies
Accountants and Auditors
Asset Managers & Investment Firms
DPMS
Insurance
Lawyers
Payments and Fintech
Real Estate
Securities & Brokerage
TCSPs
VASPs
Areas Where Firms Struggle
Experience shows a consistent pattern. Certain weaknesses appear repeatedly across firms and regulatory regimes.
VASPs
Under regulatory supervision, particularly in areas touching custody, AML controls, and market conduct, this distinction becomes evident. Technology risk, cybersecurity oversight, and escalation structures often lack the depth expected of a live, supervised entity.
Common points of strain include:
- Technology and cybersecurity frameworks that were designed to secure approval, not to sustain supervision
- Limited integration between compliance, operations, and technology teams
- Escalation pathways that exist on paper but are rarely exercised
- Difficulty evidencing oversight when controls are tested
DIFC Firms
DIFC firms are seldom under-governed. Their difficulty lies elsewhere.
Typical challenges include:
- Overlapping committees with unclear ownership of technology risk
- Fragmented reporting that obscures accountability
- Delays in decision-making during incidents
- Difficulty demonstrating a single, coherent line of oversight
ADGM Entities
ADGM entities often present well. Their documentation is thorough, their frameworks thoughtfully designed.
Pain points frequently include:
- Policies that are well understood but unevenly executed
- Limited evidence of challenge, review, and escalation
- Cybersecurity controls that have not been tested under realistic conditions
- Gaps between documented incident response and lived response
SCA-Regulated Firms
For firms regulated by the SCA, pressure accumulates gradually.
This often presents as:
- Inconsistent monitoring of technology and cybersecurity risks
- Informal handling of incidents and breaches
- Escalation that occurs late in the supervisory cycle
- Operational resilience receiving attention only after disruption
Mainland and Free Zone Companies
Mainland and Free Zone companies often approach governance as a response to pressure rather than a standing discipline.
Recurring pain points include:
- Unclear ownership of technology and cybersecurity risk
- Limited testing of business continuity and disaster recovery plans
- Weak reporting lines to senior management
- Difficulty evidencing compliance where technology supports AML obligations
Why GRC Advisors for Cybersecurity & Technology Risk Management
GRC Advisory Services was founded on a clear understanding of how regulation truly operates in the UAE.
Our work reflects:
- An intimate understanding of how UAE regulators examine firms, question controls, and assess judgment
- Experience translating complex regulatory obligations into structures that businesses can actually sustain
- A disciplined approach to governance, shaped by inspections rather than abstractions
- Senior attention throughout, informed by perspective rather than process
- Advice that is composed, realistic, and respectful of the commercial context
Let’s Put Governance to Work
A Calm, Structured Conversation on Cybersecurity and Technology Risk, Shaped for the UAE’s Regulatory Reality