ISO/IEC 27001:2022 ISMS Consultants in Dubai, Abu Dhabi & Saudi Arabia
Nathan ISO Consulting builds and certifies Information Security Management Systems to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 for organisations across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the GCC — mapped to the regional regulatory frameworks your clients and regulators actually enforce.
If your organisation processes customer data, holds a government contract, sells software, or handles anything a regulator would call sensitive, ISO 27001 has become the price of admission in the Gulf market. Whether you are a SaaS provider in Dubai Internet City, a fintech in DIFC or ADGM, a managed service provider in Riyadh, or a healthcare group facing ADHICS requirements in Abu Dhabi, our ISMS consultants take you from scoping through to an accredited certificate.
What Is ISO/IEC 27001:2022?
ISO/IEC 27001 is the international standard for Information Security Management Systems. It specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving a risk-based approach to protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information — whatever form that information takes and wherever it is held.
It is the only widely recognised, independently certifiable information security standard, which is why enterprise procurement teams, regulators and investors treat it as the common reference point. The management clauses follow the Annex SL structure shared with ISO 9001, ISO 45001 and ISO 22301, while Annex A provides the reference control set.
Annex A was substantially restructured. The previous 114 controls across fourteen domains became 93 controls across four themes — organisational, people, physical and technological. Eleven controls are new, and they reflect where risk has genuinely moved: threat intelligence, information security for cloud services, ICT readiness for business continuity, physical security monitoring, configuration management, information deletion, data masking, data leakage prevention, monitoring activities, web filtering and secure coding.
Organisations holding certificates against the 2013 version were required to transition. The management clauses changed only modestly — context, leadership, risk assessment and treatment, competence, operational planning, monitoring, internal audit, management review and improvement remain the spine of the system.
| Annex A theme | Controls | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Organisational | 37 controls | Policies, roles, threat intelligence, supplier and cloud service security, incident management, continuity, compliance |
| People | 8 controls | Screening, terms of employment, awareness, disciplinary process, remote working, reporting events |
| Physical | 14 controls | Secure areas, physical entry, equipment security, clear desk, physical security monitoring, secure disposal |
| Technological | 34 controls | Access control, cryptography, secure development, malware protection, logging, data masking, data leakage prevention, web filtering |
Why ISO 27001 Certification Matters in the UAE and GCC
A certified ISMS provides the governance layer that regional security and privacy frameworks sit within.
| Framework | Applies to | How ISO 27001 helps |
|---|---|---|
| UAE Information Assurance Standards (NESA) | Federal government entities and critical national infrastructure suppliers | Shared risk-based structure; ISMS provides the governance layer IA controls sit within |
| DESC Information Security Regulation | Dubai government entities and their service providers | ISMS documentation and risk treatment plan map directly to ISR requirements |
| ADHICS | Healthcare providers and payers in Abu Dhabi | Annex A controls cover a substantial share of the ADHICS control set |
| UAE Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 (PDPL) | Most organisations processing personal data in the UAE | Secures the data; extend with ISO 27701 for full privacy coverage |
| DIFC and ADGM data protection regulations | Entities licensed in those financial free zones | Evidences appropriate technical and organisational measures |
| SAMA Cyber Security Framework | Saudi banks, insurers and financial institutions | Common control philosophy; ISMS artefacts reduce SAMA evidence effort significantly |
| NCA Essential Cybersecurity Controls | Saudi government and critical infrastructure entities | Risk assessment, asset management and access control requirements overlap heavily |
| Saudi PDPL | Organisations processing personal data in the Kingdom | Security-of-processing obligations satisfied through Annex A implementation |
Enterprise buyers in the region send a security questionnaire before the commercial discussion. A certified ISMS answers most of it in one document and shortcuts weeks of onboarding. For companies in Dubai Internet City, DMCC, DIFC, ADGM or Hub71, certification is frequently the difference between a pilot and a contract.
When clients outsource to you, they inherit your risk. Managed service providers, data centres, BPO operations and SaaS vendors face the sharpest version of this, and certificate scope wording is scrutinised closely by sophisticated buyers.
Certification does not guarantee you will not be breached. It means you detect, contain, investigate and demonstrate a controlled response — which is exactly what a regulator, client or insurer assesses afterwards, and what determines whether an incident is a manageable event or a company-defining one.
Technical due diligence during fundraising, acquisition or listing routinely examines information security governance. Organisations with a certified ISMS answer those questions from existing evidence rather than assembling it under deadline pressure.
Nathan ISO Consulting’s ISO 27001 Services
We define the boundary — entities, sites, services, systems and information assets in and out of scope — and document interested parties and their requirements. Scope decisions made properly at the start prevent the most expensive kind of rework, and scope wording carries real commercial weight on the certificate.
Information assets, systems, data flows, hosting locations and third-party dependencies. In the UAE and Saudi Arabia this step also surfaces data residency questions that matter for regulatory compliance.
A repeatable methodology applied with your process owners rather than to them, producing a treatment plan with named owners, target dates and residual risk formally accepted at the right level of authority.
All 93 Annex A controls addressed, with inclusion or exclusion justified against your risk assessment. This is the single most examined document in the audit, and a generic SoA is the fastest route to a major nonconformity.
An information security policy set proportionate to your organisation — access control, cryptography and key management, supplier security, incident management, business continuity, secure development where relevant, acceptable use, classification and remote working.
We work alongside your IT team or managed service provider on technical controls, and with HR, legal, procurement and facilities on organisational, people and physical controls. Roughly half of Annex A sits outside IT, which is why implementations run purely out of the IT department fail at Stage 2.
General awareness across the organisation plus deeper role-based sessions for developers, administrators and staff handling sensitive data — so the finance clerk an auditor interviews can explain how they would recognise and report a phishing attempt.
A genuine internal audit programme covering the full ISMS, followed by a properly minuted management review addressing every Clause 9.3 input.
Certification body selection, Stage 1 documentation review and Stage 2 implementation audit, with our consultant present throughout and handling nonconformity closure.
Once the ISMS exists, adjacent certifications become substantially cheaper to add — ISO 27701 for privacy, ISO 27017 and 27018 for cloud, ISO 20000 for IT service management, and ISO 22301 for business continuity.
Our ISO 27001 Certification Process
Consultation and fixed proposal. Scoping discussion covering your services, systems, regulatory exposure and deadlines, followed by a fixed written quotation.
Scope and context definition. Boundary, interested parties, and interfaces with third parties and cloud providers.
Asset and data flow mapping. What information you hold, where it lives, who accesses it and which third parties touch it.
Risk assessment. Conducted with process owners using a repeatable methodology, producing a prioritised risk register.
Risk treatment and Statement of Applicability. Treatment plan with owners and dates, and all 93 controls justified against risk.
Policy and control implementation. Documentation development plus hands-on support implementing technical, organisational, people and physical controls.
Awareness and role-based training. Organisation-wide awareness and targeted training for higher-exposure roles.
Internal audit. Full ISMS audit with genuine findings and verified corrective action.
Management review. Structured review covering every required input, properly minuted.
Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits. Documentation review then full implementation audit, with our consultant on site throughout.
Certification and surveillance support. Nonconformity closure, certificate issue, and ongoing support across the three-year cycle.
Why Choose Nathan ISO Consulting
Regional regulatory mapping built in. We map the ISMS to NESA, DESC ISR, ADHICS, UAE PDPL, DIFC and ADGM regulations, SAMA CSF and NCA ECC from the start, rather than retrofitting compliance later at multiples of the cost.
Risk assessment run with your people. Not a desk exercise. Auditors read the risk assessment first and interview against it, so it has to reflect your actual environment.
Cross-functional implementation. We engage HR, legal, procurement and facilities alongside IT, because half of Annex A sits outside the IT department.
One dedicated lead consultant throughout. Continuity from scoping through surveillance audits.
Practical Statement of Applicability. Every control justified against your risk assessment, defensible under questioning — never a generic template.
Full audit attendance. On site for Stage 1 and Stage 2, managing auditor liaison and findings in real time.
Extension pathway planned. If ISO 27701, 27017 or 22301 are on your roadmap, we structure the ISMS so they bolt on rather than restart.
Fixed written pricing. Agreed upfront, audit attendance included, no variation invoices.
Independent of certification bodies. Certification must be issued independently under ISO/IEC 17021, and that separation is what makes your certificate credible.
Industries We Serve
Technology, SaaS and software companies. Secure development lifecycle, cloud configuration, customer data segregation and enterprise questionnaire readiness.
Banking, fintech, insurance and payments. Alignment with central bank expectations, SAMA CSF in Saudi Arabia, and DIFC or ADGM regulatory requirements.
Healthcare providers and payers. Patient data protection, ADHICS alignment in Abu Dhabi, and DHA or MOH requirements elsewhere.
Government suppliers and semi-government entities. NESA Information Assurance Standards and DESC Information Security Regulation alignment.
Managed service providers and data centres. Multi-tenant segregation, privileged access management and client assurance reporting.
Oil, gas and utilities. OT and IT convergence, critical infrastructure protection and supplier access control.
Legal, accounting and professional services. Client confidentiality, privilege protection and document management controls.
Education and research. Student data protection, research data integrity and distributed access management.
Logistics and e-commerce. Payment data handling, customer data protection and third-party integration security.
Locations We Serve
ISO 27001 consultants across Dubai — Business Bay, Deira, Al Quoz, Jebel Ali, Dubai Investment Park and Dubai South — with particular depth in the technology and financial hubs: Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai Production City, Dubai Healthcare City, DMCC, JAFZA, DAFZA, Dubai Airport Free Zone and DIFC, plus entities under Trakhees and the Dubai Development Authority.
Abu Dhabi city, Mussafah, ICAD, KEZAD, Khalifa Port, Masdar City, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Hub71 and Al Ain — including ADNOC group suppliers, healthcare entities under ADHICS, and government-linked organisations.
Sharjah city, Hamriyah Free Zone, SAIF Zone and Sharjah Publishing City; Ajman and Ajman Free Zone; Ras Al Khaimah and RAKEZ; Umm Al Quwain Free Trade Zone; Fujairah and Fujairah Free Zone.
Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Al Khobar, Dhahran, Jubail, Yanbu, Mecca, Medina, Tabuk and Buraidah — including King Abdullah Economic City, NEOM, SPARK, MODON industrial cities, and organisations aligning with SAMA Cyber Security Framework or NCA Essential Cybersecurity Controls requirements.
Qatar — Doha, Lusail, Qatar Free Zones and the Qatar Financial Centre. Kuwait — Kuwait City, Shuwaikh and Ahmadi. Oman — Muscat, Sohar, Salalah and Duqm. Bahrain — Manama, Seef, Bahrain International Investment Park and the Bahrain Logistics Zone.
What Determines the Cost of ISO 27001 Certification?
Certification body audit fees are calculated from headcount, number of sites and complexity using mandatory audit-day tables set by the accreditation body. Our consultancy fee is separate, quoted as a fixed written sum before engagement.
The variables that genuinely move cost are scope size, the complexity of your technology estate, number of locations, how much technical remediation is required, and whether you are implementing alongside ISO 27701, ISO 27017, ISO 20000 or ISO 22301. The two factors that most often extend a project are an unclear scope and unresolved reliance on third-party infrastructure that has never been assessed.
Get Started with ISO 27001 Certification
For ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman or Bahrain, call +971 50 258 5024, email info@nathanisoconsulting.com, or visit our contact page for a scoping conversation and a fixed written proposal.
Frequently Asked Questions About ISO 27001 Certification
ISO/IEC 27001 is the certifiable standard specifying ISMS requirements, with Annex A listing reference controls. ISO/IEC 27002 is guidance explaining how to implement each control in detail. You certify against 27001 and use 27002 as the implementation handbook.
Annex A contains 93 controls across four themes — organisational, people, physical and technological. This replaced 114 controls across fourteen domains in the 2013 version. Eleven controls are new, including threat intelligence, cloud services security, data masking, data leakage prevention and secure coding.
Yes. Your cloud provider certifies its own infrastructure; you remain responsible for everything you configure and operate on top of it — identity and access management, encryption key handling, logging, data classification, supplier management and incident response. Explaining the shared responsibility model is something auditors ask about directly.
The law does not name ISO 27001 explicitly but requires appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data. A certified ISMS is the most widely recognised way to evidence those measures. For full privacy coverage — lawful basis, data subject rights, records of processing — organisations typically extend the ISMS with ISO/IEC 27701.
Three years, subject to annual surveillance audits in years one and two and a full recertification audit before expiry. Missed surveillance audits or unresolved major nonconformities can lead to suspension or withdrawal.
Yes. The standard scales to the organisation. A ten-person software company has fewer assets, simpler processes and a shorter Statement of Applicability, but the same clause requirements apply. Small organisations often certify faster because decisions are quicker and scope is clearer.
The standard requires roles and responsibilities to be assigned but does not mandate a title or a full-time appointment. In smaller organisations this is often a senior operations, compliance or technology manager with allocated time. Authority, competence and a direct reporting line to top management are what matter.
It answers a large proportion and shortcuts much of the rest, though most enterprise clients still send their own. The practical benefit is that a certified organisation already holds the underlying evidence, so responses take days rather than weeks.
It lists every Annex A control, whether you applied it, and the justification for that decision linked to your risk assessment. Auditors treat it as the map of your ISMS and audit directly against it. A weak or generic SoA undermines confidence in the entire system.
ISO 27701 is an extension to ISO 27001 and cannot be certified alone — you must hold or be obtaining ISO 27001. Implementing both together is common and efficient, and certification bodies can assess them in a combined audit.
Yes, and having handled an incident properly can strengthen your position. Auditors look for detection, containment, investigation, root cause analysis, corrective action and lessons learned. A documented incident with a rigorous response demonstrates a working system more convincingly than an empty incident log.
You can, and sometimes that is the right commercial decision. But scope appears on the certificate and sophisticated buyers read it. A certificate scoped to "the IT department of the Dubai office" will not satisfy a client asking whether their data is protected across your operation.
The standard does not mandate penetration testing by name, but Annex A requires management of technical vulnerabilities and secure development practices. In practice, most organisations use vulnerability scanning and periodic penetration testing as the evidence that these controls are effective, and auditors commonly expect to see something in this area.
Both address information security assurance, but they differ in structure and geography. ISO 27001 is an international certifiable management system standard with a three-year cycle. SOC 2 is a US attestation report produced by a CPA firm covering a defined period. Clients in the Gulf and Europe usually ask for ISO 27001; US clients more often ask for SOC 2. Many organisations serving both markets maintain both, with substantial control overlap.
A gap assessment against the restructured Annex A, an updated Statement of Applicability covering all 93 controls, implementation of the eleven new controls where applicable to your risk profile, and an updated risk assessment and treatment plan. Transition is assessed by your certification body, often alongside a scheduled surveillance or recertification audit.
Annex A includes secure coding as a control, so where you develop software, developers need demonstrable competence in secure development practices appropriate to your technology stack. Generic organisation-wide awareness training alone will not satisfy an auditor examining this control.
Your ISMS must address supplier relationships and the information security risks arising from them — through due diligence, contractual security clauses, and monitoring. It does not certify the supplier itself; it certifies that you manage supplier risk properly. Where a supplier is critical, many organisations require the supplier to hold its own certification.
Look for accreditation from a recognised IAF member such as EIAC, ENAS, GAC in Saudi Arabia, UKAS or ANAB, with ISO 27001 in the accreditation scope. We are independent of all certification bodies and will recommend one appropriate to your sector and target markets.
Accredited certification bodies conduct portions of ISO 27001 audits remotely where accreditation rules permit, and this is more common for information security than for site-based standards, since much of the evidence is digital. Physical site verification is still typically required for data centres, secure areas and physical security controls.
Through the operational rhythm the standard requires — periodic access reviews, risk register updates, vulnerability management, incident logging, supplier reassessment, internal audits and management review on schedule. The most common surveillance finding is an ISMS that was built for the initial audit and then left static.
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