المملكة: 5 million riyals fine for violators of cybersecurity controls in the Kingdom

Introduced National Cybersecurity Authority A draft classification of violations and penalties, including fines of up to five million riyals to catch transgressing entities.
These regulations aim to protect sensitive infrastructure, national security, and priority sectors from digital threats.

In its new schedule, the Authority relied on the Violating parties based on the standards of the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises “Monshaat”.

The regulations divided establishments into four categories, including micro, small, medium, and large entities, to determine the ceiling of penalties in proportion to the commercial size of the entity.

Powers to Enforce Violations

The draft granted the relevant committee broad powers to raise the level of seriousness of the violation from medium to high, while doubling the maximum limit of the financial fine.

This additional emphasis shall be applied whenever the violation results in a negative impact affecting the vital interests of the state, its national security, or government services and activities.

The document revealed the classification of practicing Cybersecurity without a license is a high-serious violation that requires immediate suspension of the service or activity.
The penalty for this violation for large establishments reaches five million riyals for the first level, and two million riyals for the second level licenses.

The authority stressed the strict implementation of basic cybersecurity controls, including cloud computing controls, sensitive systems, social media accounts, and remote work.

Violators of these standards, or those who provide misleading data to the public or official bodies, face deterrent fines decided by the committee, with a maximum of five million riyals.

Medium serious violations

With regard to medium-serious violations, the regulations indicate that failure to inform the authority immediately through the National Cybersecurity Services Portal “Haseen” of any potential breach exposes the entity to a fine amounting to half a million riyals for major establishments. Anyone who obstructs the work of inspectors or refuses to provide facilities to them shall be punished with graduated financial fines.

The Authority has established clear rules for tightening penalties when the violation is repeated within two years, up to the application of the maximum limit set if it is repeated for a fifth time or more.

The regulations indicated that the fine would be automatically doubled if it was proven that the violating entity achieved any financial returns as a result of committing the violation.

The regulatory document pointed out the possibility of reducing the value of the fine by a maximum of twenty percent of the total amount for cooperators.

To obtain this relief, it is required that the violating party take proactive corrective or remedial measures before issuing the conviction decision and submit proof of that.

The draft clarified that the penalties are not limited to financial fines only, but rather extend to a package of administrative and regulatory measures.

These procedures include issuing warnings for a first-time violation, or suspending licenses for a period of up to a full year, and the penalty may reach complete revocation of the license.

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