DESC
The Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC) is the Dubai government's cybersecurity authority.
Two DESC instruments matter for compliance: the Information Security Regulation (ISR), a control standard mandatory for Dubai government and semi-government entities and their key suppliers (version 3 added cloud, IoT, and supply chain controls and aligns with ISO/IEC 27001 and NIST CSF), and the Cloud Service Provider Security Standard, which any cloud provider must be certified against before offering cloud services to Dubai government entities.
The CSP Security Standard layers DESC's own requirements on top of ISO/IEC 27001, 27002, and 27017 and the CSA STAR Level 2 model, and adds Dubai-specific requirements on data residency, incident reporting to DESC, and regulatory access.
In writing, a government entity under the ISR needs an information security policy set approved by senior management, a risk assessment, asset classification, and documented controls for each ISR domain, plus annual compliance reporting to DESC.
A cloud provider seeking CSP certification needs an ISO/IEC 27001-style management system scoped to the Dubai services, a control matrix covering the DESC additions, data location and segregation evidence, incident notification procedures to DESC, and the certification body's audit reports.
Certification follows the ISO/IEC 27001 pattern: initial audit, annual surveillance, recertification every three years.
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Who has to comply
ISR: Dubai government and semi-government entities and, through contracts, their key suppliers. CSP Security Standard: any cloud service provider, local or foreign, that wishes to sell cloud services to Dubai government or semi-government entities. Private companies elsewhere in the UAE may adopt DESC standards voluntarily or face them via customer contracts.
What the assessor asks to see
Information security policy set and management approval; risk assessment and treatment; asset inventory and classification; control implementation evidence for each ISR domain or CSP requirement; data residency and segregation evidence for Dubai government data; access management and privileged access records; logging and monitoring; incident response procedures and notification records to DESC; business continuity and disaster recovery tests; supplier and subcontractor management; internal audit and management review; certification body audit reports and corrective actions.
Who helps with DESC
UAE-based consultancies and the regional arms of global firms offer ISR gap assessments and CSP certification readiness; several certification bodies operate in Dubai. Readiness for CSP certification typically takes three to nine months for a provider that already holds ISO/IEC 27001.
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Who assesses DESC
For CSP certification, certification bodies approved by DESC that operate under the ISO/IEC 27001 certification scheme; DESC itself reviews ISR compliance reporting and can audit government entities.
Accredited by DESC approves certification bodies for its schemes; those bodies typically also hold accreditation from a national accreditation body for ISO/IEC 27001 (for example the Emirates International Accreditation Centre or UKAS).
Public register of assessors: desc.gov.ae ↗
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Related reading
- DESC CSP security standard certificationExplains the separate cloud provider standard a CSP must hold before serving Dubai government entities, and how it is certified.Amazon Web Services
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