NCA Compliance

Question

We are working to ensure compliance with the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) requirements in Saudi Arabia, specifically regarding data residency and exemptions for data hosting locations. Could you please confirm if Microsoft has an exemption from the NCA that would allow data to be hosted outside of Saudi Arabia?

Thank you.

Answer 1

While Microsoft emphasizes local data hosting to meet compliance, the NCA generally enforces strict rules about storing sensitive data within the country. Exemptions to host data outside of a given country would need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and granted only under specific conditions. Organizations that need to store data abroad will likely need to coordinate directly with the NCA for approval or work with Microsoft to explore compliant solutions.

To ensure full compliance, you may want to engage with Microsoft’s local representatives and seek formal guidance from the NCA if cross-border data storage is required for your operations.

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hth

Marcin