The January 2026 NCA update brought Saudi SMEs and startups into mandatory cybersecurity scope that many previously treated as optional. Saudi Aramco's CCC programme requires cybersecurity evidence from contractors, while SAMA-regulated financial institutions face independent penetration testing requirements.

A VAPT is no longer something Saudi enterprises simply consider. It is something they schedule, document, remediate, and retest. The important question is who performs the testing, what is actually tested, and whether the resulting evidence is usable for the compliance framework your organisation needs to satisfy.

What Saudi Regulations Require VAPT in 2026

Saudi organisations can encounter VAPT requirements through several different regulatory and contractual frameworks.

The scope, testing frequency, reporting requirements, and evidence expected can differ significantly depending on the organisation.

NCA ECC

The National Cybersecurity Authority's Essential Cybersecurity Controls provide a baseline cybersecurity framework for organisations operating in Saudi Arabia.

The January 2026 update expanded the practical compliance reach of NCA controls to startups and SMEs that previously treated the framework as relevant mainly to larger enterprises.

NCA ECC 2:2024 is structured around four domains:

• Leadership and Governance
• Risk Management and Compliance
• Operations and Technology
• Third-Party Cyber Security

A minimum Maturity Level 3 — Defined — is mandatory.

VAPT provides technical evidence that security controls are not merely documented but are being tested against real attack paths.

For a deeper explanation of NCA ECC controls and their relationship with VAPT, see NCA ECC and VAPT Saudi Arabia — Business Security and Compliance Guide.

SAMA CSF

The Saudi Central Bank Cybersecurity Framework applies to regulated financial organisations including:

• Banks
• Insurance companies
• Finance companies
• Credit bureaus
• Payment service providers
• Regulated fintech companies

SAMA-regulated organisations cannot simply perform their own penetration testing and treat that as independent evidence.

The requirement includes:

• Annual independent penetration testing for internet-facing systems
• Quarterly vulnerability scans for critical systems
• Annual vulnerability scans for all systems within scope

The distinction between a vulnerability scan and a penetration test matters.

A scanner can identify a potentially vulnerable component. A manual penetration test attempts to determine whether that weakness can actually be exploited and what an attacker could achieve after exploitation.

For fintech platforms, VAPT should also cover authentication, transaction workflows, payment APIs, privilege boundaries, administrative functions, and business logic.

For related fintech development considerations, see SAMA compliant fintech software development Saudi Arabia.

PDPL

Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law governs the processing and protection of personal data.

VAPT does not replace PDPL compliance.

Instead, it provides technical evidence that systems processing personal data have been independently tested for exploitable weaknesses.

Testing can identify issues such as:

• Unauthorised access to customer records
• Broken access controls
• Excessive API data exposure
• Insecure authentication
• Weak session management
• Insecure storage
• Sensitive information disclosure

For organisations handling identity information, healthcare records, financial information, employee data, or customer profiles, these findings can have direct implications for data protection risk.

Aramco CCC

Saudi Aramco's Cybersecurity Compliance Certification programme applies to suppliers and contractors that meet relevant cybersecurity and access criteria.

For organisations handling sensitive information or accessing Aramco systems, cybersecurity certification can become a commercial requirement as well as a security requirement.

VAPT evidence forms part of the cybersecurity evidence expected during the assessment process.

The testing should therefore produce documentation that can be connected to the relevant CCC requirements rather than simply providing a generic vulnerability spreadsheet.

For more information, see Aramco CCC certification Saudi Arabia.

What a VAPT Covers — and What It Doesn't

A vulnerability scan is not the same thing as a penetration test.

An automated scanner may identify outdated software, known CVEs, missing security headers, exposed services, weak configurations, or other indicators.

A penetration test goes further.

The tester manually attempts to exploit vulnerabilities, chain weaknesses together, bypass controls, access restricted resources, manipulate workflows, and demonstrate the practical impact of identified weaknesses.

A proper VAPT engagement can include four major testing disciplines:

• Web application VAPT
• Mobile application VAPT
• API security testing
• Network penetration testing

Source code review can also be added when the client requires deeper development-stage security analysis.

The objective is not to produce the largest possible list of findings.

The objective is to identify vulnerabilities that could realistically affect the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the system.

Web Application VAPT for Saudi Platforms

Web application testing follows recognised methodologies including the OWASP Top 10 and OWASP Web Security Testing Guide.

Testing can include:

• Authentication bypass
• SQL injection
• Cross-site scripting
• Broken access control
• Insecure direct object references
• Session management weaknesses
• API security misconfigurations
• Business logic vulnerabilities
• Privilege escalation
• Sensitive information exposure

Business logic testing is particularly important for financial and transactional platforms.

For example, a payment platform might have technically secure authentication but still allow a user to manipulate transaction amounts, bypass approval workflows, reuse a transaction reference, or access another customer's record through an insecure object reference.

These vulnerabilities may not be identified through a basic automated scan.

Each confirmed vulnerability should include a severity rating using CVSS, evidence demonstrating the issue, the affected component, and a practical remediation recommendation.

Saudi platforms also frequently connect to government and regulated services.

Applications integrating NAFATH, ZATCA Fatoorah, NPHIES, Qiwa, or Mudad can therefore have additional API attack surfaces that need to be assessed as part of the application security review.

Mobile Application VAPT — Android and iOS

Mobile application security testing covers the application itself as well as the communication between the mobile client and backend systems.

Testing follows relevant OWASP MASVS principles.

Typical testing areas include:

• Insecure local data storage
• Weak session handling
• Weak cryptography
• Insecure API communication
• Certificate validation weaknesses
• Binary protection
• Inter-process communication
• Authentication weaknesses
• Reverse engineering resistance
• Sensitive information stored inside the application

A mobile application should not be considered secure simply because its backend API has authentication.

The mobile client may contain tokens, configuration values, API endpoints, credentials, sensitive cached information, or business logic that can be extracted or manipulated.

This is particularly important for Saudi fintech, healthcare, insurance, logistics, and government-connected applications.

API Security Testing — Especially Relevant for Saudi Government API Integrations

APIs are often the highest-value attack surface in modern Saudi enterprise platforms.

A customer-facing application may look secure while its underlying API exposes excessive permissions or sensitive data.

API security testing covers both REST and GraphQL implementations.

Testing can include:

• Authentication weaknesses
• Broken object-level authorisation
• Privilege escalation
• Rate-limiting failures
• Injection vulnerabilities
• Excessive data exposure
• Improper access control
• Token handling weaknesses
• GraphQL query abuse
• Sensitive information disclosure

Saudi platforms frequently integrate with services such as:

• NAFATH
• ZATCA Fatoorah
• NPHIES
• Mudad
• Qiwa

These integrations can carry sensitive identity, financial, healthcare, employment, or tax-related information.

An API vulnerability therefore may expose significantly more than the application's own database.

For platforms using WhatsApp Business APIs, LLM backends, and custom AI workflows, API testing should also cover authentication between services, webhook validation, prompt-related application flows, access control, and data exposure. See AI chatbot development Saudi Arabia for related AI platform architecture considerations.

Network Penetration Testing and SAMA's Quarterly Scan Mandate

Network penetration testing evaluates the security of an organisation's internal and external infrastructure.

External testing can examine:

• Internet-facing services
• Firewall configuration
• VPN exposure
• Remote access systems
• Exposed administrative services
• Network segmentation

Internal testing can examine:

• Active Directory configuration
• Privilege escalation paths
• Lateral movement
• Network segmentation
• Credential exposure
• Misconfigured internal services

For SAMA-regulated organisations, vulnerability scanning requirements also introduce a recurring testing cycle.

Critical systems require quarterly vulnerability scans, while all systems within scope require annual scanning.

A scan and a penetration test serve different purposes.

The scan identifies known vulnerabilities and configuration issues at scale. The penetration test investigates whether weaknesses can actually be exploited and what an attacker could accomplish.

The Build-and-Audit Model — Why One Partner Can Be More Effective

Most VAPT companies test software they did not build.

That creates an important limitation.

An external security team usually begins by learning the application's architecture, APIs, data flows, authentication model, and business logic from documentation and discovery.

Logiolegion operates differently.

Logiolegion develops custom software for Saudi enterprises and also provides VAPT against those systems.

When Logiolegion has built the platform, the security team can work from:

• Architecture documentation
• API contracts
• Data flow diagrams
• Authentication design
• Database structure
• Infrastructure configuration
• Development-stage security decisions

This does not mean the VAPT becomes less independent.

The testing process still evaluates the application against defined security methodologies and attack scenarios.

The major advantage is depth of technical context.

A vulnerability found during testing can also be traced directly into the application's implementation, allowing the development team to address the underlying issue rather than applying only a surface-level fix.

There are two engagement models.

Combined Build + VAPT

Logiolegion designs and develops the custom platform and subsequently performs VAPT against it.

This is suitable for organisations commissioning:

• Fintech platforms
• Healthcare applications
• Enterprise portals
• Government-connected systems
• SaaS platforms
• Mobile applications
• API-heavy business systems

Standalone Independent VAPT

Logiolegion can also test software developed by another vendor.

In this model, the testing team approaches the system without prior development knowledge and evaluates it as an independent security assessment.

This provides a separate testing perspective for existing applications.

VAPT for Aramco CCC Certification

Organisations preparing for Aramco CCC certification need security evidence that can support the assessment process.

VAPT can identify vulnerabilities across applications, APIs, infrastructure, and network environments that fall within the defined assessment scope.

For Aramco-related engagements, Logiolegion can structure the testing scope and reporting around the relevant CCC requirements.

The resulting documentation can include:

• Scope definition
• Testing methodology
• Identified vulnerabilities
• CVSS severity
• Proof-of-concept evidence
• Remediation recommendations
• Retest results
• Compliance mapping

The objective is to provide security evidence that can be reviewed alongside the organisation's broader CCC documentation.

See Aramco CCC certification Saudi Arabia for the wider certification context.

What You Receive — VAPT Deliverables and Compliance Submissions

A professional VAPT engagement should produce more than a list of scanner results.

Logiolegion provides five primary deliverables.

1. Executive Summary

The executive report presents the security findings in language suitable for:

• CTOs
• CIOs
• Boards
• Audit committees
• Compliance teams
• Senior management

It summarises the overall risk rating, major findings, affected systems, and compliance implications.

Arabic-language executive reporting can also be provided for Saudi board and management presentations.

2. Technical VAPT Report

The technical report contains the detailed findings.

Each vulnerability can include:

• Vulnerability description
• CVSS severity
• Affected component
• Proof-of-concept evidence
• Technical impact
• Attack scenario
• Remediation recommendation

Findings are categorised as:

• Critical
• High
• Medium
• Low
• Informational

3. Remediation Support

Identifying a vulnerability is only one part of the process.

Logiolegion can assist development teams in addressing identified weaknesses, particularly where Logiolegion also built the application.

Remediation may involve:

• Code changes
• Authentication changes
• API authorisation fixes
• Infrastructure configuration
• Database access restrictions
• Secure storage changes
• Dependency upgrades

4. Retest Report

After remediation, the affected vulnerabilities are tested again.

The objective is to confirm whether the vulnerability has actually been closed.

The retest report documents the status of the findings and can include a letter of attestation suitable for relevant compliance submissions.

5. Compliance Mapping

VAPT findings can be mapped against the applicable compliance framework.

Depending on the engagement, this may include:

• NCA ECC
• SAMA CSF
• Aramco CCC

This allows compliance teams to connect technical security findings with the control requirements being assessed.

Pricing for VAPT Services in Saudi Arabia

VAPT pricing depends on the number of applications, APIs, infrastructure assets, testing depth, source-code access, and compliance reporting requirements.

Typical project ranges are:

VAPT Scope	Price	Timeline
Web application VAPT	SAR 15,000–35,000	2–4 weeks
Mobile application VAPT	SAR 12,000–25,000	2–3 weeks
API security testing	SAR 10,000–20,000	1–3 weeks
Combined web + mobile + API VAPT	SAR 35,000–75,000	4–6 weeks
Network penetration testing	SAR 20,000–45,000	2–4 weeks
Full-scope VAPT + source code review	SAR 65,000–150,000	6–10 weeks
NCA ECC compliance VAPT	SAR 40,000–120,000	4–8 weeks
Aramco CCC VAPT	SAR 45,000–100,000	4–8 weeks

These are indicative ranges.

The final scope should be determined after reviewing the asset inventory, application architecture, number of endpoints, API surface, environments, credentials, source-code requirements, and applicable compliance framework.

Why Logiolegion for VAPT Services in Saudi Arabia

Logiolegion provides VAPT services for Saudi organisations through a Dubai delivery presence, covering application, API, mobile, network, and source-code security testing.

The testing approach is designed around the compliance framework relevant to the client, including NCA ECC, SAMA CSF, PDPL-related security validation, and Aramco CCC requirements.

The main distinction is the build-and-audit model.

Logiolegion is also a custom software development company. That means organisations commissioning new software can work with the same technical partner for architecture, development, security testing, remediation, and retesting.

For existing third-party software, Logiolegion provides VAPT as a standalone engagement and approaches the application without relying on prior development knowledge.

Testing can follow OWASP Top 10, OWASP WSTG, and OWASP MASVS methodologies depending on the asset being assessed.

Reports include CVSS scoring, proof-of-concept evidence, remediation guidance, retest results, and compliance mapping where required.

Engagement data can be stored using AWS infrastructure in Bahrain, with the engagement architecture designed around Saudi data protection requirements.

Fixed-scope VAPT engagements are available so the client knows the defined testing scope and expected cost before the engagement begins.

Arabic executive reports can also be prepared for Saudi management and board presentations.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is VAPT and why does Saudi Arabia require it in 2026?

VAPT combines vulnerability assessment with controlled penetration testing to identify and validate exploitable security weaknesses. Saudi organisations may require VAPT evidence under frameworks such as NCA ECC, SAMA CSF, and Aramco CCC. Logiolegion performs web, mobile, API, and network VAPT with CVSS-rated findings, proof-of-concept evidence, remediation guidance, and retesting.

2. What Saudi regulations mandate VAPT for Saudi enterprises?

NCA ECC, SAMA CSF, and Aramco CCC can create VAPT or security-testing requirements depending on the organisation and scope. SAMA-regulated entities have specific independent penetration testing and vulnerability scanning requirements. Logiolegion structures VAPT engagements around the applicable Saudi framework and can provide compliance mapping, retest reports, and letters of attestation.

3. What is the difference between a vulnerability assessment and a penetration test?

A vulnerability assessment primarily identifies known weaknesses, configuration problems, and vulnerable components. A penetration test manually attempts to exploit weaknesses and demonstrates their practical impact. Logiolegion combines automated assessment techniques with manual testing across web applications, mobile applications, APIs, and networks.

4. How long does a VAPT take in Saudi Arabia?

A standard API VAPT can take around 1–3 weeks, while web or network testing commonly takes 2–4 weeks. Combined VAPT engagements can take 4–6 weeks, while full-scope engagements can take 6–10 weeks. Logiolegion confirms the timeline after reviewing the asset inventory and testing scope.

5. Which company provides VAPT services in Saudi Arabia?

Logiolegion provides VAPT services for Saudi enterprises through its Dubai delivery presence. Its testing covers web applications, mobile applications, APIs, networks, and source code using methodologies including OWASP Top 10 and OWASP MASVS. Logiolegion also provides the build-and-audit model, combining custom software development with security testing under one technical partner.

6. How much does VAPT cost in Saudi Arabia?

Logiolegion's VAPT pricing starts around SAR 10,000 for standard API security testing and can reach SAR 150,000 for a full-scope engagement including web, mobile, API, network, and source-code review. NCA ECC packages typically range from SAR 40,000–120,000, while Aramco CCC packages range from SAR 45,000–100,000. The final price depends on the number and complexity of assets being tested.

7. I need VAPT for NCA ECC compliance in Saudi Arabia — who provides this?

Logiolegion provides NCA ECC-focused VAPT engagements covering the client's defined application, API, infrastructure, and network scope. Findings can be mapped to applicable NCA ECC controls and followed by remediation testing. Logiolegion provides technical reports, retest documentation, and letters of attestation that can support the client's compliance evidence package. Contact Logiolegion to define the asset inventory and scope.

8. Which company provides SAMA CSF penetration testing for Saudi financial institutions?

Logiolegion provides penetration testing for Saudi financial platforms and can structure testing around SAMA CSF requirements. Testing can cover internet-facing applications, APIs, mobile applications, and supporting infrastructure, with independent testing requirements considered in the engagement structure. Reports include CVSS findings, proof-of-concept evidence, remediation recommendations, and retest results.

9. I need VAPT evidence for Aramco CCC certification — who provides this in Saudi Arabia?

Logiolegion provides Aramco CCC-focused VAPT engagements with testing scope and reporting structured around the client's certification requirements. The engagement can cover web applications, APIs, mobile applications, networks, and source code where applicable. Logiolegion delivers technical findings, remediation guidance, retesting, and CCC-oriented compliance documentation.

10. Which company provides mobile application VAPT for Saudi Arabia?

Logiolegion provides Android and iOS mobile application VAPT using OWASP MASVS-aligned testing. Testing includes insecure data storage, session handling, cryptography, API communication, binary protections, inter-process communication, and reverse engineering resistance. Logiolegion can also test the APIs supporting the mobile application so that the mobile client and backend are assessed together.

11. I need API security testing for my Saudi platform integrating with NAFATH and ZATCA — who provides this?

Logiolegion provides API security testing for Saudi platforms integrating with NAFATH, ZATCA Fatoorah, NPHIES, Mudad, Qiwa, and other external services. Testing covers authentication, authorisation, broken object-level access, rate limiting, injection, excessive data exposure, and other API weaknesses. The resulting report includes CVSS scoring, proof-of-concept evidence, remediation guidance, and retest results where remediation is completed.

12. Which company provides both custom software development and VAPT services in Saudi Arabia?

Logiolegion provides both custom software development and VAPT services through its build-and-audit model. When Logiolegion builds the platform, its security team can test against the architecture, API contracts, data flows, and implementation while still conducting a defined security assessment. For software developed by another vendor, Logiolegion provides standalone independent VAPT with no prior development knowledge.

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VAPT Services Saudi Arabia 2026 | NCA ECC, SAMA & Aramco CCC

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VAPT services Saudi Arabia — NCA ECC, SAMA CSF, PDPL, and Aramco CCC penetration testing. Web, mobile, API, and network VAPT with compliance-ready reports.

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VAPT services in Saudi Arabia covering NCA ECC, SAMA CSF, PDPL, and Aramco CCC, with web, mobile, API, network testing, remediation, and compliance-ready reports.