Blog

IPCS Celebrates Its Registration with the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) of Saudi Arabia

We are proud to announce a significant milestone in the journey of IPCS, our successful registration with the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

This achievement reflects IPCS’s strong commitment to cybersecurity excellence, regulatory compliance, and alignment with Saudi Arabia’s national vision for a secure and resilient digital ecosystem.

Strengthening Trust and Compliance

The National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) plays a vital role in safeguarding Saudi Arabia’s digital infrastructure by establishing policies, frameworks, and governance models that protect national information assets. IPCS’s registration with the NCA confirms our adherence to these national cybersecurity requirements and best practices.

This step reinforces our position as a trusted cybersecurity partner capable of supporting organizations across the Kingdom with confidence, transparency, and compliance.

Supporting Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030

Saudi Vision 2030 places strong emphasis on digital transformation, innovation, and national cybersecurity resilience. By aligning our operations with NCA regulations, IPCS contributes directly to these objectives, helping organizations secure their digital environments while enabling sustainable growth.

Our services are designed to support both public and private sector entities as they navigate increasingly complex cyber threats, regulatory obligations, and digital risks.

What This Means for Our Clients

Our NCA registration brings added value to our clients, including:

• Enhanced trust and credibility within the Saudi market
• Alignment with national cybersecurity policies and controls
• Assurance of compliance-driven cybersecurity services
• Stronger governance, risk, and security frameworks

Clients can be confident that IPCS delivers services that meet Saudi Arabia’s cybersecurity expectations while maintaining global standards.

Looking Ahead

This milestone is not the end of our journey, it is the beginning of a new chapter. IPCS remains committed to continuous improvement, innovation, and excellence in cybersecurity. We will continue to expand our capabilities, invest in expertise, and support our clients in building secure, resilient, and future-ready digital environments.

We thank our partners, clients, and team members for their continued trust and support as we move forward together.

IPCS — Securing Today. Enabling Tomorrow.procedures and the implementation of staged rollout policies to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Risk management

Risk management in the context of Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) is a fundamental process aimed at identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks that could impact the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of an organization’s information assets. Here’s how risk management is typically carried out as per ISMS:

1. Establishing the Context:
   • Define the scope of your ISMS, including the assets to be protected and the boundaries of your system.
   • Identify relevant legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements that impact your organization’s information security.
2. Risk Identification:
   • Identify potential threats, vulnerabilities, and risks to your information assets. This can involve various methods such as risk assessments, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing.
   • Categorize information assets based on their criticality and sensitivity.
3. Risk Assessment:
   • Assess the likelihood and impact of each identified risk. This assessment helps in determining the level of risk associated with each threat.
   • Assign a risk rating to each risk based on the likelihood and impact assessments.
4. Risk Evaluation:
   • Evaluate the identified risks in the context of your organization. Consider risk tolerance, compliance requirements, and other relevant factors.
   • Prioritize risks based on their potential impact on your organization’s objectives.
5. Risk Treatment:
   • Develop a risk treatment plan that outlines how each risk will be managed. This can include strategies like risk avoidance, risk mitigation, risk transfer, or acceptance.
   • Define security controls and measures to address and reduce the identified risks.
6. Monitoring and Review:
   • Continuously monitor and review the effectiveness of the implemented risk treatment measures.
   • Update the risk management process as necessary to address new threats or changes in the organization’s environment.
7. Documentation:
   • Maintain thorough records of the risk management process, including risk assessments, treatment plans, and monitoring activities.
8. Communication and Training:
   • Ensure that all relevant stakeholders are aware of the identified risks, treatment plans, and security measures.
   • Provide training to employees to ensure they understand their roles in risk management.
9. Integration with ISMS:
   • Integrate risk management activities seamlessly into your organization’s ISMS. This ensures that risk management becomes an ongoing and integral part of your security framework.
10. Continuous Improvement:
    • Use the results of risk assessments and monitoring to inform the continuous improvement of your ISMS and information security practices.

In summary, risk management in accordance with ISMS is an iterative and proactive process that helps organizations identify and mitigate information security risks. By systematically evaluating threats and vulnerabilities and implementing appropriate controls, organizations can protect their sensitive data and maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their information assets.

Establish explicit central contacts for advice
To serve as a bridge between various business areas and IT and to provide informal guidance, you could select IT guardians or mentors. Setting up an email address can be all that is necessary.

Empower your team to recognise cybersecurity warning signs
For instance, a generic greeting (Dear Customer), subpar logos, spelling errors, a deadline, phoney domain names, inconsistent sender information, etc. All of these are indicators of a cyberattack. If your staff is aware of these symptoms, you can act swiftly to prevent more damage.

Verify the password
Weak passwords are one of the most frequent reasons for a cybersecurity breach, and people frequently reuse them across all of their accounts. According to a survey by Specops Software, 51.61% of respondents reveal the passwords to their streaming websites, while another 21.43% are unsure if the passwords are then shared with others.

Put multi-factor authentication to use
With multi-factor authentication, at least one additional method of personal identification is required in order to access software or complete a transaction.

It might be as easy as keying in a word that comes to mind or using a passcode from a text message or special app.

Maintain software updates
Any software that isn’t company-wide or available on mobile devices should be avoided. Patches to address security flaws are frequently released, and failing to use them puts you vulnerable to intrusions. Not only are software updates crucial for system performance, but they are also essential for cybersecurity.

Deploy only authorised connections and equipment
With the popularity of hybrid working, cyberattacks are becoming more dangerous than ever. Nowadays, employees work increasingly frequently from home or while travelling. They can be tempted to utilise their own gadgets or connect to unsecured networks at home. To enhance security against cyber dangers, this must be avoided.

Make a “culture of challenge” for new people.
Encourage all employees to carry identification or a security permit at all times so that others may quickly determine who is authorised and who is not.

Although you might be reluctant to act because of the bystander effect and it might be embarrassing, doing so is necessary to protect the business.

Don’t assume someone walking in with a colleague is with them, be extra cautious when entering access codes to a door or building in public spaces, and be aware of tailgaters.

Watch out for imitation
You are more susceptible to impersonation if your name and job title are known to the general public. Establish ground rules with your coworkers if you are in a senior position or have the authority to request payments. As an illustration, always reach out to them directly by phone, codewords, etc. Dual authorization should be used for significant payments. To stop CEO fraud, demand PO numbers for all significant payments.

Clearly define your procedures with customers and suppliers
Insist on direct contact through designated individuals or codewords for significant changes in terms, payments, etc. when speaking with or exchanging information with new customers and suppliers.

Make sure to carry out due investigation and vetting before allowing any third party access to your property to avoid physical risks.

Check your systems for weaknesses
What flaws are hidden in your own systems? Are you aware? If there is any slack or a break from “business as usual” chores, now might be a good moment to strengthen security, secure the parameter, and perform penetration testing. Sounds like a wise financial move?

Keep important personal verification information separate
Make that the right organisational or technical safeguards are in place to protect personal data. This can both prevent and lessen the effects of cyberattacks (by, for instance, storing CVV codes apart from other card information).

Purchase related domains for the web
To lessen the possibility that customers, suppliers, or your team would be deceived by emails from fake addresses or links to spoof websites, think about purchasing a number of related domain names. This is a financial investment in cyber threat defence.

Want to learn more about Information Security?

---

SEC Files Charges Over $14 Million Crypto Scam Using Fake AI-Themed Investment Tips

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against multiple companies for their alleged involvement in an elaborate cryptocurrency scam that swindled more than $14 million from retail investors.

The complaint charged crypto asset trading platforms Morocoin Tech Corp., Berge Blockchain Technology Co., Ltd., and Cirkor Inc., as well as investment clubs AI Wealth Inc., Lane Wealth Inc., AI Investment Education Foundation (AIIEF) Ltd., and Zenith Asset Tech Foundation, in connection with the operation.

The SEC said the scam unfolded as a multi-step fraud that enticed unsuspecting users with ads on social media and built trust with them through group chats in which the scammers posed as financial professionals and promised returns from artificial intelligence (AI)-generated investment tips.

The fraudsters then convinced the victims to invest their funds into fake cryptocurrency asset trading platforms, only to defraud them later.

According to the SEC, AI Wealth, Lane Wealth, AIIEF, and Zenith operated investment clubs on messaging apps like WhatsApp to which retail investors were lured into joining via ads on social media. While AI Wealth and Lane Wealth operated their WhatsApp groups from at least January 2024 to June 2024, AIIEF and Zenith ran from at least July 2024 to January 2025.

The complaint alleges an unnamed individual based in Beijing, China, paid for the registrations of AI Wealth, Lane Wealth, and Zenith. The details of the cryptocurrency platforms are as follows –

• Morocoin Tech Corp. – Established around December 2023 and accessible at h5.morocoin[.]top (Currently delinquent)
• Berge Blockchain Technology Co., Ltd. – Established around June 2022 and accessible at www.bergev[.]org (Currently delinquent)
• Cirkor Inc. – Established around May 2024 and accessible at www.cirkortrading[.]com (Administratively dissolved in October 2025)

Each of these clubs included a “professor” who sent updates to investors via WhatsApp on macroeconomic conditions or commentary on stocks and an “assistant” who handled day-to-day interactions with participants. These personas also send trade recommendations that they falsely claimed were based on AI-generated “signals.”

“The clubs gained investors’ confidence with supposedly AI-generated investment tips before luring investors to open and fund accounts on purported crypto asset trading platforms Morocoin, Berge, and Cirkor, which falsely claimed to have government licenses, as alleged,” the SEC said.

“The investment clubs and platforms then allegedly offered ‘Security Token Offerings’ that were purportedly issued by legitimate businesses. In reality, no trading took place on the trading platforms, which were fake, and the Security Token Offerings and their purported issuing companies did not exist.”

The AI Wealth and Lane Wealth WhatsApp groups are said to have promoted an STO of a cryptocurrency asset called SCT, purportedly issued by the company SatCommTech. Likewise, the AIIEF and Zenith WhatsApp groups advertised an STO of another crypto asset called HMB that was issued by HumanBlock. Both SatCommTech and HumanBlock have been identified as fictitious.

To make matters worse, when investors attempted to withdraw their funds, the bogus platforms defrauded them a second time by demanding that they pay advance fees to gain access to money in their accounts. In the end, the platforms cut off investors’ access to their services.

The ill-gotten proceeds, totaling at least $14 million, were moved overseas through a web of bank accounts and crypto asset wallets, in some cases through accounts held by Chinese or Burmese individuals located in Southeast Asia. Of the total misappropriated funds, cryptocurrency assets account for at least $7.4 million, and fiat currency accounts for $6.6 million.

---