Riyadh, September 13, 2024 – Saudi Arabia has achieved a remarkable milestone in the realm of cybersecurity, securing the top position in the United Nations Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2024. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has acknowledged Saudi Arabia's exemplary performance by awarding it a Tier 1 – Role-modelling status among over 190 member states.
The GCI assesses countries’ cybersecurity commitments through 83 indicators divided into five key pillars: legal, organizational, cooperative, capacity development, and technical measures. Saudi Arabia received a perfect score of 100 out of 100, achieving full marks in each pillar with 20 out of 20 points.
The National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA) emphasized the importance of this index as a global benchmark for evaluating cybersecurity. Saudi Arabia’s exceptional performance across all five pillars highlights its prominent role in the field.
The NCA attributed this success to the strategic guidance and support from Saudi leadership, which has laid the groundwork for the Kingdom's cybersecurity framework. This framework, developed with the help of the Saudi Information Technology Company (SITE), focuses on centralized national cyber governance—covering assessment, response, and capacity building—while decentralizing operational responsibilities to national entities.
This approach has significantly bolstered national cybersecurity, enhanced technical sovereignty, and improved information sharing through international collaboration. The NCA noted that this achievement builds on Saudi Arabia’s recent top ranking in the cybersecurity sector as reported by the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook for 2024.
The authority highlighted that this global recognition reflects Saudi Arabia's unwavering commitment to cybersecurity excellence, achieved through robust collaboration among government bodies, private sector players, and non-profit organizations within the cybersecurity ecosystem.
As the national authority responsible for cybersecurity, the NCA aims to continue strengthening the Kingdom’s cybersecurity posture to protect vital interests, national security, critical infrastructure, high-priority sectors, and essential government services.