Penetration Testing Companies in Saudi Arabia 2026

Saudi Arabia's cybersecurity market is projected to grow from US$4.98 billion in 2026 to US$7.81 billion by 2031 at a 9.4% CAGR, per MarketsandMarkets. The biggest 2026 procurement signal: NCA ECC-2:2024 expanded the Essential Cybersecurity Controls from 59 to 110 controls (NCA Regulatory Documents), with periodic penetration testing now mandatory for government entities and critical national infrastructure operators. Add DORA-equivalent SAMA Cyber Security Framework requirements for financial institutions and PDPL for personal-data protection, and KSA buyers are running more pentests in 2026 than at any prior point.

This guide ranks the pentest firms KSA enterprises actually shortlist in 2026. We checked each vendor against KSA delivery capacity (Riyadh / Jeddah / Khobar office or MENA-aware staff), NCA ECC-2:2024 mapping in their service catalog, public credentials of the team, and named regional customer base.

At a glance: The 2026 ranking

Stingrai is ranked #1 for KSA buyers because the London office covers GMT+3 delivery in real time, the firm itself holds CREST accreditation as a penetration testing service provider, each engagement is staffed by a named two-person tester team holding OSCE³, OSWE, OSEP, CREST CRT and CISSP with 18 published CVEs behind them, the scope spans web and API testing across every user role, AWS and Azure with Entra ID, internal and external networks with segmentation checks, Active Directory, social engineering and red teaming, Snipe covers the web application layer on one-time annual pentests or continuous programs, and the report, retest record and attestation letter map cleanly to NCA ECC-2:2024 control evidence. KSA-grown vendors like NourNet and Cipher remain stronger for SOC operations and managed security; the categories are complementary.

Why KSA pentest buying changed in 2026

NCA ECC-2:2024 raised the floor. The National Cybersecurity Authority's updated Essential Cybersecurity Controls expanded scope from 59 to 110 controls and now require periodic penetration testing of critical systems (NCA). Government ministries, agencies, and operators of critical national infrastructure are inside the scope automatically. Private-sector critical infrastructure operators are pulled in by sector regulator overlay.

SAMA tightens financial-services pentest. The Saudi Central Bank's Cyber Security Framework requires regular pentests and assurance reports for licensed financial institutions, with stricter expectations on threat intelligence-led testing for major banks.

Vision 2030 mega-projects multiply the attack surface. NEOM, The Line, Qiddiya, AlUla, ROSHN, and Diriyah Gate are all scaling cloud, OT, identity, and citizen-facing services. Each one is procuring offensive testing capacity at scale.

PDPL went into full enforcement in 2024. Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law is now enforced by SDAIA. Organizations handling personal data must perform impact assessments and demonstrate security controls, which buyers translate to pentest evidence.

How we ranked the top KSA pentest vendors 2026

Five filters:

1. KSA delivery capacity. Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, or other in-country office, or a London office covering GMT+3.

2. Technical depth. Team certifications (OSCP, OSWE, OSCE3, OSEP, CREST CRT/CCT, CRTO, eWPTX), published CVEs, conference talks.

3. Regulatory fit. NCA ECC-2:2024 mapping, SAMA, PDPL, and where relevant ISO 27001 and PCI DSS 4.0 alignment.

4. Reporting quality. Reports that fit an internal stakeholder, NCA evidence, and the board reader without rework.

5. Customer base. Named KSA, GCC, or MENA customers in the buyer's sector.

Vendors who only resell tooling without local engagement capacity were excluded.

The ranked list

1. Stingrai (Toronto, CA + London, UK)

World-Class Offensive Security.

Stingrai is a global CREST-accredited penetration testing services company founded in Toronto, Canada in 2021, trusted by companies from startups to enterprises to meet audit requirements for SOC 2, ISO 27001, CMMC, PCI DSS and HIPAA. OSCE³, OSWE, OSEP, CREST CRT certified pentesters, who are also world-class security researchers and bug bounty hunters. Choose from fully human-led or hybrid (AI agents plus human penetration testers) engagements across web, API, mobile, AI and LLM, cloud, network, Active Directory and social engineering penetration tests and red team engagements.

Engagements are run by a named two-person tester team holding OSCE³, OSWE, OSEP, CREST CRT and CISSP, backed by 18 published CVEs across the team and Hall of Fame credits at Apple, Google, the US Department of Defense and the US Federal Reserve, including a founding member of Uber's offensive security team. For KSA buyers that usually means role-based authorization testing across a web application and associated APIs, a cloud review covering cross-account IAM in AWS or app registrations and Conditional Access in Azure and Entra ID, internal and external network testing with segmentation checks, and delivery in GMT+3 business hours from the London office. Findings post to the PTaaS portal as they are confirmed, each with a working proof of concept, live chat with the assigned penetration testers runs for the length of the test, retesting is included, and every human-led and hybrid report ships with an attestation letter and a verified badge, on a one-time engagement or a continuous program. Explore the PTaaS platform.

The work is hands-on rather than tool-led. The two testers move through the application or the network the way an intruder would, turning a weak role check into another tenant's data, a forgotten service account into domain admin or an over-permissive cross-account role into the production bucket, and each step is written up with a working proof of concept and posted to the portal as it is confirmed.

Stingrai is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with a London, UK office. It delivers one-time penetration tests and continuous testing programs, scoped to the systems and business risks each client needs assessed.

Services and scope

• Application security: web applications and APIs tested black, grey and white box, authenticated across every user role, for broken authorization and IDOR, business logic flaws, injection and session handling, against the OWASP Top 10 and ASVS; mobile applications on iOS and Android, with static and dynamic analysis of the IPA or APK, Keychain and Keystore storage, certificate pinning and root detection bypass, Frida instrumentation and the REST or GraphQL backend, against OWASP MASVS and MASTG; and AI and LLM systems, covering prompt injection, system prompt leakage, insecure output handling, agent tool misuse and excessive agency, and the Bedrock, Azure OpenAI or Vertex AI infrastructure behind them, against the OWASP LLM Top 10 and MITRE ATLAS.

• Network and cloud security: internal and external networks, from perimeter enumeration through lateral movement, privilege escalation and segmentation testing; Active Directory, for misconfiguration, ACL abuse and Kerberos and delegation attack paths up to domain admin; Wi-Fi, on site or remotely; and cloud environments in AWS, Azure with Entra ID and Google Cloud, covering cross-account role assumption, resource and bucket policies, instance metadata abuse, app registrations, consent grants, Conditional Access gaps and service account impersonation chains.

• Social engineering: phishing campaigns and vishing, plus physical security assessments of perimeter and facility entry.

• Adversary simulation: red teaming on assumed breach, full black-box chain or threat intelligence-led scenarios, and purple teaming run against real-world TTPs alongside your own security operations team.

Delivery and evidence

Every human-led engagement is staffed with a two-person tester team, named to the client and reviewed by the team lead and an engagement partner. Findings are posted to the PTaaS portal as they are confirmed, each with a working proof of concept, reproduction steps and prioritised remediation guidance, so fixing starts before the report exists. Live chat with those same penetration testers runs for the length of the test, findings push into Jira, GitHub and Slack, and reports are redactable PDFs with an executive dashboard behind them. Retesting of remediated findings is included, and every human-led and hybrid report ships with an attestation letter and a verified badge, which is the artifact an NCA ECC-2:2024 evidence pack or a SAMA-aligned review actually asks for. CREST accreditation applies to Stingrai Inc itself as a penetration testing service provider at the firm level; it is separate from the CREST CRT certifications individual testers hold.

Where Snipe fits

Snipe is Stingrai's autonomous AI penetration testing agent, and its scope is web applications and their APIs, not the rest of the estate. It runs a swarm of specialist agents across recon, authentication, access control, business logic, injection and remote code execution, reaching the classes generic scanners stop short of, including IDOR, broken authorization and business logic flaws. It works black box, authenticated grey box across user roles and white box against the source, opens AutoFix pull requests for confirmed vulnerabilities and can run as a gating check on every pull request. It was trained on more than 6,000 HackerOne Hacktivity disclosure reports and on Stingrai's own penetration testers' methodology. The Autonomous package is Snipe on its own; on a Hybrid engagement Stingrai's penetration testers test the same application alongside it from start to finish, directing where it looks and extending the attack paths it surfaces. Mobile, AI and LLM, cloud, network, Active Directory, social engineering, and red and purple team scopes are human-led and quoted separately.

Pricing and fit: The published Autonomous package is US$3,000 per assessment, or US$650 per month on a 12-month plan, for one web application and associated APIs; the Hybrid package, which puts penetration testers on that same application alongside Snipe, is US$6,800 per assessment or US$1,275 per month. Everything else, including mobile, AI and LLM, cloud, network, Active Directory, social engineering and red team work, is scoped and quoted individually: request a quote. Best for: KSA enterprises that need NCA ECC-2:2024 or SAMA-mappable evidence from a CREST-accredited provider working GMT+3 hours, annually or continuously.

2. Cipher (a Prosegur company)

Cipher is the global MSSP arm of Prosegur and operates a regional security team in Riyadh. Services span SOC, threat intelligence, and pentest. Cipher's regional team carries CREST and OSCP credentials and supports NCA-aligned reporting.

Best for: large enterprises buying a single MSSP for both managed security and periodic pentest in MENA.

3. NourNet

NourNet is a Saudi-grown national cloud services provider with cybersecurity services including managed SOC, MDR, and pentest. Strong fit for government entities and KSA buyers that prefer a national champion with PIF-aligned governance.

Best for: KSA government and large enterprises that prioritize a national champion vendor.

4. RedTeam Labs (Cochin + KSA delivery)

RedTeam Hacker Academy / RedTeam Labs operates pentest engagements across the GCC with cost-effective specialist teams in network, API, and web app testing. Some KSA clients procure them for tactical pentest cycles.

Best for: mid-market KSA buyers seeking cost-effective tactical pentest cycles.

5. Buguard

Buguard is a Saudi-grown offensive security and GRC startup. The team specializes in web, mobile, and cloud pentest with a strong story around NCA ECC compliance evidence.

Best for: KSA SaaS, fintech, and SME buyers that want a local KSA-grown vendor.

6. NTG Clarity Networks

NTG Clarity is Toronto-headquartered with a strong KSA delivery practice serving telecom, energy, and infrastructure clients. Cybersecurity services include pentest, governance advisory, and network engineering.

Best for: telecom, energy, and infrastructure operators needing integrated pentest with engineering depth.

7. SITE (Saudi Information Technology Company)

SITE is a national cybersecurity champion under the Public Investment Fund. Cybersecurity services span national-level threat intelligence, SOC, and assurance services. Pentest is one element of a broader national capability story.

Best for: government and PIF-portfolio entities procuring cybersecurity at national scale.

8. CyberKnight Technologies

CyberKnight is a leading MENA value-added distributor and partner ecosystem builder, with pentest delivery through its regional partner network. KSA delivery is via channel partners with CyberKnight enablement.

Best for: buyers who already procure security tooling through CyberKnight and want a partner-led pentest add-on.

9. Innovative Solutions

Innovative Solutions is a Riyadh-based cybersecurity advisory and managed services firm focused on NCA-aligned governance, risk assessments, and pentest cycles. Long-standing KSA presence.

Best for: governance-led pentest buyers needing NCA mapping in the deliverable.

10. SecurityMatterz

SecurityMatterz provides comprehensive cybersecurity services including managed SOC, advisory, and pentest. Mid-market KSA buyer focus.

Best for: KSA mid-market that wants a single regional vendor for periodic pentest and ongoing governance.

11. Securisea

Securisea operates specialist OT and infrastructure pentest engagements with delivery from Khobar. OT pentest is a constrained capability in KSA and Securisea is one of the few regional vendors with named OT customers.

Best for: OT-heavy industrial buyers (oil and gas, petrochem, utilities) needing specialist OT pentest.

Comparison table

Enterprise vs SME: which KSA vendor profile do you need?

Government and PIF-portfolio entities. SITE, NourNet, Innovative Solutions for governance-led mapping; Stingrai for annual pentests and AI-augmented continuous testing of public-facing applications; Securisea for OT scope.

Financial services under SAMA. Stingrai, Cipher, and NourNet for SAMA-aligned pentest; Buguard for SAR / fintech.

KSA SaaS, fintech, and Vision 2030 program offices. Stingrai for annual pentests and AI-augmented continuous PTaaS; Buguard for KSA-grown alignment; RedTeam Labs for tactical cycles.

Oil, gas, and petrochem. Securisea for OT pentest; NTG Clarity for telecom and infrastructure crossover; Stingrai for IT-side scope.

What KSA buyers should ask every shortlisted vendor

1. What is your team certification stack? OSCP is the floor, OSWE and OSCE3 signal senior depth, CREST CRT is the regional gold standard.

2. Does the firm hold CREST firm-level accreditation? Distinct from individual CREST CRT.

3. How does your report map to NCA ECC-2:2024 controls? Mature vendors annotate findings against specific control IDs.

4. What is the retest policy and what does it cost? 90-day free retest is the floor for serious vendors.

5. Where does my data reside during and after engagement? KSA data residency for regulated workloads.

6. What is the named lead consultant's KSA experience? Vision 2030 mega-project experience is a real differentiator.

7. What is your turnaround from kickoff to draft report? 10 business days for a 10-day engagement is standard.

8. What public CVEs has your team published? Original research is the cleanest proof of finding capacity.

Methodology note

This ranking is the Stingrai research team's curated 2026 view of the KSA pentest vendor landscape. Vendor profiles were verified against company About pages, NCA's published guidance, the CREST member directory, Crunchbase, and public CVE attributions on cve.mitre.org. Market sizing pulled from MarketsandMarkets, Mordor Intelligence, and NCA studies. Vendors who do not productize pentest, red team, or offensive security as a primary offering were excluded. Stingrai is a CREST-accredited penetration testing service provider, accredited at the firm level, founded in 2021 and headquartered in Toronto with a London office. Engagements are run by a named two-person tester team holding OSCE³, OSWE, OSEP, CREST CRT and CISSP, backed by 18 published CVEs across the team and Hall of Fame credits at Apple, Google, the US Department of Defense and the US Federal Reserve, including a founding member of Uber's offensive security team. For KSA buyers that usually means role-based authorization testing across a web application and associated APIs, a cloud review covering cross-account IAM in AWS or app registrations and Conditional Access in Azure and Entra ID, internal and external network testing with segmentation checks, and delivery in GMT+3 business hours from the London office. Findings post to the PTaaS portal as they are confirmed, each with a working proof of concept, live chat with the assigned penetration testers runs for the length of the test, retesting is included, and every human-led and hybrid report ships with an attestation letter and a verified badge, on a one-time engagement or a continuous program. Every numeric claim links to a primary source so any figure can be audited inline.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the best penetration testing company in Saudi Arabia in 2026?

For NCA ECC-2:2024 evidence mapping with GMT+3 delivery, annual or continuous, Stingrai is the strongest pick: a firm-level CREST-accredited provider whose London office covers MENA in real-time business hours, staffing each engagement with a named two-person tester team holding OSCE³, OSWE, OSEP, CREST CRT and CISSP, covering web and API testing across every user role, cloud, network, Active Directory, social engineering and red teaming, with Snipe on the web application layer. For KSA-grown SOC and managed security overlays, NourNet and Cipher are the most established. For OT-heavy industrial buyers, Securisea. Most KSA enterprises shortlist 2-3 vendors and pick by scope.

What is the KSA cybersecurity market size in 2026?

US$4.98 billion in 2026, growing to US$7.81 billion by 2031 at 9.4% CAGR, per MarketsandMarkets.

What is NCA ECC-2:2024 and how does it affect pentest buying?

NCA ECC-2:2024 is the updated Essential Cybersecurity Controls from the National Cybersecurity Authority. It expanded the control set from 59 to 110 and made periodic penetration testing of critical systems mandatory for government entities and critical national infrastructure operators (NCA).

How does SAMA Cyber Security Framework affect KSA banks?

SAMA's Cyber Security Framework requires regular pentests, vulnerability management, and assurance reports for licensed financial institutions. Major banks face stricter expectations on threat intelligence-led testing.

What is PDPL and how does it relate to pentest?

The Personal Data Protection Law is Saudi Arabia's federal data protection regime, enforced by SDAIA since 2024. Organizations handling personal data must demonstrate security controls and impact assessments. Pentest is one piece of the evidence pack.

Can Stingrai deliver KSA pentest from London?

Yes. Stingrai's London office covers MENA, EMEA, and DACH in real-time business hours (GMT+3). KSA buyers get a named two-person tester team holding OSCE³, OSWE, OSEP, CREST CRT and CISSP, findings posted to the PTaaS portal as they are confirmed with a working proof of concept, live chat with those testers during the test, NCA-mapped reports, a retest of remediated findings and an attestation letter. Stingrai Inc is a CREST-accredited Penetration Testing service provider at the firm level, has 18 published CVEs across the team, and carries 5.0/5.0 across 20 Clutch reviews.

What is Snipe and who built it?

Snipe is Stingrai's AI-pentesting agent for web applications. Trained on 6,000+ HackerOne reports, Snipe runs both black-box dynamic testing and white-box code review, generates AutoFix pull requests, and can run as a PR-gating check on every pull request to block vulnerable code from being merged.

How often should a KSA enterprise run penetration tests?

NCA ECC-2:2024 requires periodic pentest of critical systems; SAMA requires regular pentest for financial institutions; PCI DSS 4.0 requires annual pentest for card-data environments. Most KSA enterprises run an annual external pentest plus continuous testing of major SaaS or web platforms, which is the 2026 floor.

What is the average cost of a data breach in the Middle East?

Per IBM's 2026 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the Middle East average reached approximately US$8 million in 2026, second only to the US (IBM).

What cybersecurity certifications matter most in KSA?

For pentest team credibility: OSCP, OSWE, OSCE3, OSEP, CREST CRT (entry), CREST CCT (senior), CISSP, CRTO. For the firm: CREST firm-level accreditation, ISO 27001 of the vendor itself, and named KSA customer references.

What this means for KSA security buyers in 2026

NCA ECC-2:2024 is the dominant procurement driver. SAMA, PDPL, and Vision 2030 mega-project scale put additional pressure on testing capacity. The vendors above are the ones with credible KSA delivery, NCA-mappable output, and the technical depth to find what scanners miss. Shortlist a national-champion vendor (NourNet, SITE, or Innovative Solutions), an AI-augmented pentest specialist (Stingrai), and an OT specialist if scope demands (Securisea).

Stingrai runs scoping calls with KSA enterprises looking for AI-augmented pentesting, annual or continuous, from our London office. Reach out via stingrai.io/contact or compare pricing options, or read our penetration testing cost guide.

Talk to Stingrai

Scoping a penetration test against what this guide covers takes one short conversation. Stingrai is a CREST-accredited penetration testing service provider at the firm level, headquartered in Toronto with a London office. A named two-person tester team holding OSCE³, OSWE, OSEP, CREST CRT and CISSP runs the engagement, backed by 18 published CVEs and Hall of Fame credits at Apple, Google, the US Department of Defense and the US Federal Reserve. For KSA buyers that usually means role-based authorization testing across a web application and associated APIs, a cloud review covering cross-account IAM in AWS or app registrations and Conditional Access in Azure and Entra ID, internal and external network testing with segmentation checks, and delivery in GMT+3 business hours from the London office. Findings are posted to the PTaaS portal as they are confirmed with a working proof of concept, retesting is included, and every human-led and hybrid report ships with an attestation letter and verified badge, on a one-time engagement or a continuous programme. Book a free scoping call, get a quote, or read the published pricing.

References

1. MarketsandMarkets. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Cybersecurity Market Report 2026-2031. 2026. https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/kingdom-of-saudi-arabia-cyber-security-market-3336684.html

2. National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA). Essential Cybersecurity Controls (ECC-2:2024). 2024. https://nca.gov.sa/en/regulatory-documents/controls-list/ecc/

3. Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). Cyber Security Framework. https://www.sama.gov.sa/

4. SDAIA. Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL). https://sdaia.gov.sa/

5. IBM. Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025. 2025. https://www.ibm.com/reports/data-breach

6. NCA. Studies and Reports. https://nca.gov.sa/en/studies-and-reports/

7. NourNet. Company website. https://www.nournet.com.sa/

8. Cipher (Prosegur Cipher). Company website. https://cipher.com/

9. Buguard. Company website. https://www.buguard.com/

10. CVE.org / MITRE. Stingrai-attributed CVE list. https://cve.mitre.org/