A Listonics cyber security audit reviews the five places a Dubai office is usually exposed: identity and MFA, email, devices, the network perimeter and backup. Findings are measured against the CIS controls and the NIST framework at the small-organisation level, ranked by risk and paired with a fix. Audits are fixed price; projects run from AED 2,500 to AED 30,000 depending on requirement.
Part of our guide to Cybersecurity.
What does a cyber security audit actually check?
Not everything, deliberately. An audit that tries to cover every control in an enterprise framework produces a document nobody reads and a list nobody funds. Ours follows the way small offices are actually breached, which is remarkably consistent: a password reused or phished, a mailbox taken over, an unpatched laptop, a flat network where one infected device reaches everything, and a backup that turns out not to exist. Those five areas are the audit.
The measuring stick is public and respected. The CIS Critical Security Controls publish an implementation group specifically for small organisations, and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework gives the identify, protect, detect, respond and recover structure the report follows. The UK's NCSC Cyber Essentials scheme is a useful third reference because it distils the same ground into five technical controls a small business can actually meet. We use all three as references rather than selling certification against any of them.
- Identity: admin accounts, MFA coverage, conditional access, leaver process, password reuse.
- Email: anti-phishing configuration, spoofing protection for your domain, forwarding rules, mailbox audit.
- Devices: patch state, encryption, endpoint protection, local admin rights, personal devices.
- Network: firewall rules, remote access, Wi-Fi segmentation, exposed services, printers and cameras.
- Backup and recovery: what is covered, where it lives, retention, and the last tested restore.
Why do Dubai offices need one now?
Because the questions are arriving whether or not the answers exist. Cyber insurance applications now ask for MFA coverage, backup testing and endpoint protection in writing. Larger clients send security questionnaires to their suppliers, including small ones. Regulated sectors have their own expectations, and the UAE Cyber Security Council publishes guidance that increasingly reaches down to small firms. An office that has never been audited answers these from memory, and memory is usually optimistic.
The other reason is the shape of the threat. Ransomware groups do not distinguish between a bank and a ten-person consultancy; they automate against whatever is exposed. The CISA #StopRansomware guide sets out the same basic controls our audit checks, which is a reminder that the defences are known and mostly cheap. What small offices lack is not the technology but someone who has verified it is switched on.
How does the audit run?
A scoping call agrees which systems are in and who holds access. The review then has three parts. Remote configuration review of the Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant, the firewall and the backup platform, done with read-only administrator access. A site visit to look at devices, the network as it is actually wired, the Wi-Fi, and the physical things that matter such as who can walk up to a logged-in workstation. And a set of controlled checks: we confirm MFA is enforced rather than merely enabled, that a spoofed email from your own domain is rejected, that a test file can be restored from backup, and that the guest Wi-Fi cannot reach the office network.
Nothing destructive is attempted. This is a security audit, not a penetration test; where a finding suggests a penetration test would be worthwhile, the report says so and we can arrange one through a specialist. Our cybersecurity service page describes how the fixes are then delivered if you want us to carry them out.
What does the report contain?
A one-page summary for the owner or managing partner, then the findings. Each finding states what was observed, why it matters in plain language, the rating from critical to low, the recommended fix and an estimate of effort. Findings are ordered by risk, so the top of the list is what would let an attacker in this week and the bottom is hygiene that can wait for the next budget cycle.
The report also includes a short section written for the reader who asked for it: the insurer's questions answered with evidence, or the client questionnaire mapped to findings, or the regulator's expectations set against what was seen. That section is often the reason the audit was commissioned, so it is not buried. Where fixes are quoted, they are a separate document so the audit can be shared with anyone.
What does a cyber security audit cost in Dubai?
A cyber security audit is a fixed price agreed after the scoping call, set by the number of staff, sites and systems rather than by hours. Listonics projects run from AED 2,500 to AED 30,000 depending on requirement. A single small office on one cloud tenant sits toward the lower end; a multi-site business, a firm with a server and remote access, or an audit that must produce evidence for an insurer or regulator sits higher.
The remediation that follows is priced separately. Many of the critical findings in a typical small-office audit are configuration changes rather than purchases, so the fix list is often shorter and cheaper than owners expect. The cybersecurity for small business guide walks through what those baseline controls are.
How is this different from an IT audit?
Depth versus breadth. The IT audit covers the whole estate, including network health, device lifecycle, licences, documentation and dependencies, with security as one of six areas. The cyber security audit spends all of its time on security, goes deeper in each area, and measures against a named standard. If nobody has ever documented the office's IT, the IT audit should come first; a security review of an unknown estate spends its budget on discovery. If the IT is documented and the question is specifically whether it is safe, start here.
Why choose Listonics for a security audit in Dubai?
Because we secure offices for a living rather than auditing them from a template. The engineer reviewing your tenant configures the same controls for other Dubai offices every week, so findings come with the fix that actually worked elsewhere, not a generic recommendation. Reports are written for the person who will decide, evidence is included for whoever asked the question, and the audit fee buys the document alone, with no obligation to commission the remediation from us.
Frequently asked questions
It is a fixed price agreed after a scoping call, set by staff count, sites and systems rather than hours. Listonics projects run from AED 2,500 to AED 30,000 depending on requirement, with a single small office at the lower end and multi-site or evidence-grade audits higher. Remediation is quoted separately so the report stands alone.
No. An audit reviews configuration, controls and evidence to find where an office is exposed, using read-only access and controlled checks. A penetration test actively attempts to break in. Small offices almost always need the audit first, because it finds the basics a test would exploit; where a test is worthwhile, the report says so.
It answers the questions insurers ask with evidence: MFA coverage, endpoint protection, backup testing, patching and administrator control. The report includes a section mapping those questions to findings. Whether a given insurer accepts it is their decision, but an audited answer is far stronger than one written from memory.
Typically a remote configuration review, a site visit of half a day to a day, and a report within a week of the visit, followed by a walkthrough call. Nothing is changed during the audit and no destructive testing is performed, so the working day is not affected.
The CIS Critical Security Controls at the implementation group meant for small organisations, structured using the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, with the UK NCSC Cyber Essentials controls as a third reference. These are public, respected and achievable for a small office. We use them as references and do not sell certification against them.
MFA enabled but not enforced for every account, shared administrator passwords, forwarding rules nobody set, laptops without encryption, a flat network where guest Wi-Fi reaches the office, and a backup that has never been restored. Most are configuration fixes rather than purchases, which is why the remediation list is usually shorter and cheaper than owners expect.
If the office's IT has never been documented, the IT audit first: it covers the whole estate and gives the security review a known baseline. If the IT is documented and the question is specifically whether it is safe, or an insurer or client has asked, the cyber security audit. Many offices do the IT audit now and the security audit at the next renewal.
Written by Srinivasan Ramachandran, Founder, Listonics · Last reviewed October 8, 2026