Cybersecurity is at the heart of Saudi Vision 2030

Saudi Arabia has entered the final phase of its Vision 2030 journey with unbelievable momentum. 

The Kingdom’s latest progress report outlines significant achievements across smart cities, e-government, digital health, and national infrastructure, all rooted in a broader ambition to build a sustainable and diversified economy.

With over $100 billion invested in AI and digital innovation, Saudi Arabia is not just participating in the global digital transformation; it is shaping it. These investments reflect the Kingdom’s steadfast commitment to becoming a global hub for advanced technologies and future-ready industries.

To date, 85 percent of Vision 2030 initiatives have been completed and are on the right track. Ninety-three percent  of performance indicators have either been achieved, exceeded, or are nearing their targets, with eight key goals reached six years ahead of schedule. This is not incremental change. It is truly remarkable accelerated progress that brings with it new demands for digital trust, resilience, and security.

The unseen infrastructure behind national progress

The more connected a nation becomes, the more it must rely on invisible layers of digital trust. As innovation advances through AI enabled services, cloud first platforms and autonomous infrastructure, the complexity of what must be secured grows.

These interdependencies create opportunity, but they also raise the stakes. A disruption to any critical system such as healthcare, a public utilities, or logistics can have cascading effects across sectors. This is why cybersecurity today is not just a matter of protection, but of national continuity and operational assurance.

In Saudi Arabia, the nation’s transformation has been supported by strong national cyber frameworks and risk governance models. Institutions like the National Cybersecurity Authority have played a central role in setting baseline standards, encouraging public and private sector collaboration, and promoting a unified approach to digital risk management. As digital adoption deepens, this strong foundation is enabling organizations across the Kingdom to embed cybersecurity into design, adopt intelligence-led strategies, and approach resilience as a shared responsibility across the entire ecosystem.

Meeting complexity with agility

With this accelerated innovation comes the complexity of securing it. The challenge today is not simply defending fixed assets, but safeguarding dynamic, adaptive digital environments. Threat actors are increasingly leveraging AI to automate attacks, compromise supply chains, and exploit new technologies faster than legacy systems can respond.

This demands a shift toward cybersecurity architectures that are intelligent, integrated, and continuously learning. 

From behavioral analytics to zero-trust models, the tools to meet these challenges exist, however they need to be implemented with speed, scale, and alignment across sectors. 

As noted in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 report on GCC cyber resilience, regional leadership in cybersecurity now hinges on sustained collaboration, cross-border intelligence sharing, and sector-specific threat modeling.

Saudi Arabia is helping lead that shift. In 2024, Saudi Arabia’s cybersecurity market reached SR13.3 billion ($3.55 billion), including SR2.8 billion in investments from critical infrastructure sectors. These figures reflect not only a response to risk, but a recognition that cybersecurity is fundamental to sustained economic growth.

At Trend Micro, we see this transition underway. We are working with public and private sector partners across the Kingdom to advance these capabilities by helping organizations adopt AI-powered threat detection, secure hybrid environments, and embed resilience into digital transformation from the ground up. From enhancing critical infrastructure protections to supporting secure AI innovation, our role is to help ensure that progress remains protected at every level.

Securing the vision

Saudi Arabia’s ability to maintain its leadership in digital innovation will rest not only on how fast it moves, but on how securely it builds. Cybersecurity is the thread that weaves continuity into transformation, ensuring that every new platform, every digital touchpoint, and every citizen service can be trusted at scale.

As Vision 2030 enters its final stretch, cybersecurity must remain integrated into the core of decision-making. From infrastructure investment and AI deployment to policymaking and ecosystem design. It is not a constraint on progress. Rather, it is the assurance that progress endures.

• Wasna Ben Gassem is Trend Micro’s managing director in Saudi Arabia.