The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has several rulebooks that outline the regulatory framework for financial institutions operating in Bahrain. These rulebooks serve as a comprehensive set of regulations and guidelines covering various aspects of banking, insurance, capital markets, and other financial activities. A part of it encompasses recommended procedures for safeguarding sensitive information, securing transactions, and identifying vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity policy of financial institutions.
The Control Guidelines in Appendix C of the Central Bank of Bahrain Rulebook provide a framework consisting of five core tasks for managing cybersecurity risk in financial institutions. These tasks should be performed concurrently and continuously to establish an operational culture that effectively addresses dynamic cybersecurity risks. The five core tasks are:
Identify:
Develop a comprehensive understanding of cybersecurity risks to systems, people, assets, data, and capabilities across the entire bank. This involves understanding the business context, critical functions, and related risks to prioritize efforts and align with the bank’s risk management strategy.
Protect:
Implement appropriate safeguards to ensure the delivery of critical services and mitigate the impact of potential cybersecurity incidents.
Detect:
Establish and implement activities to promptly identify cybersecurity incidents.
Respond:
Develop and implement appropriate actions to address detected cybersecurity incidents and contain their impact.
Recover:
Develop and implement activities to maintain resilience plans and restore any impaired capabilities or services resulting from cybersecurity incidents.
In recent years, the importance of these controls has only increased. According to the IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024, the average cost of a data breach in the financial sector exceeded $6.08 million, with compromised credentials remaining the leading attack vector. In 2025, regulators across the GCC continue to place stronger emphasis on identity controls, privileged access governance, and continuous monitoring as foundational elements of cyber resilience.
OM-5.5.18 outlines the preventive measures that conventional bank licensees in Bahrain must implement to minimize their exposure to cybersecurity risks. It recommends the following measures regarding privileged access management (PAM):
Use of Privileged Access Management (PAM) for Bahrain companies
Bahrain companies are recommended to implement PAM solutions to secure, control, manage, and monitor privileged access to critical assets. This involves implementing measures such as strong authentication, granular access controls, and monitoring of privileged account activities.
Limiting Exploitation and Monitoring
Utilizing identity and access management solutions to limit the exploitation of both privileged and non-privileged accounts. This includes monitoring the use of these accounts to detect any unauthorized or suspicious activities.
Overall, the focus is on implementing robust controls and monitoring mechanisms to manage and secure privileged access within the organization’s systems and networks. These measures help minimize the risk of unauthorized access, privilege abuse, and potential security breaches.
Besides giving you a peace of mind compliance wise, Privileged Access Manager (PAM) can be a cost-efficient solution for Bahrain companies that covers such tasks as investigating incidents, securing remote and vendor access and allow you to prepare for audits effortlessly.
Request a demo and we will show you how PAM can be your best IT security investment.
