To comply with the UAE PDPL, organisations must establish a lawful basis for processing personal data, obtain valid consent where required, and clearly define and communicate the purpose of data collection.
Organisations must implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. The PDPL expects controls that are tested and demonstrable, not policies that assert security without evidence. Further obligations include maintaining records of processing, conducting Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) for high-risk processing, appointing a Data Protection Officer where mandated, operating breach-notification procedures, and ensuring adequate safeguards for cross-border transfers.
Crossbow helps organisations meet these obligations across the full compliance lifecycle. We scope and map where personal data lives across your channels, storage, and sharing points, then assess your processes against every PDPL principle: lawful processing, individual rights, purpose, accuracy, retention, minimisation, security, and cross-border transfer.
We review the technical controls that protect the data, including network, application, and infrastructure security, backed by penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, and ASV scan review.
We then advise on closing the gaps, help you establish a privacy governance desk and define your DPO function through policy and procedure templates and clear workflows, and conduct Data Protection Impact Assessments. Remediation is carried out by your teams with Crossbow's advisory guidance.
Our phased approach
Crossbow delivers this as a structured, phased programme rather than a checklist:
Scoping
Kick-off, project plan, and a data inventory assessment: identifying PII data elements, the teams handling them, and mapping data flow across all channels.
Assessment
Review of the environment against PDPL privacy principles (consent, data ownership, retention, cross-border transfer) alongside a security controls review of identity and access, data storage and transfer, key and credential management, incident response, and data-loss prevention.
Governance and DPO setup
Advisory to establish your privacy governance desk: DPO roles and responsibilities, workflows for handling privacy queries and data breaches, and policy and procedure templates.
Remediation advisory
Your teams close the gaps, guided by Crossbow's remediation advisory.
Data Protection Impact Assessment
Assessment of implemented controls and the effectiveness of the processes and tools protecting personal data.
