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Mexico’s Cybersecurity Gap: Many Plans, Few Real Results

Written by Adan Cuevas | Dec 22, 2025 5:18:21 PM

If you closely follow the digital landscape in Mexico, you already know that cybersecurity has become a recurring theme in official speeches, national plans, and institutional presentations. However, talking about digital security is one thing—being able to sustain it against a relentless threat environment is another.

The new 2025 Cybersecurity Report from the OAS (Organization of American States) and the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) points directly to the issue: Mexico is trapped between good intentions, poorly designed initiatives, and virtually nonexistent execution.

At TecnetOne, we believe this report isn’t just a regional diagnosis—it’s an uncomfortable mirror that reflects a reality many choose to ignore.

 

Cybersecurity Is No Longer Optional (Even If It’s Treated That Way)

 

Today, cybersecurity is a foundational pillar of economic development, institutional stability, and digital sovereignty. It’s not a tech add-on or a matter solely for IT teams. It affects finance, healthcare, energy, education, justice, and national security.

The OAS–IDB report is clear: while Latin America has made progress in rhetoric, the region remains highly vulnerable. And within that context, Mexico stands out for one persistent contradiction—growing public visibility, but extremely limited real capabilities.

 

Mexico: Ambitious Strategies, Weak Results

 

The report does acknowledge some initiatives that sound promising on paper, such as:

 

  1. The 2017 National Cybersecurity Strategy

  2. Creation of the Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency (ATDT) in 2025

  3. Inclusion of cybersecurity in the National Development Plan

  4. Voluntary adoption of frameworks like NIST and ISO/IEC 27001

  5. CERT-MX operations under the National Guard

  6. Participation in international forums and alliances

 

Read that list alone, and it sounds like solid progress. But the problem lies not in what's announced—it's in what actually works when a real incident occurs.

 

Learn more: Mexico at a Crossroads: Build a Strong Cybersecurity Strategy

 

The Numbers Don’t Match the Narrative

 

The OAS–IDB context forces us to get real. Mexico remains one of the most attacked countries in the world. In 2024 alone, there were hundreds of billions of intrusion attempts, and 2025 has seen no slowdown. These are not hypothetical threats—they’re constant, automated attacks happening multiple times per second.

Ransomware, phishing, credential theft, mass data leaks, and critical infrastructure attacks are recurring events. Yet, institutional capacity remains reactive, fragmented, and slow.

 

A Criminal Ecosystem That’s More Advanced Than the State

 

While public institutions crawl through bureaucracy, criminal groups move fast. They now operate with:

 

  1. Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) models

  2. Globally distributed infrastructure

  3. Advanced automation

  4. AI for fraud, phishing, and evasion

  5. Transnational collaboration

 

Meanwhile, Mexico responds with isolated awareness campaigns, occasional simulations, and underfunded, understaffed structures.

The report doesn't say it outright—but the message is clear: the state is several steps behind the adversary.

 

A Risky International Position

 

In global indexes like the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index, Mexico ranks in the middle—not at the bottom, but far from the leaders.

This reflects a hard truth: while Mexico may align its regulations and discourse with international standards, it still lacks technical capacity, human resources, threat intelligence sharing, and real coordination.

In a region where cyber threats evolve faster than institutional maturity, this middle ground isn’t neutral—it’s dangerous.

 

The Elephant in the Room: Underinvestment

 

One of the report’s most critical takeaways is Mexico’s chronic underinvestment in cybersecurity. While public–private alliances and SME support are mentioned, the reality is:

 

  1. Most organizations don’t know how much to invest—or where

  2. There are no clear impact metrics

  3. The talent gap is structural

  4. Public sector salaries and conditions don’t compete with the private sector

 

The result? Ambitious plans with insufficient resources to execute them.

 

Institutions That Exist, But Don’t Deliver

 

CERT-MX is a necessary institution—but it’s far from enough. High-impact incidents in recent years have exposed gaps in:

 

  1. Digital forensic capabilities

  2. Training for the judicial system

  3. Protection of critical infrastructure

  4. Coordination across government levels

  5. Continuity between administrations

 

Every presidential term resets priorities, restructures agencies, and rediagnoses the same problem—while attackers don't take political breaks.

 

Similar titles: Coatlicue: Supercomputer Without Digital Foundations in Mexico

 

The Real Problem: A Gap Between Plans and Reality

 

From a critical lens, the biggest value of the OAS–IDB report isn’t listing initiatives—it’s exposing a hard truth: Mexico’s problem isn’t the lack of strategy, it’s the inability to execute it consistently.

There’s a massive gap between:

 

  1. Adopting an international framework and applying it

  2. Creating an agency and empowering it

  3. Talking about coordination and actually doing it

  4. Acknowledging risk and funding mitigation

 

As long as that gap exists, every document will remain a well-written PDF—nothing more.

 

What Actually Needs to Change

 

Closing that gap requires uncomfortable decisions—not just press releases. Key priorities include:

 

  1. Significantly and sustainably increasing cybersecurity budgets

  2. Executing (not just announcing) the National Cybersecurity Plan 2025–2030

  3. Professionalizing and retaining specialized talent

  4. Structurally integrating the private sector—not just symbolically

  5. Strengthening oversight, audits, and enforcement mechanisms

  6. Treating cybersecurity as state policy—not a six-year project

 

At TecnetOne, we repeat one fundamental point: cybersecurity is not an expense or bureaucratic hurdle—it’s a basic requirement for Mexico to function in today’s digital world.

 

Conclusion: The Opportunity Is Real—But Won’t Last Forever

 

Mexico still has a real chance to turn its high exposure into a strategic advantage. Reports like the one from the OAS and IDB offer clarity, benchmarks, and concrete warnings.

But unless those insights translate into sustained action, the gap between narrative and reality will only grow. And in an increasingly hostile cyber landscape, inaction is not neutral—it has mounting economic, social, and political costs.

The question is no longer whether Mexico needs to strengthen cybersecurity. The question is whether it’s ready to go beyond the paper and finally do it.