The Science and Technology and Innovation Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, together with the Senate of the Republic, are preparing an initiative for a Federal Cybersecurity Law that could be ready in December of this year, and whose main approach will be to guarantee national security, after a recent hack to the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) by the Guacamaya group revealed the vulnerability of governments and companies.
Javier López Casarín, president of the Commission for Science and Technology and Innovation of the Chamber of Deputies, explained that there is currently a lag in terms of legislation, which has resulted in violations of government institutions, which is why it is urgent that the country has with a legal framework that already makes it possible to combat and punish cyber attacks in the face of the acceleration of digitization.
“The economy that is developing in cyberspace is leading to a permanent evolution and hacks are a greater risk. Now the ‘criminals’ (digital) are becoming something important that must be fought, and the government must understand the new circumstances and seek to shield the institutions”, said Deputy Casarín in an interview.
Mexico is one of the Latin American countries that has registered the most cyberattack attempts in the first half of this year. According to Fortinet, a cybersecurity company, the country suffered 85,000 million cyberattack attempts from January to June, which implies an increase of 40% compared to the same period last year.
Since 2019, various government institutions have been hacked: Pemex, the National Lottery, the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), Bancomext, the Ministry of Economy, and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). The last one was the Secretary of National Defense.
Given this scenario, the deputy revealed that he is seeking to promote the Federal Cybersecurity Law as a national security issue, which will imply that the Army is part of it. It will also require training for prosecutors, public ministries, as well as all personnel of the justice system. “The Federal Cybersecurity Law will give greater technological tools (to the armed forces) to be able to execute and prosecute crimes in cyberspace.”
A new National Cyber Security Agency?
Casarín revealed that the proposed Law also aims to create a National Cybersecurity Agency , which will be in charge of protecting against computer attacks, both from the public and private sectors and would be controlled by the Executive.
“Within the proposal, the creation of a National Cybersecurity Agency will be sought, but this will be later because it implies an investment to create a new government entity. Other nations that have faced these problems (of hacking) have seen that they require an area that can bring together or have control over what happens in the country”, assured the official.
Currently, Italy, the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States and Brazil are some places where they have a unit dedicated to cybersecurity issues.
