This is the first time that a numerical series is available that allows evaluating the performance of the cyber police at the national level in its fight against digital crimes. Until now, data on police elements was collected in a more general way, but this year the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) decided to modify its methodology, segmenting police forces to obtain more detailed information about security in the country. .
This report has even made it possible to break down the number of agents in the cyber police units in each of the 32 states of the country. According to the study data, Aguascalientes It has the largest presence of cybersecurity agents, with a total of 26 elements, while Quintana Roo, Michoacán and Mexico City have an average of four cyber police agents. In contrast, Baja California, Sinaloa, Tabasco and Jalisco are the regions that lack personnel in this security unit.
“Today, the command and control centers called C4, C5 and C3, depending on their specific functions, occasionally decide to incorporate cyber police agents, because they already have tools related to attacks or emerging problems in the digital field. However, The number of troops depends largely on the maturity reached by these command and control centers, as well as the strategy they choose to follow in the field of public and national security,” said Salma Jalife, president of the Centro México Digital ( CMD), explained in an interview with Expansion.
Mexico, target of cyber attacks
During the first half of this year, Mexico positioned itself as the second nation in Latin America in terms of attempted cyber attacks, registering a total of 14 billion, only behind Brazil, which reported 23 billion attempts, according to data provided by Fortinet, a company specialized in cybersecurity. In the midst of the growth of the wave of attacks in cyberspace, the need arises to have a greater number of experts specialized in the fight against this type of incidents. However, companies have highlighted the shortage of professionals with digital skills in the country.
Alberto Farca, vice president of projects at CMD, has refrained from passing judgment on whether the current number of agents in the cyber police is high or moderate, given that this security force is recently created, and this is the first time that There is a quantifiable metric. However, he has emphasized the need to analyze this number in light of the disparities between the different entities in confronting cybercrimes, as well as the training of elements.
“It is likely that both those already engaged in the fight against cybercrime and new recruits will need to acquire skills in the use of computer equipment, the analysis of large volumes of data and the detection of patterns in the commission of crimes in line, among other skills.
This is especially relevant in a context in which insecurity has reached national proportions and where organized crime is seeking new criminal avenues, including cyberspace.
A case was recently reported in Teocaltiche, Jalisco, one of the states that lacks a cyber police unit, where a clandestine monitoring center was discovered composed of a network of cameras and control centers with an infrastructure that required connecting to the networks. telecommunications.
Last July, Jorge Jesús Borrego Álvarez, head of the scientific directorate of the National Guard, revealed that the institution has carried out training and collaboration efforts with public ministries, judges and cyber police units in the 32 states. The objective is to strengthen the response capacity against digital crimes.
As a result of this effort, 91 people related to child pornography have been arrested and 82 minor victims involved in these acts have been rescued. Furthermore, so far during the current administration, more than 320 complaints have been filed before various ministerial bodies and 38 rulings have been obtained.
“With respect to cybercrimes, everyone is adapting to identify how hacks and other types of cybercrimes are carried out, as well as to find the necessary tools for their detection. In the case of Mexico, at least we now have of information on the number of elements in the cyber police, an issue that was not previously on our radar and for which we had no data available to assess whether action was being taken. With the data we have collected, we can begin to map and develop more solid strategies to improve cybersecurity,” Farca emphasized.