The Mexico RTF calls for a collaborative public-private strategy to dismantle criminal networks and establish a national repository of tools for ransomware incidents
On Tuesday, the more than 40 participants of the México Ransomware Task Force approved a series of practical proposals aimed at helping Mexico’s multistakeholder community address the ransomware challenge. The proposals stress that, although ransomware presents an expanding and severe danger to Mexico’s economic stability and national security, concrete actions are available for individuals, businesses, and the government to safeguard against and counter this threat. The México Ransomware Task Force underscores that the measures put forward by the task force form a unified and mutually reinforcing set of steps. Collectively, they offer a thorough strategy for enhancing Mexico’s defenses against ransomware.
The task force, guided by the nonprofit Institute for Security and Technology together with an alliance of domestic and international partners, unites representatives from government, industry, civil society, and academia to develop actionable strategies for boosting Mexico’s resilience to ransomware and other cyber threats. This initiative draws on the model of IST’s original Ransomware Task Force, which released 48 recommendations for fighting ransomware in the United States and globally in 2021, and has since recorded preliminary or meaningful progress on 91 percent of those measures.
The proposals unveiled today stem from several months of groundwork, which culminated in a full-day gathering held at Mastercard’s Mexico City office. During this event, members of the effort put forward specific suggestions for Mexico’s multistakeholder community, focusing on four interrelated aims:
– Deter ransomware attacks
– Disrupt the ransomware business model
– Help organizations prepare for ransomware attacks
– More effectively respond to ransomware attacks
Working groups assigned to each of these objectives were led by FTI Consulting and a civil society representative for Deter; Chainalysis and Mastercard for Disrupt; Microsoft and Scitum for Prepare; and Delta Protect for Respond. Organizations that took part include the following: AMITI; Bitso; Capa8; CrowdStrike; Delta Protect; GNP Seguros; KIO IT Services; Mifel Bank; the Technological Institute of Monterrey; the Mexico Office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC); and the University of Guadalajara.
Each working group has detailed concrete, actionable steps for how Mexican society can confront the ransomware crisis. The proposals approved during the conference include the following:
– Reinforce national measures for accountability and increase attribution capabilities / Fortalecer medidas nacionales para la rendición de cuentas e incrementar capacidades de atribución
– Launch a national campaign to disrupt criminal infrastructure / Lanzar una campaña nacional para la disrupción de infraestructura criminal
– Develop a public awareness plan to promote ransomware readiness / Generar una estrategia de comunicación para promover la preparación ante el ransomware
– Develop and publish an executive guide for ransomware response / Desarrollo y publicar una Guía Ejecutiva de Respuesta ante Ransomware.
The group will maintain its collaboration as it finalizes the official process of the México Ransomware Task Force. Following today’s conference, working group co-chairs and members will begin the practical work of implementation, with formal cooperation under the RTF umbrella continuing through the close of 2026. In November 2026, IST and the working group co-chairs will issue a report offering further details on each proposal and pathways for execution. Crucially, the relationships established among government, civil society, and industry will continue to produce benefits well beyond the formal process’s conclusion.
The México Ransomware Task Force represents a joint dedication to strengthening public-private collaboration and boosting national resilience against cyber threats. IST is proud to work alongside the Mexican and global multistakeholder community in sharing these proposals with Mexican society and in backing efforts to put them into practice over the months ahead. Organized by the Institute for Security and Technology, a nonpartisan nonprofit, this initiative is made possible through the backing of Mastercard, Microsoft, and Sophos.
Sophia Mauro
Institute for Security and Technology
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