InSight Crime: Mexico Cyber Criminals 'Kidnapping' Business Computer Systems Mimi Yagoub - InSight Crime
go to original April 10, 2014

Hackers in Mexico have found a profitable illicit enterprise in extorting businesses by hijacking computer systems, another dimension in the country's large and growing cyber crime industry.

Speaking at a security conference in Mexico City, the head of Mexico's Scientific Police Division, Ciro Humberto Ortiz Estrada, described how hackers remotely "kidnap" the computer systems and databases of businesses, reported La Jornada.

The criminals then demand payment - usually between $2,000 and $3,000 - for the user to regain access to the system. The individual or company is normally forced to pay by electronic transfer into national or foreign bank accounts.

Small and medium sized businesses are the most vulnerable to these attacks, as they often do not have the sophisticated protection systems of larger companies, according to Ortiz.

Ortiz warned cyber crime in Mexico was growing rapidly: while criminals made an estimated $2 billion from cyber crime in 2012, this increased to $3 billion in 2013, he said. Over the course of 2013, Mexico's Federal Police registered 23,543 cyber crime cases.

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