Banxico asks banks to strengthen security against cyber-attacks

The Bank of Mexico (Banxico) on Friday asked banks and financial institutions to strengthen their security measures for transactions with virtual assets such as bitcoin ethereum and ripple as part of the obligations that the participants of the SPEI system must respect after the cyber attack that occurred a few months ago.

The Central Bank wants to have a complete identification of transactions, especially when it is "transfers to companies that can allow the withdrawal of resources from the financial sector to virtual assets ".

Circulars 10/2018 and 11/2018 increase the guarantee elements for transfers "of funds to customers or companies that offer the exchange or sale of virtual assets".

El Banxico asked financial entities to identify accounts belonging to customers that use cryptocurrencies, in order to have the possibility to implement additional validations of resources from transfers of funds via SPEI.

In the accounts of these clients, the financial entities that are part of the SPEI must "pay the resources corresponding to the transfer orders they receive, the day following their receipt, until the financial statements are received. they have the authorization of the Bank of Mexico as a director of the SPEI, to carry out in different terms, additional validations that aim to ensure the legitimacy of such orders. "

In the event that the Central Bank issues a warning about a possible attack on the infrastructure of SPEI the banks should refrain from making available to these customers (the cryptocurrency exchanges) the resources corresponding to the transfer orders received that day.

Despite performing independent operations, companies or individuals engaged in the sale of cryptocurrencies use traditional bank accounts to transfer funds and perform different transactions.

In addition, financial institutions "should refrain from providing accounts to these companies so that they, in turn, are assigned to customers for the transfer of resources for the purchase virtual assets, "said Banxico.

The announcement comes after the exchange of cryptocurrency July 7 Bitso which has the largest volume of transactions with virtual assets in the country, announced that it underwent a cyberattack attempt

It should be recalled that according to Fintech Law the Bank of Mexico will be responsible for defining which virtual assets can be used in Mexico.