AXA Mexico Confirms Client Information, Resources Are Safe After Cyber Attack

AXA Mexico said the information and resources of its customers are safe and have not been affected by a cyber attack, which it discovered on Oct. 22.

In a statement, AXA Mexico said that it had “identified anomalies in its transactions” that passed through its electronic payment system (SPEI) and, as a result, escalated the issue to Mexico’s central bank. SPEI is the main interbank transfer system in Mexico and has no connection to the internet, AXA explained.

Once the central bank had received the notification, it raised the security alert level in its payment system and requested that all financial institutions connected to SPEI to increase alert levels and surveillance, AXA said. (See related article published on Oct. 24).

This IT security incident is limited to financial institutions with a direct connection to the SPEI system, said AXA, noting that its global activities were unaffected.

In response to the incident, AXA Mexico said the following measures have been taken “to strengthen and guarantee security processes”:

• Mexican financial institutions have been notified of the issue by the Central Bank of Mexico.
• All operations connected to SPEI have been suspended until further notice.
• Coordination between AXA Information Security teams to globally launch the incident response protocol, including analysis and containment with 3^rd party support. Chief Information Security Officer has traveled onsite to provide support.
• The resources and data of AXA Mexico´s clients have not been affected by this IT security incident.

Related:

AXA Cyber Attack Prompts Mexico Central Bank to Issue Security Alert