Nuevo León takes 24% of cyberattack attempts in Mexico: how to protect your plant or industrial unit in the north

On September 28, the trade outlet MexicoIndustry reported (in Spanish) that Nuevo León takes 24% of all cyberattack attempts in Mexico. One in four. It is where the nearshoring plants are, and a stopped line pays fast.

The same day, DefOnline reported that BlackCat, a Russian-origin ransomware group, is already operating in Latin America. Ransomware is the business of encrypting your files and charging you to get them back. If your company runs a plant in Apodaca, Santa Catarina or any industrial park in the north, this is about you.

Why a plant is an easy target

In our experience, plants set up from abroad repeat the same four mistakes. Not out of carelessness. They were built fast, and the network was drawn by whoever installed the machines.

• Production and offices on one network. The PLC running line 3 (the controller that moves the machines) shares a network with the purchasing laptop that opens every attachment.
• Cameras and PLCs facing the internet. Someone opened a port ‘so HQ could see the cameras’ and nobody closed it.
• Vendors with permanent remote access. The integrator of the packaging line got a VPN user in 2023 and it still works.
• Warehouses or branches with no firewall. The Santa Catarina warehouse hangs off a home-grade modem.

That world of machines is called OT (operational technology). It was designed assuming nobody from outside would ever touch it. Today everything is connected, and your HQ firewall does not cover it.

Before and after segmentation

ProcessBi

Typical Mexico plant today	How it should look
One network for everything	A VLAN per zone: production, offices, cameras, guests
Firewall only separates internet from LAN	Rules per zone: offices cannot talk to PLCs
Cameras with a public IP	Cameras on their own network, no internet exit
VPN with username and password only	VPN with 2FA for everyone, vendors included

A VLAN is a virtual network inside the same cabling: devices on one cannot see devices on another, even on the same switch. It is the cheapest measure and the one that prevents the most damage.

The concrete list for your plant

1. Segment production with VLANs. PLCs, HMI screens and scales in one zone; offices in another.
2. Firewall rules per zone. Name exactly what may cross from offices to production. By default, nothing.
3. Off-site backups. ERP, file server and PLC programs. Then test a restore. Here is how to make backups that actually restore.
4. 2FA on the VPN. Password plus a code on the phone. No exceptions, not even for the country manager.
5. Hikvision CCTV and LoRa IoT sensors on a separate network. LoRa is low-power radio for temperature, door or tank sensors; it should share a network with nothing else. Read how to check your cameras today.
6. Inventory of vendor access. Who gets in, through what, until when. Anything without an owner gets switched off.

If nearshoring brought you here

On September 29, Milenio published an analysis (in Spanish) of what Mexico needs to compete as a North American platform. Network security rarely shows up on those lists, and it is among the first things US customers and insurers ask about.

If you are opening, we already published the IT infrastructure checklist for nearshoring in Mexico. This article is the missing chapter: how to keep someone from disconnecting the plant you just connected.

What we do in the north and the Bajío

We send technicians to the plant: cabling, VLANs, firewall, Hikvision cameras and LoRa sensors, all on site. Then we look after it with an IT support plan with a written SLA that states how fast we respond if the line stops.

It works the same whether you manage from Monterrey or from Michigan. We talk to your corporate IT in English and to the maintenance lead in Spanish, and we invoice in MXN or USD.

Let's talk

And at your plant?

Ask three questions today. Does the PLC see the same network as the accounting laptop? How many VPN users belong to vendors? When did you last test a restore? If you hesitate on any of them, you know where to start.

Book a free assessment of your Mexico plant — we reply the same business day.