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SWIFT, SPID, & SPEI: Deconstructing the 2018 Mexican Financial Cyber Heist

Guillermo Buendía

Guillermo Buendía analyzes the 2018 Mexican interbank payment system (SPEI) cyber heist, breaking down how the 'Bandidos' hacker team stolen hundreds of millions.

Summary

The Landmark 2018 Mexican Banking Cyberattack

In early 2018, Mexican financial institutions suffered one of the largest cyber heists in Latin American history, resulting in hundreds of millions of pesos stolen from SPEI.

Deconstructing Interbank Payment Systems (SWIFT, SPID, SPEI)

Guillermo Buendía explains the technical architecture and settlement mechanisms used by interbank electronic payment networks.

Analyzing Attack Vectors and Fraudulent Transfer Injection

The author details how the threat actors compromised bank perimeter systems, developed custom software to forge transaction requests, and coordinated physical cash-out operations.

Financial Sector Hardening and Telemetry Auditing

The presentation provides recommendations for financial security teams on isolating payment messaging gateways and enforcing multi-tier transaction verification.

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