Q:What role does the cybersecurity team play in Microsoft Mexico’s vision, and what is the scale of investment in this department?
A: At Microsoft, we have evolved from being primarily known for productivity and operating system software to becoming a leader in cloud, AI, and security platforms. Security is not a peripheral feature; it is a foundational principle that spans our entire product portfolio. Through our Secure Future Initiative (SFI), we have strengthened a company-wide mandate where products and services are built and operated with security-first engineering, with rigorous standards to reduce risk and address vulnerabilities.
Locally, my team of specialized engineers works with customers and our partner ecosystem to help assess security posture, prioritize risk reduction, and strengthen response readiness. We focus on practical adoption: implementing best practices such as Zero Trust and helping organizations get full value from the security capabilities they already have—while modernizing where needed—to build a more resilient defense.
Q: What strategic priorities have you defined for the Mexican market, and which areas of opportunity will you prioritize as the leader of one of the region’s largest cybersecurity teams?
A: Our strategy is anchored in three priorities: protecting data, securing cloud workloads, and modernizing security operations. With the rise of generative AI, data security is essential because AI systems are only as safe as the data they can access. That means strong information protection and governance—knowing what data you have, where it lives, who can access it, and how it can be shared.
Capabilities such as data classification, labeling, and insider risk controls help reduce accidental or inappropriate exposure. Second, we address a common misconception: moving to the cloud does not automatically make an organization secure. Cloud security requires the right configuration, continuous monitoring, and consistent controls across identities, devices, apps, and infrastructure.
Our third priority is the modernization of security operations through advanced detection, investigation, and response. This means moving beyond siloed tools to a unified view of the digital estate using Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions like Microsoft Sentinel and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) with Microsoft Defender. By applying AI and automation, we can reduce alert noise and accelerate routine investigation and remediation, allowing security teams to focus on the highest-impact threats. In the Mexican market, where fragmentation is common, our goal is to help organizations simplify and integrate their defenses so they can operate at the scale and speed today’s threats require.
Q: What daily business practices are essential for optimizing a cybersecurity team’s impact?
A: The essential practice is simplification with disciplined fundamentals. Over the years, many organizations have accumulated disparate solutions for identity, networks, and devices that do not work well together, creating complexity and gaps. We advocate for reducing tool sprawl and integrating controls into a more cohesive, automated approach to eliminate silos. In parallel, fostering an “identity-first” culture is vital because identity is the control plane for most modern environments and a frequent target in attacks. Teams should prioritize basic hygiene—such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), phishing-resistant authentication where possible, and Conditional Access policies—so every user is protected, from the front line to the executive level.
Q: What technologies and methodologies will you utilize to maximize these capabilities?
A: We leverage AI as a force multiplier for defenders to counter increasingly sophisticated phishing, business email compromise, and social engineering. Methodologically, we use machine-scale analytics across the extensive security telemetry Microsoft observes every day—combined with Microsoft Threat Intelligence—to surface patterns and prioritize threats faster than human teams could do manually. By applying automation and guided response, we help close the gap between detection and remediation so defenses can adapt as the threat landscape evolves.
Q: Which attack methods are expected to be most prevalent in the region by 2026, and how is Microsoft addressing them?
A: We expect attackers to continue increasing both the volume and speed of attacks, helped by the broader availability of cybercrime tools and services. Identity remains a primary vector, and ransomware and extortion continue to be major risks. To address this, we promote a Zero Trust approach—verify explicitly, use least-privilege access, and assume breach—so access is continuously evaluated and environments are segmented to reduce lateral movement if an incident occurs.
Resilience is also essential. Our strategy assumes that incidents can happen, so we help organizations prepare to respond and recover quickly—minimizing downtime and business impact. That includes strengthening identity and endpoint protection, improving detection and response, and supporting backup and recovery practices so operations can continue even under pressure.
Q: In Mexico, which sectors will be the most targeted by 2026, and how do you plan to support them?
A: Mexico is an important market for cybercriminals, and large-scale public and business events can increase exposure by expanding the attack surface. Compared with more consolidated environments, many organizations in Mexico still operate with highly fragmented security stacks across multiple providers, which can make visibility and response harder. We address this by working with our local partners to help customers simplify, standardize controls, and move toward an integrated platform approach.
Microsoft has a broad security portfolio that helps protect identities, endpoints, email, cloud applications, and infrastructure, and we use global threat intelligence to help organizations stay ahead of emerging attack patterns. This visibility allows us to share learnings and indicators from threats we observe globally so customers in Mexico can harden defenses earlier. Our focus is to help enterprises build more consistent, automated protection and monitoring—especially during high-risk periods like weekends or major holidays when staffing may be reduced.
Q: Considering the growth of attacks on critical infrastructure, how relevant is collaboration between the government and private sector?
A: Collaboration is no longer optional; it is a strategic necessity. As governments and critical services continue to digitize, coordination between the public and private sectors helps improve prevention, information sharing, and incident response. We see value in aligning on common security baselines, adopting stronger identity and access controls, and improving readiness through exercises and clear escalation paths. Cybersecurity should also be treated as a core business risk, not only a technology issue.
We also see a broader shift in cybersecurity ownership: leaders such as the CFO, CIO, and the board increasingly play a direct role because cyber incidents translate into financial, operational, and reputational impact. That is why security investments should be tied to measurable risk reduction and resilience outcomes. In parallel, ongoing progress in policy and regulation can help raise the baseline—encouraging better security practices and stronger reporting and response across the ecosystem.
Q: What metrics or KPIs have you established to demonstrate success by 2026?
A: A key metric is improvement in security posture, which many customers track through measurements such as Microsoft Secure Score and control-based assessments. We focus on two practical indicators: simplification and adoption. It is common to see organizations operating many overlapping security tools, which increases cost and complexity and can leave gaps. Success means reducing that sprawl and ensuring customers are fully using the capabilities they already have—such as encryption, data loss prevention, and automated labeling—while continuously improving configuration and coverage.
Ultimately, success is reflected in the confidence of the CISO and leadership team: fewer critical incidents, faster detection and response, and stronger resilience. Our aim is to help more organizations in Mexico move from reactive firefighting to a proactive, automated operating model. By 2026, we want Mexican companies—especially those in high-volume environments like retail, manufacturing, and services—to be better prepared for peak seasons and major events, supported by modern security operations and AI-assisted defense.