Mexico has alerted the domestic banks about potential cyber attacks and ordered them to strengthen preventive security measures.

In a statement, the Mexican authorities including the central bank Banco de México and the finance ministry said that the order is a part of the preventive measures without providing further details.

An official, on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the authorities issued the new directive following the identification of a potential cyber attack late last week.

The contingency measures include activating all protocols formed after the recent cyber attacks on banks.

In May, the central bank announced that a cyber attack on a payments system sucked out around $15.3m. The names of the affected banks were not divulged.

Following the attack, Banco de México decided to form a cyber security unit to provide new guidelines to all banks on information and data security.

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Additionally, the Mexican attorney general has formed an ‘Immediate Response Group’ in collaboration with financial authorities in a step to issue alerts and notify the banks instantly during any form of security breaches or cyber attacks.

Last week, Mexican cryptocurrency exchange platform Bitso detected a cyber attack, following which it suspended all transactions. Later it said all funds are safe and intact.