Mexico Suspects U.S. Vulture Funds are Behind Cyber Attack on Mexican Oil Giant Pemex

 The theft of sensitive information from Pemex servers through a cyberattack has become a much hotter affair than it originally appeared. So far, the response from the National Palace was to send Energy Secretary Rocío Nahle out to say that the government will not pay the US $5 million the hackers are asking for to retrieve the files.

The case is more complex than a mere extortion, which makes no sense because in the context of cyber crimes - as Andrés Manuel López Obrador was informed last Wednesday - it is known that governments do not pay for data that has already left their custody. It is considered as lost and new encryptions are made to prevent it from happening again. Paying for stolen sensitive information is more common for corporations.

But why did they steal the data? In the Mexican government there is the thesis that behind the hacking of Pemex there is a maneuver driven by U.S. vulture funds with the goal of sinking the credit rating of the State-owned company. Once the rating agencies classify them as "junk bonds", the perpetrators would buy company stock in bulk.

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Pemex is on the verge of losing its investment grade. It has a $100 billion debt, backed by the Mexican Treasury. The government is very much aware of this situation because, if need be, AMLO's administration will have to stop a currency drop.

Beyond the macroeconomic turbulence, the possibility appears that the degraded notes will be acquired by funds such as Aurelius, Elliot or FG Hemisphere. These funds will then litigate against the Mexican government and will not agree to renegotiate or remove any of the bonds issued.

The government's thesis states that the cyber attack was so that the rating agencies would notice that Pemex is not able to protect its information and, in this way, contribute to the investment grade drop.

These funds have a muddy track record regarding cyber attacks. In 2018 an investigation by the newspaper The Guardian warned of Elliot's links to Cambridge Analytica, a Big Data firm accused of stealing private information. Several US publications have recently warned of the presence of the intelligence and cyber-security firm Black Cube on Wall Street. This company is believed to be owned by former Israeli secret service officials.