León Municipal Cyber Attacks Surge Amid AI‑Generated Threats

Municipal officials in León, Guanajuato report that cyber attacks on the city's information systems have multiplied dramatically this year, driven by the use of artificial intelligence. The director of Information Technology and Digital Government, Carlos Alejandro Cárdenas Hernández, told the acquisition committee that over 1.6 million attacks have been recorded, exposing the personal data of roughly 250,000 users after a hack of the municipal Citizen Service Center (SAC) on 1 July.

The breach forced the municipal website offline and prompted a criminal complaint. In response, the city contracted a 3.233 million‑peso license for the Checkpoint 2026 security platform, valid through February 2027, and is acquiring additional tools to protect its systems. A direct award to the current contact‑center provider, Muñoz y Asociados, is scheduled for 20 July, despite concerns about the provider’s data‑protection capabilities.

City officials emphasized that no provider has previously suffered a breach and that the new ISO‑certified security measures aim to safeguard citizen information as AI‑driven attacks continue to rise.