Mexico’s president on Monday promised an investigation into the hacking of personal information of several hundred journalists from a government database, after media rights activists voiced concern for their safety.
The Latin American nation is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the press.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador — a left-wing populist who regularly uses his morning press conference to hit out at critics — blamed his political adversaries for the leak.
“It’s a dirty war. It’s espionage,” he said, promising “support to everyone on the list.”
Lopez Obrador acknowledged that “security failed or the hackers were very good — remember that our adversaries have a lot of money and can hire the most specialized criminals in the world.”
On Friday a cybersecurity expert, Victor Ruiz of the Silikn firm, revealed that the names, identity documents, telephone numbers and, in some cases, addresses of more than 300 journalists accredited to attend Lopez Obrador’s news conferences had appeared online.
Media rights group Article 19 described the incident as “unjustifiable” and said it could put the reporters at risk.
“With Mexico being one of the deadliest countries for the press, with 163 journalists murdered and 32 missing, the leak violates not only their dignity and privacy, but also their physical safety,” it said on social media platform X.
