By Kang Jae-eun
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) — Argentina anticipates working with South Korea in the area of cybersecurity, as threats in the digital space become increasingly complex and delocalized amid the growth of generative artificial intelligence (AI), its cybersecurity agency chief said.
Hector Casas, the director of Argentina’s federal cybersecurity and information agency, made the remarks in a written interview Friday, ahead of his visit to Seoul for the Cyber Summit Korea (CSK) 2026 next week.
The comments from the Argentine cybersecurity agency chief come as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung described South America as Seoul’s key supply chain partner in the AI era, during his three-nation tour to the region in late July.
The two countries agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in critical minerals on the sidelines of a bilateral summit, including pursuing joint projects across the entire lithium value chain.
Casas said such cooperation could extend to the cybersecurity domain, adding his agency hopes to work in collaboration with Seoul in the “detection, prospection and malware analysis of bad players.”
Hector Casas, director of the federal cybersecurity and information agency of Argentina, is shown in this photo from the CSK 2026 official website. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
“(Cyberthreats) are worldwide with no distinction of where the ‘bad guys’ groups are located or what nationality they are,” he stressed, noting that Latin America is “not 100 percent safe” from digital threats originating from North Korea.
“It is essential to establish mechanisms for detecting and blocking intrusions through cooperation and joint efforts with other countries,” he said.
In the interview, Casas elaborated on Argentina’s strategic plan to address cybersecurity challenges posed by growing AI-related infrastructure.
Late last year, the Argentine government separated its cybersecurity and cyberintelligence functions, newly creating an independent agency handling digital threats, called the National Cybersecurity Center (CNC).
Since its launch in May, the CNC oversees AR-CERT, the country’s main technical management entity for computer security incidents. It also issued a mandate requiring all public institutions and critical national infrastructure to overhaul their systems in accordance with a new security framework, Casas explained.
An illustrated image of a cybersecurity incident (Yonhap)
“We believe that cybersecurity and cyberintelligence are two different branches … they need to address different focuses and premises,” he said.
The distinction is also important today, as the country faces repeated hacking attempts targeting state-owned databases and sophisticated phishing scams exploiting generative AI, he added.
Casas is set to deliver a keynote speech at the CSK 2026, running from Wednesday to Friday in southern Seoul, and hosted by the National Intelligence Service and the National Security Research Institute.
fairydust@yna.co.kr
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