Cybersecurity and GRC terminology: English to Mexican Spanish
Use this guide when translating cybersecurity, privacy, audit, and GRC content for professionals in Mexico. It describes professional usage, not word-for-word equivalence.
Edition 2026.3. The companion guide, Spanish to English, lives on the Spanish version of this page. If something here is not how you would say it, tell us.
Legal note: Legal terms are date-sensitive, and this guide is not legal advice. Verify the current official instrument, authority, and procedure before relying on a legal translation.
How to use this guide
The default register is formal Mexican professional writing: security policies, audit reports, regulatory material, technical documentation, and professional training. Team chat, job titles, product names, commands, and quoted interface text may retain more English.
- Translate: Mexican professional writing normally uses the Spanish term.
- Keep in English: The English borrowing is the normal specialist term in Mexico.
- Context-dependent: The correct form changes with technical sense, register, organization, or jurisdiction.
- Official name or acronym: Preserve the official name, designation, or working acronym.
- Legal term, date-sensitive: Use the wording of the governing instrument and verify the current official text.
Consistency applies to the same sense, register, jurisdiction, and grammatical use. It does not require different concepts to share one translation.
Terms
access control
→control de accesoTranslateAll professional registers
Control de acceso is the standard form in Mexican security, privacy, and audit writing. Use controles de acceso in the plural.
Sources: Official 2025 Federal Public Administration Cybersecurity Policy
That is not how I would say it
asset
→activoTranslateSecurity, risk, and audit
Activo is standard. Use activo de información when the narrower information-asset sense matters.
Sources: Official 2025 Federal Public Administration Cybersecurity Policy
That is not how I would say it
exploit
→exploitContext-dependentTechnical and vulnerability-management writing
Retain exploit as the usual specialist noun. The verb is explotar una vulnerabilidad. In Spanish, un exploit and plural exploits are standard.
Sources: UNAM-CERT security bulletin
That is not how I would say it
regulatory framework
→marco regulatorio; marco normativoContext-dependentLegal, regulatory, and GRC writing
Use marco regulatorio or marco normativo when the source means the broader body of governing laws, regulations, rules, and standards. Do not reduce the concept to a single reglamento.
Evidence basis: Professional usage judgment; no legal force is claimed.
That is not how I would say it
secure configuration
→configuración seguraTranslateFormal controls, policies, and audit
Use configuración segura for the formal control or configuration standard. A first mention may add (hardening) only when that practitioner label genuinely helps.
Example: The standard defines secure configuration requirements. → El estándar define requisitos de configuración segura.
Sources: Official DOF text of the CNBV standardized API provisions · Official DOF security provisions for financial-technology institutions · Official 2025 Federal Public Administration Cybersecurity Policy
That is not how I would say it
standard
→estándarTranslateTechnical, organizational, and legal writing
Use estándar for a technical or industry standard. Preserve the official title of a named legal or normative instrument rather than replacing norma automatically.
Sources: Quality Infrastructure Law · Official 2025 Federal Public Administration Cybersecurity Policy